I've always thought the submersible is a bit under appreciated but in my mind, it represents the DNA of Panerai the best. Having seen various after-market PVD/DLC'ed out PAM24/25, I didn't think it looks half bad. It's only a matter of time before OP came out w/ their own version.
I knew they were struggling a little bit w/ the rotating bezel on ceramic/composite casing and I'm glad they seemed to have got it all figured out.
As to people's outburst of disatisfaction on the remake of bronzo, perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is: Is this behaviour anything new?
OP, since day 1, was all about 'remaking' the pieces from the past. The difference is the 'duration' between the original piece & the clone.
It used to be 60yrs, between the real vintage & remake (or should I say hommage?) (3646 vs. PAM21, 6152/1 vs. PAM127) then it shrunk to ~10yrs? (5201/201A vs. PAM0000, PAM21 vs PAM232) then it went further below 10yrs (26A,B vs. 26K, 28A/B/C vs 28L, etc etc) then down to ~5yrs (249 vs 448, PAM217 vs PAM368, PAM194 vs PAM285)
As a matter of fact, I was just talking to a fellow collector: I'm sort of glad that they slap on that PR on the 507. Imagine if they keep it an exact clone by perhaps changing the dial colour to brown or try to do it even BETTER by taking out the date AND making it regular production? I should count myself blessed for being a lucky owner of PAM382. (Or am I doing this too soon? )
There were also concerns about the perceived value of the ORIGINAL dropping as a result of the act of cloning. While we don't want to drill too much on pricings, but have we noticed 3646 or even PAM21 dropping in value since the introduction of PAM232?
Don't forget they're a business afterall, in fact, part of a huge conglomorate with unique corporate culture. As such, practice like this should not be surprising at all, after all the years of observations. In fact, I would argue that if it weren't for the group's business sense, we probably won't witnessed such a price appreciation of this magnitude over the last 15yrs, due to the organic growth of the brand.
Your thoughts?
This message has been edited by Jester on 2013-01-23 23:23:00