What a beautiful watch the PanoInverse in steel is! For my taste it is also the old version. (Same reason: The movement fits the case better.) I was close to grabbing one myself, but in the end and in the metal for some reason it did not sing loud enough to me. Cannot really tell why. Hmmm. Maybe one day? So I keep admiring it from the distance everytime I see it in pictures and am very happy for everybody who treated himself with one!
having owned both versions of the SS panoinverse, i like the bigger dial more because of the better juxtaplay between the stripes and perlage - you see more of it and to me that's just scintillatingly beautiful.
Both watches are 42mm. The primary differences that I can determine are the thickness of the bezel and the thickness of the case. The new version is listed as 42 mm by 12 mm thick while the original version was 42 mm by 11.2 mm thick. I think the size difference that people are referring to is therefore primarily a function of the bezel, as the new version has a considerably thinner bezel, which means the dial is more expansive. More dial space typically makes a watch appear larger on the wrist and I think that is likely the case here.