The Panerai Source Forums

I recently purchased a PAM250 (luminor daylight chrono).

After some research, I found out that Panerai uses a very basic "cheap?" movement found in other lower end watches.

That sort of put a damper on my enthusiasm after that. Am I correct to feel disappointed?

For example, A Victorinox Airboss costing probably USD1k uses the same movement as a USD 7k PAM 250....

That is correct. Panerai does use a fairly common movement in all but their Manifattura line of watches and occasionally some of the special editions that it produces each year. This is no different than any of the other high end brands that use base movement from other manufacturers such as Breitling, Tag Heuer and even Franck Muller in their entry level models.

As for whether it is correct to feel disappointed, that is up to you. I dont think you can judge a feeling as being correct or incorrect, its just how you feel. If you feel disappointed, I would get a different watch.

The difference between the 250 and the airboss are that the Panerai has a decorated and COSC certified movement, and is limited to a couple thousand peices each year, which translates to only a hand full of peices at each dealer for sale.

Hi, any idea what Panerai adds to the ETA movement, other than a nicely decorated sheet of metal (sorry, don't know what the part is called, but u usually see in it photos).

I think the COSC certification probably means that the movement was sent for testing and passed, compared to the Airboss which was either not sent for testing, or was sent for testing but failed? Am I correct?

I doubt the airboss was tested. They just take a raw movement and stick it in with no modification, or maybe decorate the rotor. Panerai decorates more than just the rotor (i am guessing that's the sheet of metal you are talking about). They don't add any sheet of metal, they just decorate the existing ones, and tune the movement and adjust it, etc.