Panerai

Some so much and others so little... Panerai, unlike Lange, have got their press kit completely wrong. Two discs, one USB key and a whatever gift (that I gladly passed on to my neighbor). No pictures of their two new calibers and many pictures of stuff that looks all the same. I really wish that brands stop giving presents to the press. The only thing it encourages is to have the wrong people attend your happenings for the wrong reasons. I also feel that it is wrong to constantly get presents for doing ones job. It just sends the wrong message. I wonder if any of these brands aware that if the press go to visit them it is only because they want their publicity money? Save the gifts and give them to "real" customers or aficionados. They will surely welcome the gifts with more gratitude.

The most interesting Panerai product this year are the two in-house "Manifatura" movements and the return to the price range that seemed to be abandoned lately by Panerai. I guess the open complaints from diehard Paneristi have had an effect after all. Thank god they listened! Looking at the current economic situation this can't come at a better time. The first to get this new automatic 72 hour power-reserve movement will be a Luminor 1950. The pricing will be just above the 4,000€ mark. Which considering the piece is more than very reasonable. the new Luminor is also fitted with the new bracelet. A big improvement over the previous version.

The two new calibre presented where an automatic to be used as a base calibre in the future and a rattrapante chrono. The only problem I see with both these movements is that one is 8 millimeters think ant the other just nearly reaches one centimeter. This means that if you wish to use the rattrapante movement and you wish to make it water-resistant to 300 meters (30 ATMs) you will end up with a BURGER that would be around TWO centimeters thick. Now, how about their other entry level in-house movement. If it where to be used as a base and a module to be added on top you can easily add an extra 3 millimeters to the equation. Now, I don't get it. Wasn't the trent regarding size and especially the thickness going down..? If you are developing stuff from scratch why wont you make it versatile enough to fit in any future model? A key factor is to make it as thin as can be so that it may fit as many cases as possible. Can you picture a 45 millimeter Radiomir with a 20 mm case? Need I say that there are no pictures of the burgers... sorry, movements in their press kit?

Upssss... forgot Hulk's watch! At a whopping 60 millimeters we have the The "Egiziano"! Nothing to object to it. In fact I like that replicas are made of mythical watches. In this case it is really just an "item" for collector and not really a wearable watch. At 300 units I am not certain many non-collectors will ever get a chance to buy-for-use. Actually, I wonder how long it takes for the first pictures of this "behemoth" on Beckham's wrist are in the media... Even the fellow presenting it admitted that it was just impossible to wear casually on your wrist. I must admit I would have liked them to make it in steel, like the original one, and not in Titanium. Would have also been useful when going out. Somebody get on your case, just throw him your watch. Hit him in the head, hospital journey guaranteed.

Panerai...