The many looks of the Unitas 6498
I got an indignant comment on my Stowa post from a Panerai fan:
I don’t get the Panerai link. Sure, it is based on the 6498, but so heavily modified that is stands on its own. This Stowa is not modified at all, so it’s no comparison.
Panerai watches are technical pieces of art. Stowa’s are nice watches, but works of art? Hardly.
Since this particular comment got under my skin, here’s a bit of a stolen- photograph essay to disagree. (Each picture is a link to the page where I found it.) To refresh, here’s the version from Stowa – decorated, Geneva stripes, swans-neck regulator:
Next up, the Panerai PAM36:
Yep, dead stock. They even left the screw notches unblued and the less-expensive index regulator. All that’s done is the CNC-engraved logo text on the plates and bridges. Otherwise a dead-stock 6497, and not even an upgraded one at that. Considering that this watch goes for a ton of money, I’m unimpressed. (Check this one out – used PAM36, only thirty three thousand dollars!)
Now, it should be noted that Panerai used to use Rolex movements, in particular the Cortebert as well as the Angelus 240. Interestingly, David Worland notes that the Cortebert was a $3 movement! In some of their 6497/8 models, they’ve redesigned the bridges and plates to resemble the Cortebert movement. Here’s a pic of the Cortebert next to the modified 6497:
(Rolex on the left)
If you aren’t a hardcore watch geek, those look pretty similar, eh? And if nothing else, at least Panerai is trying here to look like they have their own movements. (Interestingly, the Rolex has a plain index regulator, and the 6498 has a swans-neck.)
For a better example of what you can do to transform the 6498, consider the Omega 2201, as seen in the Railmaster XL handwind:
Now that’s nicely done. New plates and bridges, vertical stripes, much harder to tell that it’s a 6498.
For an even more extreme transformation, Dirk Dornblueth replaces the plates and bridges with a traditional German three-quarter plate:
Yep, complete with swans-neck, real blued screws and chaton-set jewels. Gorgeous!
That concludes today’s rant. I should note that that Panerai has since created some movements fully in-house – my point is that some of their watches are just overpriced (IMHO) base Unitas movements. Not all, just some. Knowledge is power, folks.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:02 am
You have influenced me and introduced me to the vice of horology. In shoping for a mechanical-movement watch, I stumbled across your article on the Christopher Ward Malvern Aviator. It was not the kind of watch I was looking for, but something about your enthusiasm for it prompted me to go to the CW website and have a look….I eventually purchased it, and I love it! It was my first experience with ETA movements, and it began a leisurely stroll through the technical and historical literature of watchmaking.
To the point at hand, I have just taken delivery of my first watch with the ETA-made Unitas 6498. Although not in the same league as the examples you cite herein, my Debaufre CSAR serves as an introduction to this movement. It seems to me that you have not produced a “rant” so much as an astute observation of the way that “branding” interacts with the marketing of consumer goods. My new watch features a standard regulator and faux blue screws, but with what seems to be good-quality cosmetic embellishment machined into the structural plates of the movement – for a little less than $500.00 U.S.! I suspect that NO model of Panerai sells for that little.