PAM 111 Power Reserve Question

[Kevin of Larchmont]

I’m new to Panerai by less than a week. I know that Panerai states this watch has a 56 hour power reserve. I’ve been tracking my power reserve in the short time I’ve owned this watch and once I’ve gotten 36 hours and once 34.5 hours; I have many mechanical watches so I know this watch is fully wound. Curiously this watch is deadly accurate losing only about two seconds a day. I bought the watch from my preferred Rolex AD who took it on trade without box or papers or spare strap or strap tool or any evidence of prior service; it is a series J, 2007. It came to me with a two year warranty so they will be servicing it but my question is what mechanically could be causing a lower power reserve in a watch that still runs accurately?

[Auto16610]

I imagine it is time for a service. One thing though. You know when it is fully wound when it can't be wound anymore. Is that what you are doing? Winding until it stops winding?

[Kevin of Larchmont]

Thank you for your response. Indeed it is time for a service there being no evidence of any prior service and yes as the owner of many mechanical watches I am sure it is fully wound. My question relates to the dichotomy between compromised power reserve and accurate timekeeping. Because I have purchased all of my Rolex/Tudor from the same AD and they have all either been new or used and freshly serviced I really don’t have any experience with a mechanical watch that has gone this long without any attention paid to it and I have zero experience with Panerai. Just wondering if this scenario is familiar to anyone. Thank you.

[emtee]

Appreciate you’ve said it’s fully wound but both myself and a close friend had a similar issue with manual wind PAMs and it turned out we had not fully wound our watches. Often it feels like you’ve hit the end and are afraid to turn it any further for fear of causing damage but it still has a way to go.

How many turns are are getting from stopped to fully wound?

[Kevin of Larchmont]

Thank you: 93 winds got me 34 hours, 100 winds got me 36 hours and this morning I frankly lost count but I think I was around 87 winds. It's a bit hard to tell because this is my first watch with a crown protection device so my winding isn't as consistent as it is with my watches without. I stopped when it gave me noticeable resistance and didn't push through. Although admittedly I'm working with a limited data set the results are consistent so far. Any and all insight is appreciated.

[emtee]

Originally Posted by Kevin of Larchmont

Thank you: 93 winds got me 34 hours, 100 winds got me 36 hours and this morning I frankly lost count but I think I was around 87 winds. It's a bit hard to tell because this is my first watch with a crown protection device so my winding isn't as consistent as it is with my watches without. I stopped when it gave me noticeable resistance and didn't push through. Although admittedly I'm working with a limited data set the results are consistent so far. Any and all insight is appreciated.

Just so happens my 112 was fully wound down and I think has the same movement as the 111. It may be that we measure our turns differently but I count 1 turn as starting with the end of my thumb at the bottom of the crown and rotating it until the middle of my thumb reaches the top of the crown, basically this is as far as I can turn it before the crown guard prevents me going any further. Rinse and repeat.

Anyway I only managed 50 of these turns before I hit the wall and I know mine does the full 56hrs.

Either way I would definitely get it serviced if it’s under warranty, especially if there’s no service history. This way you get to claim for a free service which will mean you don’t need to pay for one for 5 years or so and hopefully get a service card confirming authenticity, which will add some value. I would see this as a lucky problem to have had

[Kevin of Larchmont]

Update:

I've put this watch through six cycles of full winding until completely depleted and the elapsed run times in order are: 34hrs, 36hrs, 53hrs, 58.5hrs, 58.75hrs and 59.3hrs. I'm guessing as a guy with a lot of watches who has never himself been inside a watch that's it's been sitting a long while, like for many years, and the lubricant got gummy and then loosened up with use. Interestingly it kept great time during each cycle, losing only 2-3 seconds a day. Does this sound reasonable to anyone here or does anyone have any alternate observations to share? One way or another I'll be getting it serviced but I'm curious if this scenario sounds familiar to anyone.