Officine Panerai

Echi
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It almost left the watch box..

A casual exchange with a “newbie” saw me offering my Zero with a small premium to which he readily said yes.

Of course, after having agreed on the sale, I let the matter stew for a bit as there was still a few days before the meetup.

It just lay on a shelf. It was in active rotation alongside the 372 after all. It just lay there and I was looking at it. Getting it. Holding it up. Putting it back down. Getting on with life. I’d do this everytime I see it.

And it made me wonder.

If you take out pre-Vs out of the equation (esp the 201/A) or T-dial variants, is the Zero THE BEST 44mm Luminor ever made, base or otherwise? Is it THE quintessential Luminor for the period?

I thought about iterations like the 112.. sure it’s even more balanced but i found it TOO balanced. And I really did fell in love with the OP logo itself ever since I saw it on the 000.

I thought about the LE 390.. kinda like a baby 372 but everytime I think 44, I think Zero. The 390 didnt have a workhorse vibe.

The new base logo (0000) didn’t even pop up in the radar. 100m depth rating. Regular spring bars. That case back.. Not even an in-house movement can make up for those seemingly small differences.

A couple of days later, my friend messaged me and said he was backing out of the deal.

I replied, “no problem”.

A weird sense of relief came over me for some reason. The main reason why I considered letting it go was that it was never going to be a 201/A. But then even if they re-issued one today with the Pre-V looks, I think the emotional boat would’ve left anyway as the Zero was introduced at a time when OP had some serious mojo. If I’m not mistaken, the Zero was born in a time when OP was still churning out heavyweights, when the “love” was still there. They were introduced in 2004 when the likes of the LE 203, 232, 249 (sure the other two are rads but you get the point) made their debut a year or two after. It’s safe to say the “feeling” was still there. Not sure when things started to sour a bit..Did it start with those OOR variants? I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m glad for the “postponement”. Gives me time to understand it some more.

Best, Echi



Been enjoying it as a photo/travel buddy of late..

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