Care elaborate why you consider Panerai overrated fashion junk?
Hobbit Sir -
Appreciate the measured response, far more engaging than purile emotions from fanboys.
A few times I have attempted to buy a PAM (new and secondhand), but always walked away with some other watch.
I have tried to rationalise it in a few ways, am not going to go into a long and deep discourse, as this brand hardly interests me. Happy to talk about Enicar tho
As far as movements are concerned, as you and Bro Sattha pointed out - its all the same, its just about the image/status thing. I'm not a movement nut - but I'd say Panerai movements arent exactly cutting edge or ground breaking compared to what others like JLC, IWC, Seiko or Omega for example have done over the years.
So it boils down to aesthetics and history for me.
Aesthetics - is subjective of course, but I see very little imagination in the design of PAM watches - more like recycling of the same thing again and again. This is made worse by the whole "LE" thing. They are also too big for my taste.
Perhaps it is because I like older watches that heritage and history matter. In this category, I would compare PAM with brands that use the same "heritage" or "history" marketing angle (Omega/NASA, IWC/RAF pilots, Rolex/Royal Navy/Comex etc).
Yes PAM has some history, but not as great as the marketing would lead us believe.
While all manufacturers are guilty of this (same thing would apply to the Rolex Explorer and Everest), I think PAM has the least substance. The "heritage" is just not convincing enough - i mean the 30s and WW2 is a long time ago...what did they since then? They supplied 300 pieces to the Italian Navy, a few for other navies, and pretty much did nothing throughout to 60s - 90s. Look at the timeline in the website as you can see.
I mean, 300 pieces compared to how many Subs, FFs, Mark XIIs, Seiko Chronos, JSARs, G shocks etc that served in the real military?
Until 1995 and Stallone bought one and it became "fashionable".
Since then it has become "in" and Richemont milked the whole Italian Navy thing to the max.
Hence my conclusion it is a fashion watch with a history blown out of proportion, with a price tag inflated to ride on this "history" and further elevated by so called "limited editions". Horoligically nothing cutting edge or special. While the original design was a classic, they have done nothing significant since.
Again, my opinion. No wrongs or rights. For every one of my arguments, there will be a counter - however am not interested enough in PAMs to go on and on.
Each to his own.