Officine Panerai

My first nice watch was an IWC portuguese chrono, lets say around 2006, I loved it, beautiful shape of the case, size, nice legibility - it was a 'mature' watch for me at the time, if that makes sense. 

Even though Panerai has been popular for a lot longer than I when I entered the brand, the first Panerai's I saw closely amongst colleagues was around 2005. There was a mystery about them, even in 2005. You couldn't see them regularly in shop windows in Asia, where I moved to, they were hard to find watches at the time, they were only on a select few wrists, vs Rolex for example. 

Also, an important fact that I am now realising is that social media was pretty much non existent, and so seeing wristshots etc of Panerais, or any other watch for that matter, was not like it is today. All of this added to the mystery of the brand for me.

And to be honest, the ease of changing the strap allowed you, in essence, to buy more than one watch - as the look can change drastically, and a simple strap change made it look like a different model (in the eyes of the non WIS). This was very cool.

I bought a PAM279, a titanium bracelet model (I loved the bracelet on this watch, versus the newer bracelets, it made the watch feel for aggressive, plus of course could be changed to a strap). I was young, outgoing, and this watch suited my lifestyle and personality perfectly.

But after a while, as with any watch, your views change, and with the credit crisis in full swing, it was just no longer appropriate, especially in a business environment.

Now changing your views on a watch can happen to any brand, but I think this next point is the key, which Tim mentioned above.

If I was bored of my IWC chrono, but didn't want to leave IWC, there were a lot of alternative watches within the stable that appealed to me. Other portuguese models, the original aquatimer etc etc. I also felt strongly about IWC, seeing some of their high end pieces, the 7 day PC movements designed by them. My opinion on IWC has unfortunately completely changed, and I am very sad about that, but that's a different story!

So here is the rub.... If you fancied a change from the luminor design..... there wasn't any!!! The radiomir line 'generally' didn't do it for me, although there are a few pieces recently that I have looked at with some interest. I would love to know what Mr Bonati's 5-10 year plan is for the brand.... but alas, the impressions I get are that it will just be more of the same, with a different case back, faux patina, reissue of a vintage model.... all pretty much cosmetic. Yes, they have worked on their in house movements... but unfortunately for them, all other brands are catching onto the 'in-house' game, and its no longer the big deal it was when it first came out.

So to answer the question, IMO I don't think its so much the size of the watch, rather, its the ONLY size you can really get in it. With the other brands that Anthony showed, you can go big, and you can go small.... with Panerai, you can only go big....

More posts: LuminorLuminor MarinaPAM279Radiomir

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