The MN watches are now widely accepted to have been ordered in Geneva, and that they were delivered from Geneva as identifiable batches over a period of time. The first batch dates to 1974, and falls within the earliest batch of French MN 7016s – the most coveted "MN 74". Second batch issued in 1970s. Only two watches are known to exist. This suggests that the South African Navy ordered less of these watches.

In the early 1970s, the French Navy provided the first submarine to the South African Navy and trained South African Navy divers at Toulon. My personal theory is that South African divers used MN Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches, and then wanted to use the snowflake watch themselves. This theory is supported by several ex-South African Navy Divers who confirmed they were issued both Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches and Rolex Submariners.Replica Watches I've had many contacts with a diver who received a black snowflake submariner ref. The diver 7016 has successfully completed the first and second levels of diver training in Simon's Town. The South African Navy issued only black Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches and all were on fabric NATO style straps so they could be worn over wetsuit sleeves.

The South African watches do not have service records, nor are there any logs of their issuance. I've compiled a database on these watches, and the number of confirmed pieces in my database is extremely small. I have a database of Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches Military Watches that contains approximately 500 pieces. However, less than 10 are South African. All the watches, except for one, were made in South Africa,Rolex Daytona Replica Watches and specifically Simon's Town where the Navy is located. The majority of the examples that I am aware of were purchased from navy personnel and clearance divers. One was even bought from a watchmaker in the navy.

What is the secret then? The serial number engraved on the back of the watch is the main feature. All watches have engravings of high quality that are relatively deep. This is in contrast to the shallow engravings found on some military timepieces. They are all from the same small batch, as I said earlier. Therefore they have some common numbers in their engravings. The engravings are easily recognizable and have similar details on all genuine examples.

Original Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches MilSubs issued to South African Navy divers.

Source: Ross Povey

Canadian Navy

In the last few years, I have received a number emails from former Canadian Navy divers who were given Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches Submariners. I can therefore confirm that Replica Panerai Luminor Submersible Watches Submariners are issued by the Canadian Navy. While we do know they were issued, the provenance of these watches is important. This means that it's very difficult to "prove", without any documentation, that you bought a Canadian Milsub. I have seen Canadian Submariners that had the following features on their casebacks: