Review of Getat Luminor Panerai Homage

As promised in the last post, here is the review of the Getat Luminor homage which I received recently! Before we start, here are the specifications of my build again:

- Case Style: 44mm Luminor
- Dial: Sterile black dial

- Buckle Style: Pre-V

- Case Option: Brushed steel

- Dial Lume: Super-LumiNova C3

- Crystal Material: Sapphire

- Hands Color: Black with white seconds

- Hands Lume: Super-LumiNova C3

- Movement: Normal stainless steel

- Stitch Color: White

- Strap Option: Vintage wooden brown

I later changed the buckle for the premium style buckle as you will see in the pictures later. Allow me to also show you the timeline of events again.

21st June - Order placed, invoice received and paid for immediately

10th July - Tracking number received

23rd July - Tracking number starts working, status: "Item has been posted and is being processed."

24th July - Status: "The item is being processed for departure from Hong Kong."

25th July - Status: "The item left Hong Kong for its destination."

31st July - Status: "The item arrived at its destination country."

2nd August - Status: "Item was delivered."

From order to delivery, it took exactly six weeks for the watch to reach me. This is within the expected range of ordering from Getat, so I wasn't exactly lucky or unlucky. There are some lucky few who receive their orders in as fast as three weeks,  and unfortunately, some unlucky people who had to wait for as long as three months to receive their watches. As you can see, it's very much a luck of the draw thing.

If you do not have the patience of waiting months for your watch, all is not lost as there are a number of other sellers out there offering the same watch basically. Jackson Tse or Manbushijie (make sure to sign up to enjoy lower prices!) are reliable sellers who have the added benefit of being more responsive to your emails, unlike Getat, but keep in mind that neither of them will offer nearly as many customization options as Getat does. If you want customization, you'll have to wait.

As mentioned, this watch is an homage. It takes all of its aesthetic cues from the Luminor line of watches from Panerai. Some people are definitely going to have an issue with this but this is not what we are here for today!

Before we get on with the review, here are some things about the price to take notice of. Inclusive of the 10% summer sale which Getat was having for the month of June, I paid US$126 for the watch and later made a further payment of US$9 to Getat for the premium buckle, for a total of US$135. My conjecture is that the margins made on each watch is not very high, so there will be a certain amount of suspect QC especially when you consider that this is a custom job. You will be disappointed if you go nitpicking on a Getat watch with a loupe.

Now, onto the watch itself. The case which I ordered was a Luminor style stainless steel in a brushed finishing. It feels solid and has quite a good amount of heft to it. A surprisingly good quality case overall. For just an extra US$18, one can upgrade from mineral to sapphire crystal; a choice I took without having to think. The crystal is also slightly domed although there doesn't seem to be any form of AR coating on the crystal, but it does not really bother me.

Panerai is of course well-known for the sandwich dial, which is basically a dial split into two layers; top and bottom. The sandwich dial is present on the Getat, and is unique in that it is negatively textured; a fresh and refreshing departure from the usual textured dial.

Flipping it over to the back, you can see the nicely decorated Sea-Gull ST36 movement through the mineral crystal display back, beating away at 21600 BPH. There seem to be some who have gotten Hangzhou 9000 movements in their watches, but as far as I could see, I've identified mine to be a Sea-Gull ST36 movement. I came across a guide here which may be of help to you in identifying whether your movement is a Sea-Gull or a Hangzhou.

The movement is nicely adorned with blued screws (most probably chemically treated), swan neck regulator (although for decoration only as the screw isn't even touching the adjustment lever and is too short to actually work), Panerai-esque bridges, and Geneva Stripes which was of course, applied in China. I'm not complaining though, it is a pretty movement and I have no qualms at all that the decorations were applied by machine.

Further observation needs to be done to determine the accuracy at the moment, although it has kept time to the minute within a 24-hour span (It's hard to keep track of accuracy when the smallest division is five minutes!).

* Update *

Timekeeping has been absolutely fantastic so far, this watch seems to be losing one second every 24 hours! On a full wind which equates to a 57 hour power reserve, this watch lost just 3 seconds, simply fantastic!

We come to the crown guard, persistently an area of weakness for Luminor homages. The crown guard snaps back with a nice amount of tension but I can't foretell whether the amount of tension will remain tight and firm with frequent usage. When flipped out, the lever is quite floppy as many others have experienced. I'm fine with it personally as long as it's firm while locked in place. The dial moves a little when the crown is pulled out to time set mode, it is of no real issue to me but it serves to remind of the sometimes suspect QC that homage dealers are capable of.

I shall update this portion further after more rigorous usage has been observed regarding the crown lever but it is satisfactory for now. I should add that I wouldn't trust taking this watch anywhere near water as the crown guard assembly on these Panerai homages are to replicate the crown guard aesthetically, and not functionally.

I did mention my satisfaction with the lume on this watch in my previous post, although I left it to this review to determine the better of the two (as compared with the Kemmner Turtle). Fortunately, the C3 lume on my watch was applied clean and evenly, as some people had the misfortune of specks of dirt on the lume. It would seem that the Kemmner Turtle and the Getat are neck to neck in terms of lume intensity and longevity. Overall, the lume on Getat is very good; it wouldn't beat a Seiko Monster or SKX007/009, but doesn't lose by much too.

Moving over to the strap, I should add that this is an area where I was really pleased with. It is really thick and chunky, and the stitching is nothing short of fantastic. I really have to applaud Getat on the stitching, it is nice, clean and even. The strap has a good leather scent too, I can't find any fault with it really, good quality all-around! As you will see in the picture above, I opted for the premium buckle which is a monster of a buckle. Both strap and buckle really puts some additional weight on this watch. The buckle is screw-in type, and costs US$10 when paired with a strap/watch. This really puts some sellers of Panerai strap buckles to shame considering they sell similar buckles, only for US$30 or more.

+ Good overall build quality

+ Good lume

+ Nicely decorated movement

+ Excellent strap and buckle

+ Fantastic price

- Floppy crown lever

- Somewhat poor QC (Dial moves when crown pulled out issue)

- Waiting times

- Poor communication

The floppy crown lever and dial movement issue are minor to me, but I'll just put them as cons for the discerning buyer. There are some things one has to be ready for when buying from Chinese homage dealers; it may not always happen but be prepared for poor communication, long wait times and unfortunately from time to time, poor workmanship. 

Granted, $100+ is not a lot of money, but neither is it small change. It certainly is quite a lot to ask of potential buyers to expect the worst right from the moment payment is made. I myself wish that I could expect a certain guaranteed level of quality but sadly, this is just the way homage makers operate. Ordering from Getat is not an experience that everyone can tolerate, but if you can, then you are ready to make your foray into the homage scene!

In conclusion, I was fortunate enough to receive my watch in good order from Getat. The watch (less the service) has made me a satisfied customer of his and I foresee myself placing more orders with him, although the long waiting times and the sometimes shoddy build quality leave something to be desired. So that's it for the review of the Getat Luminor homage, thank you for reading!