Coverage report of Panerai SIHH 2014 preview event at Mr. C Beverly Hills

Jun 26, 2014,15:53 PM
 

Yesterday I attended Panerai's SIHH 2014 preview event at Mr. C Beverly Hills on Beverwil Drive.  Start time was 6pm with end time of 9:30pm.  Panerai rented out the entire Pool & Terrace area, and the theme of the night was "Mediterranean-Inspired Summer Evening."

Once you enter the Pool & Terrace area, you hear the party music coming from the speakers along the perimeter.  The DJ that night was awesome and one of the best I've ever heard before.  Maybe because he played all the music that I like? smile  In any case, he did an awesome job DJ'ing that night, and many other guests said the same thing.  Below is a short video clip to capture the ambience of the evening.

 

It was a perfect California summer evening.  The light was still shining above but slowly making its way down but still giving us perfect lighting to take our pictures.  There was a constant cool mild breeze so it was never hot.  The always lovely and effervescent Michele Gallagher (lower right corner), Panerai North America PR Director, organized this evening's event.  Below are pictures of the venue, and you can see it was an ideal day to host this event. 


The white sofas provided an elegant contrast with the wood flooring, and there were heaters scattered across the venue for when it gets more chilly during the later part of the evening. 



 

There were many old friends and long time Paneristi's here, so it's always nice to see them every year to catch up.  Mr. Rafael Alvarez, President of Panerai North America, in in the below picture wearing a navy blue suit and chatting with an older gentleman with white hair and another Panerai fan wearing a light blue blazer.  A photographer was diligently taking event photos throughout the entire night as well.









 

There was a variety of food as you can see in the below picture.  This table was just one of the 3 food stations at the venue.  I enjoyed my steak, the wonderful hors devours, and of course the cocktails - what's a party without alcohol? smile



The new SIHH 2014 collection were housed in vitrines placed along the perimeter of the pool area.  Below are the new Panerai pocket watches - PAM447 rose gold & PAM529 white gold - which both are limited editions of 50 pieces each.  Both are 50mm and house the beautiful skeletonized in-house P.3001/10 movement.




Below is the black ceramic PAM446 tourbillon pocketwatch from last year's SIHH 2013.  This one is also a 50 piece limited edition but is larger sized at 59mm.



Below is the 48mm "Lo Scienziato" which is the PAM528 Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Ceramica.  This model also debuted last year as well along with the above PAM446.  Following the picture below is also is a video of the PAM528 so you can see the tourbillon in action.




My favorite piece of the night is the below 44mm stainless steel PAM590 exclusive to the North America market.  I guess you can call it PAM203's little brother since it has the same "8 Giorni Brevettato" at 3 o'clock.




The PAM590 houses the 8-day manual wind P.5000 movement, but unfortunately you can't see it since the watch comes with a solid caseback.  Hopefully one day Panerai will release another variant of the PAM590 with a sapphire caseback.  If they do this, this watch would be the perfect Panerai for many collectors IMO.


 


 




 

Next are the new Panerai Radiomir 1940 Chronographs with Minerva movements - PAM519 rose gold with brown dial (left), PAM518 platinum with ivory dial (center), and the PAM520 white gold with black dial (right).  Sorry for the reflections and glare on the watch crystals.  It was literally impossible to snap any good pictures of these Radiomirs in the vitrines.

 

The rose gold PAM519 is a limited edition of 100 pieces.



The PAM518 is a limited edition of 50 pieces.


 

And the below white gold PAM520 is a limited edition of 100 pieces like its rose gold sibling.





Below are more pictures of these new Radiomir 1940 Chronographs for a clearer view.


 

 

 

 
 
Here's a picture of the beautiful Minerva movement.
 

 

 

 



Below are the PAM526 Luminor 1950 Regatta Chrono Flyback (left) and the PAM524 Luminor 1950 Chrono Flyback (right) from last year's SIHH 2013.
 



Here's a side view picture with less glare.



Below are the PAM502 & PAM503 Radiomir 1940 Monopusher Chronographs from last year's SIHH 2013.  I apologize for the picture glares sad





And finally for the watches, the last watch is the PAM538 Radiomir 8 Days GMT in rose gold from SIHH 2013.  This Radiomir has the vivid blue dial with baton hour markers at 12 and 6 o'clock.  The blue dial changes to different shades of blue at various angles.


 



And below are some foodie pics with my PAM195 that I wore that night.


 

 

 

 

 

 



 


The wait staff and servers were attentive and brought out a constant stream of hors devoures.  The bartender below mixed a pretty good pomegranate martini!  And for dessert, we had mini ice cream cones and some other various sweets.




