Officine Panerai

AnthonyTsai
[PuristS]
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SIHH 2012: Panerai PAM448 & PAM449

The PAM448 (47mm Radiomir California 3 Days) & PAM449 (47mm Radiomir S.L.C. 3 Days) are 2 of this year's highly sought after special editions. 

PAM448

PAM449

They are Boutique-only watches, meaning you can only purchase these 2 watches through one of the Panerai Boutiques and not through an authorized dealer.  This is the 1st year that Panerai has done this - all special editions this year are boutique-only.  I'm not sure how the authorized dealers feel about this, but I'm pretty sure they aren't that happy with Panerai's decision to make special editions boutique-only.  Either way, I guess it's Panerai's way of having a tighter control on who gets to purchase their "hot" special edition pieces, so hopefully we'll see less of these beauties going into the hand of flippers and grey market dealers, of which is always a good thing IMO.

The retail prices set for both PAM448 and PAM449 is $9,100, and both models have blue hands.  Originally at SIHH 2012, there were going to be only 500 pieces made for each but Panerai has bumped up production to 750 pieces each.  Both watches will also have word engravings on the rehaut ring (the inner bezel wall of the watch - these prototypes do not have the engravings).  I forgot the exact word engravings (something like "California" for the PAM448 and "SLC" for the PAM449) but they will be relevant to the models and located centered above 12 o'clock on the rehaut ring.  I don't know if these engravings are a good idea because I feel they detract from the clean dials and even more so when strapped to your wrist since you'll always see the engraving since they will be in plain sight.  If the engravings were at 6 o'clock, that would work better design-wise since then they won't be in plain sight while the watch is on your wrist.  I guess we'll have to wait for the final production watches to come out to determine if the engravings will work well with the overall design.  You know how I feel about these engravings, so hopefully I'm proven wrong when these watches make their way to retail channels.

In terms of the movement, both watches house the in-house manual wind Panerai P.3000 calibre, of which you can see through the sapphire backs.  In the below videos, you'll see that this P.3000 movement is mostly covered up with the 2 large plates.  Hopefully we'll be able to see a more skeletonized version of the P.3000 in the future ...pretty please Panerai!

And for a quick cheat sheet for the P.300X movements:

P.3000 - no power reserve
P.3001 - power reserve on back
P.3002 - power reserve on front

Below is a video of the PAM449 Radiomir S.L.C. 3 Days

Both PAM448 & PAM449 have plexi glass crystals, not sapphire glass.  I personally don't like plexi glass and prefer sapphire due to the hardness of sapphire, so if you decide to get one of these, you should be a little more cognizant of where you're arm is dangling whenever you walk near a wall or near your spouse's diamond ring!!  I've had a watch with plexi glass and it's not a pretty sight when you get it scratched.

For the strap addicts here, the name of this brown thick calf strap is called the "Ranger strap" which matches well with the ecru vintage looking super luminova.  It's the same strap that is on last year's PAM372 model.  Thick, supple, and very comfortable to wear on the wrist, the Ranger strap is currently only available in 26mm x 26mm for 47mm Luminors, but it will be available in the near future at 27mm x 22mm for 47mm Radiomirs.

Below is a video of the PAM448 Radiomir California 3 Days

I didn't bother to take photos of the watches since there are already plenty of photos on the web already (and thanks to SJX for these 2 photos I used above), so I hope the above videos give you a better idea of the curves and how the PAM448 and PAM449 look in real-life instead of photoshopped pictures with no shadows or reflections.

The PAM424 & PAM425 are the regular production versions of the PAM448 & PAM449, but those are priced at $8,700 and have gold hands instead of blue hands. I'll talk more about them in a later post, but I want to point it out that the limited edition versions are only $400 more. 

For those who love vintage Panerai's from the 1930's and can't afford one or find one at a good price, the PAM448 and PAM449 could be your answer as I feel they are good reissues using today's movements.  You have 2 choices of dials to choose from.  I prefer the S.L.C over the California as I find the SLC more interesting but to each his own I guess.  They're priced at $9,100 each, so it's not too bad given Panerai's pricing for stainless steel special edition models using their P.3000 movements.  Will these 2 watches satiate Panerai collectors?  I think they may but many already have the California PAM249, so I don't know how many would want to purchase another Panerai with a Cali dial.  And so, I think the PAM449 will be a more popular model than the PAM448.

Cheers,
Anthony