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Old 13 June 2018, 05:15 PM   #39
rpjp3
"TRF" Member
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Greater Seattle M
Posts: 38
A belated congrats on the 682! I just received mine yesterday.



For anyone that’s still trying to understand the situation with the exhibition and solid case backs, I can save you some time figuring this out as I went through the exact same thing over the last couple of weeks.



The 682 was new for 2017, and the first year “T” series models have the exhibition case back. Panerai changed it to a solid case back for the 2018 “U” series. The ADs I’ve spoken to either had no idea it had changed, or could only speculate as to why. Some think it was somehow due to water resistance rating, and others to reducing production costs. The water resistance rating is the same on both series. I actually called Panerai customer support to see if they were aware of any issues with the exhibition case back that led to the change. The rep said she had received this question before and after asking internally was told the change was made for creative reasons. She said she was not aware of any known issues with the exhibition case back.



If you strongly prefer the exhibition case back, the only ways to get one now are buying used, on the grey market, or looking for new old stock at an AD, where they received one last year and it hasn’t yet sold. Some ADs do still have them, but finding one takes some work. Just ask people to confirm they have a “T” series first and that it has the exhibition case back in the event Panerai changed the back during the first year production cycle. It seems unlikely, but possible. I’ve personally seen “T” series samples in the 100, 500, and 700 numerical ranges with the exhibition case backs. I received mine yesterday from an AD that still had a new sample with the exhibition case back in stock.



For those who like the exhibition case back, it seems that the 2017 model may be a sort of pseudo special edition with only 1,000 being made that year, presumably all with the exhibition case back:-).



I hope this helps others.
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