First 24 Hours

What if I told you that, for a period of a year, there was not a dive watch that ended up on my wrist? What watch or style of watch would you assume filled the everyday-watch role? If you guessed a pilot’s watch, you would be right. For around a year, when the hobby had lost all of its luster for me, I just wanted a watch that was easy and versatile. To be honest, a pilot’s watch really nails this.

I ended up with a Laco Aachen 42 as my watch of choice, and it was a great watch. After getting back into the hobby, I stupidly decided to sell it, which I still kick myself in the ass for to this day. There was one thing I had always wished about that watch: that it was slightly smaller, somewhere around 39 or 40mm. I had the opportunity to pick up a Laco Palermo 39 and give it a whirl. Here is what my first 24 hours with it have been like.

The Basics

The Laco Palermo 39 is a 39mm automatic pilot watch with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug, 11.55mm thickness, 18mm lug width, and a weight of 80 grams on the factory leather strap. It uses Laco’s 2S automatic movement, based on the Miyota 82S0, and features hacking seconds. The watch uses a matte-finished stainless-steel case, sapphire crystal, 5 ATM (50 meters) of water resistance, and a traditional Type B Flieger dial layout. The black dial uses orange Super-LumiNova on the numerals, markings, and hands, and from the factory it comes fitted to a black calf-leather strap with orange stitching.

I purchased my example used, so mine came with aftermarket straps made by Jim over at RKN Straps. The factory black strap with orange stitching was no longer with the watch; however, a brown Laco factory strap was included.

On the Wrist

My example has been lightly loved by another before me. I first put the watch on the brown factory Laco strap and quickly decided that it looked better on the RKN Strap options that were laid out for this watch.

Wearing the Palermo has been a treat. It reminds me of the joy I got from the traditional Type B Flieger style of the Aachen, but with a more manageable and comfortable size to boot. At 39mm with a 46.5mm lug-to-lug, this fits my 6.75-inch wrist perfectly. The lugs fit well within the span of my wrist and do not have any overhang.

The 11.55mm thickness is good and allows it to sit low and flat on the wrist. One of the unique things about this style of watch is that it can be thin and sit low while still looking like an overly built tool watch, which I enjoy.

Dial, Legibility, and Lume

The dial is big and, to some, would probably be considered busy, but that is the style of the watch. Having the minute track as the main focus, with the hours on the inner portion of the dial, is something that can take a while to get used to if you have not worn this style of watch before. For me, though, it felt like an old home and was quick to get used to again.

The orange is a nice bit of color that makes the dial pop and also works well to aid legibility in sunlight. That is useful because of the choice to use a non-AR-coated sapphire crystal. The matte finish of the black dial itself also aids in this. Without the dial being matte, I could not imagine this would be as easy to read.

The case is nicely finished without being overly polished, which is appreciated, and it does not glint excessively in the various lighting conditions I have worn it in.

Lume is good on this. It glows across the dial thanks to a good application on all of the indices and hands, which makes this almost look like a full-lume dial even though it is not. Very impressive. It does not stay as bright for as long as some other watches do, but the lume itself lasts just as long.

Movement and Accuracy

As far as how healthy the movement Laco used in this platform is, well, it is doing pretty damn good on the timegrapher. +5 seconds a day is what is being shown across six different positions, which is a very acceptable number. It will take me some time during testing to see how those numbers translate into the real world.

The Miyota movement is one that can have a noisy rotor, but that is well managed in this model. I do not notice anything excessive like I have on some other watches running a Miyota movement.

First 24-Hour Takeaway

Overall, my initial impressions of the watch have been good. This is something I can tell I will enjoy having as an option for days when I want something other than a diver. In some ways, it feels just as at home on my wrist as a diver does because of previously wearing this style of watch for a year.

For me, this is a more pleasant version of the Aachen to wear, and it looks good all over, be it indoors or outdoors. I will also say that this is one of the most photogenic watches I have had in, and I have been enjoying taking photos of it.

We will continue to put in more work and wrist time with this watch. I cannot tell you what the final outcome of my opinions will be yet, but within these first 24 hours, everything appears to indicate that they will be positive.