Officine Panerai

Hello all! 

Over the past number of months I have slowly started keeping my eyes open to possibly buying my first Panerai watch.  There is something about the look/feel/image of this brands watches which I think would compliment nicely my watch collection and my personality.  I have done some (not enough!) research into the brand and some of the models, and I think I am close to making my first purchase.  Although the watch I fell for immediately was the PAM 36, it is out of my range so I continued looking; always trying to keep that models simple yet understated strength in mind.  I will list some of the references which I am interested in, and would love if I could get some feedback as to some of the pros and cons of them.  At the end of the day I will buy the watch that speaks to me, the one which I feel is the right one; however to help get me closer to that one I would appreciate some help from you guys!  Here they are, in no specific order.

PAM 104   PAM 48   PAM 240   PAM 00000   PAM 00111   PAM 00177   PAM 00005  PAM 212  (and of course PAM 36 for the right price!!!)

I realize not all of these are so much in common, having different cases/functions/sizes.  They all  (besides maybe 212) have that simple yet strong beauty which I think in some way represents the classic Panerai brand.  I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

Alex

 

- PAM 36 (a cut above the others...)

- PAM 000

- PAM 005

- PAM 212

I would forget about the others.

Good luck!

Sam

 

As it is the only one which comes with:

Brown dial,

Tritium indexes.

Titanium Case.

But, you forgot that there are very close watches to this one:

The Titanium Base Pam 55.

The Luminor Marina Destro Titanium Pam 56.

The Pam 118.

And the Pam 61.

All these are titanium, and brown dials, BUT, at the difference of the 36, come with Luminova Indexes.

They are also less, much mess expensive than the Pam 36.

Much less rare, too.

Best.

Nicolas

Nicolas,

 

Firstly just want to tell you I enjoy reading your posts all across the site!   Thanks for your feedback here.  I like both the 118 and 61 options.  I guess I didnt come across them on OP website, or the other places I've checked...are those 2 still in production?  Also comparing those to some of the other that I have listed which would you put as the top few? 

 

Thanks!

 

Alex

All those I mentionned are not produced anymore, but if you go on the collector markets here and there, you won't have problems to find one.

Among all the pieces you and me quoted, I'd say that ifd you don't want to sell your house for a 36, you'd better go on a 61...

Because it has a solid case back, because it's a very elegant piece, because this is a watch wich respects the roots of the Brand.

The 61 is a winner, just after the 36, if you're crazy about affordable brow dials!

Best, and thanks again for your nice words.

Nicolas

I would approach the subject of the choice of a first Panerai in a different manner.

I note that all the models that you have refered to are Luminor models.  One can deduct from this fact that you are not interested in buying a Radomir model.

This having been said my main question to you is do you want a mechanical watch or an automatic one?  Note that mechanical watches do not come wth the date and you have to wind them up regularly, whereas automatic ones (usually) come with the date and if you keep them on your wrist they don't need to be wound up as regularly.

This basically gives you three categories to choose from:

1. Luminor base: mechanical, hour and minutes

2. Luminor Marina: mechanical, hour, minutes and seconds

3. Luminor Marina Automatic: automatic (as one could guess), hour, minutes, seconds and date.

I think that it is great to start with a somewhat standard model as it gives you the opportunity to go more up scale in the future (besides the fact that they are all simply beautiful). Basically it gives something to look forward too.

I like your choice of the PAM 177 simple yet elegant model.  Titanium is a very elegant choice from my perspective.

If you don't care about moving up in the future then the PAM 212 is the one I would go for.

Good luck with finding a PAM 36.

George

 

 

George,

Thanks for your help breaking down the decision process. 

I am kind of torn, as I prefer the look of the Historic Luminor Marina, (either the 005, 61 or the 177), but I prefer the Automatic movement of the Luminor Marina Automatc (240 or 104).  What bothers me most about the 240 or 104 is the raised glass above the date.

I'll have to decide which is more important to me, unless I find another which is Automatic, without the raised glass.

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Regards,

Alex

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What character of the 36 that catch your eyes....the titanium case? If this is a case, you can take the great Nicolas' advise for all the titanium pieces.

If you love the tritium dial, you have to go for only 36 or 40 which are only titanium case with tritium indices.

If you are looking for only tritium indices, try to find the A-series or B-transition.

Please keep us update of what you dicide.

Cheers