Now let's take at the hottest watch of the entire Panerai SIHH 2011 collection which is the long awaited 47mm 1950 Luminor Base - the Panerai PAM372 Luminor 1950 3 Days 47mm Base. We've been waiting for a 47mm base for years, and we finally have it - thank you Mr. Bonati!
What's great about this PAM372 is this case is a brand new case for Panerai. There are slight differences with this 1950 case as compared to the normal 1950 cases, and I'll point out the differences below.
The PAM372 houses the manual wind P.3000 movement and also has the Plexiglass crystal. It's a regular production piece with 3000 pieces schedule to be made this year.
In the below picture, notice the thinner lugs on the PAM372 on the left as compared to the lugs on my PAM29 on the right. The lugs on this new case are thinner and more flat. And the reason why Panerai made this change is because the cases on the vintage Panerai models were like this.
I really love this new 1950 vintage case!!!!!
Another new thing about this PAM372 case is there is now a visible ridge on the sides of the case. You'll see the difference in the below comparison picture.
And below is a better shot showing both the thinner lugs and ridge on the sides.
Below is the usual P.3000 view through the display back. One cool thing to notice is this is Panerai's first time ever to engrave the BB # and water resistance rating on the underside of the lugs. I guess do they do this because there's no room to engrave anything else on the narrow caseback bezel. Just an observation I haven't seen anyone else point out, so might as well point out this minor characteristic.
The PAM373 also has the flat caseback bezel just like the other P.3000 watches.
Above is a great picture showing the shape of the PAM372 plexiglass crystal. Notice how it protrudes above the bezel. I feel this look further compliments the PAM372's vintage look.
And for the strap fanatics, here's a comparison shot of the PAM372 brown strap with my OEM brown calf strap on my PAM29. You'll notice the PAM372 strap has a slight shiny coating on it and has slightly roughed up edges. Great job on the strap design Panerai.
There were other new Panerai models that debutted at SIHH 2011, but these are the main ones. I'll be sure to take photos and videos of the missing watches next time hopefully in a few months.
Thanks for taking the time to read my report, and hope you found this year's collection as impressive as I have. And another big round of applause for the Panerai staff again. Their service is top notch as always, and great seeing you again Chad and Michelle. Looking forward to chatting again in the very near future!
Cheers,
Anthony
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2011-03-15 22:56:42