Thank you Panerai for a lovely fantastic event - the weather was perfect, the ambience was elegant, the music was AWESOME, the people were great, and the watches were beautiful as usual.  A big thanks to Michele, Chad, and Rafael for a memorable event which will be tough to surpass next year!

Salut!!

Cheers,
Anthony


 




This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2014-06-26 20:15:47 This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2014-06-26 21:29:57


More posts: 8 Days GMTLuminorLuminor 1950Luminor MarinaPAM100PAM195PAM203PAM446PAM447PAM518PAM519PAM520PAM524PAM526PAM529Pocket Watch 3 Days Oro BiancoPocket Watch 3 Days Oro RossoPocket Watch Tourbillon GMT CeramicaRadiomirRadiomir 1940Radomir

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Comments: view entire thread

 

TFS...Looks like it was an awesome event!

 
 By: Darron : June 27th, 2014-00:49
That 590 is sweet. I too wish it had a sapphire back and 2002/3 PR on back.

Great coverage of a great evening..

 
 By: ocwatching : June 27th, 2014-05:42
and them Minvera movement! loved the 1940 Chronos in person, especially the white dialed one. It was a nice venue with a great ambiance for summer evening. Food, friends and Panerai, PERFECT! Nice to hang out AT and to catchup with other local Panerai fan... 

OOPS...

 
 By: ocwatching : June 27th, 2014-09:53
sorry! TM and MTF!

Great post Anthony!

 
 By: MichaelC : June 27th, 2014-08:21
I really liked the first 30 second video, which captured the venue. I think the 590 is correct with a solid caseback myself. Assuming the movement below is properly finished, of course :-) Thinks for the coverage of this unique event.

Thanks for sharing

 
 By: William M aka Mr.Lume : June 27th, 2014-08:43
It's too bad op didn't design this 590 w/ a see thru back......BUMMER

Fantastic event and post!

 
 By: jrwong23 (aka watchthebin) : June 27th, 2014-09:08
Thanks for inviting us virtually there Anthony. Looks like a very fun event with good music, food, great company of Purists and Panerai fans and of course Pams! Congrats to Panerai on the successful event Cheers Robin

It was a great event

 
 By: AnthonyTsai : June 27th, 2014-14:54
I didn't think this event would be as great as it was because usually watch events that aren't sit down dinners at restaurants usually don't fare that well from my experience. It just goes to show that whoever organized and planned this event, in this cas... 

it was just a very fun and relaxed event..

 
 By: ocwatching : June 27th, 2014-15:51
and the watches seemed to fit right in... awesome job by the Panerai PR Team...

Great seeing old friends and meeting new ones!!

 
 By: jchubb59 : June 27th, 2014-22:47
Awesome event!! Good catching up with everyone!! Jonathan

I really like that PAM 590...

 
 By: patrick_y : June 28th, 2014-11:03
Wow! Nice event! While I really enjoyed the event, more importantly I realized I really like that PAM 590. This is the first time I've really noticed it. It slipped my mind during all of the SIHH stuff. I'll have to check that one out the next time I'm at... 

did I miss you my friend?

 
 By: ocwatching : June 29th, 2014-11:50
were you there? too bad we didn't catch up! call the boutique for the 590! PAM590...8 Giorni goodness! 25Jun14 ...  

I missed it!

 
 By: patrick_y : June 29th, 2014-12:55
I missed it. And I don't have a good excuse. Other than traffic. Besides, you couldn't have missed me if I were there. Unless there was another short loud guy who's always talking too loudly and being rude. Seems like you had a good time Phil!

Thanks a lot Anthony for the report!

 
 By: foversta : June 29th, 2014-12:08
This year is the year of the chronograph at Panerai and I have to confess that I love these Minerva powered watches. Sadly, their prices make them unaffordable for my wallet. Fx

Yeah many said at the event they wished the new Radiomir chronos

 
 By: AnthonyTsai : June 30th, 2014-11:08
were priced lower because they are priced in the area of Lange and Patek which IMO offers more value at that price range. Hopefully we'll see these Radiomir 1940 chromos housing another movement for a lower price range. Cheers, Anthony

Hum, are you sure?

 
 By: foversta : June 30th, 2014-13:13
Because if it is one day the case, Panerai will have to explain it with strong arguments to the owners of the Minerva versions. Fx

This happens all the time with Panerai

 
 By: AnthonyTsai : June 30th, 2014-17:02
When they make limited edition pieces, they sometimes come out and make another variation of it by changing something with the watch. So this is why I wouldn't be surprised to see other versions of these Radiomir 1940 chronos. Maybe the dial won't look ex...