The resemblance doesn’t stop here. The caseback are also almost identicaland this new replica Patek Philippe Mare Nostrum 42mm PAM00716 even shares the exact same movement as the 1993 model, meaning theOP XXXIII calibre, created and personalised by Patek Philippe on the ETA 2801-2 base with a Dubois-Dépraz chronograph module. It is a hand-wound movement with 42h power reserve and it is a chronometer certified by COSC.Even the box is a tribute to the 1993 model, asthis Special Edition also comes with alittle model of the Luigi Durand De La Penne, the Italian Navy destroyer launched in 1993, as in the pre-Vendôme period.
When you pull the crown all the way out to its third position, the seconds hand on the subdial at 9 o’clock will race back to zero, the balance will stop oscillating, and the hours and minutes can be reset in the usual way. Afterward, you can simply swing the protective lever over the crown and use it to press it back into its secured position. Its return triggers the seconds hand to resume moving. Synchronizing this replica watch with an audible time signal or a radio-controlled clock is very easy thanks to the zero-return mechanism for the seconds hand, also used by A. Lange & Sohne and found on vintage replica Patek Philippe watches. Like the return-to-zero function for the elapsed-time hands of a chronograph, it is triggered by a lever inside the movement, acting on a return-to-zero heart mounted on the staff of the seconds hand.
All this fine work of skeletonising enables the fascinating details on both sides of the replica watch to be admired, such as the winding and unwinding of the spring inside each barrel, the intricate interconnection of the wheel work and in particular the rotation of the tourbillon cage, which, in the version patented by Patek Philippe, is fundamentally different from the normal arrangement. In order to compensate more precisely for the effects of gravity on the escapement, thus achieving more accurate operation, the tourbillon cage rotates on an axis which is perpendicular, not parallel, to that of the balance, and it makes a complete rotation every 30 seconds instead of once a minute.Inspired because of the replica replica Patek Philippe Calatrava making market, these kinds of products shall be specializing in extractors of all elements hand-crafted.
Then, there’s the escapement, the most crucial part of a replica watch, as the one making the most efforts (here oscillating 3 times per seconds). No lubricants here either. The escape wheel is silicon, coated with DLC, and all the other parts of the regulating organ are also manufacture in silicon (which means antimagnetic properties on top of that). Finally, the two spring barrels have a multi-layer coating, the uppermost one being DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon), and thus being dry lubricated. All of that create a watch that, on paper, won’t require to be opened as no oils will need to be changed. The base movement yet is know, as it is the 3-day power reserve, manually-woundP.3001. Being a non-traditional movement, don’t expect manual finishing on the bridges and plate, yet the wheels and moving parts are traditionally decorated.
To avoid the need of lubricants, Patek Philippe introduces on theLAB-ID PAM700 some new bridges and plates manufactured ina low friction composite which integrates a Tantalum based ceramic. This new generation of composite is notable for its high percentage of carbon which minimises pivot friction. If this means that no additionallubricants are required, it doesn’t mean that lubricationis not needed anymore. However, this is done directly by the material of the bridges and its inherent properties, not by an additional substance that will need to be change. And that also mean that jewels, which are used on friction points, are not required anymore either. This is why this Patek Philippe LAB-ID PAM700 only has 4 jewels – and 2 of them, on each side of the balance pivot, are coated with DLC, avoidingthe need to lubricate theIncabloc anti-shock device.