Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin of Larchmont
Either we enjoy wearing them or we don’t.
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After more talks with friends and consideration, that truly is the bottom line.
Perhaps we should all be praising Panerai for their ability to successfully market their dial and case style IP to maximize profits. This is a business after all. We know many of their customers don't care about movements, so a basic reliable ETA or Richemont movement is fine. Maximize the price in hopes to ensure the success of the company. If you care about movement decoration, there are a plethora of other brands to choose from, even those within the Richemont family. But they won't have the fashion style of Panerai.
Much angst about the new Panerai models from many online, and while the debate goes on I feel the bottom line is... do you enjoy the Panerai fashion style and wearing the product or not.
As a side note, I got some flack about the 1118 TRON from 'purists', yet I also helped sell a few even though we all know about the non-hacking 9010 movement debacle. Forgetting Panerai for a moment, even the Tudor ceramic Black Bay with jn-house movement at only ~$5000 that is METAS certified got panned here on TRF when it was first announced. Think about that. Tudor's ceramic case, true in-house movement, silicon hairspring, METAS certified, ~$5000 price... gets panned here on TRF by quite a few members. Guys like me still went ahead and got one, and yes I love it, love wearing it, and love the transparent back and decorated / darkened movement.
Back to Panerai, let's all celebrate them maximizing their brand IP. The more demand the better for the overall health of the company. Besides, Panerai was never really a movement engineering-based company historically, so it makes sense to stick with a reliable movement. I praise Richemont for choosing an ETA movement, they are tried and true designs.
Let's praise the 1118 TRON, there's no timepiece with that style and amazingly bright lume. And if Panerai remove the hacking seconds because of a known reliability issue, then choosing higher reliability is preferred. That's one reason many of us love Rolex, we intrinsically know they work reliably year after year.
And yes, even through all this am very much looking fwd to the 42mm bronzo, P900 and all. Panerai bronze fashion for the win