The Watch Snob

I know in your past articles you have been very critical of Panerai timepieces. However, I recently read about a new watch with the Panerai badge sporting an in-house movement, the PAM 338, which is smaller. Do you think this could be a turning point for the company, and do you think their in-house movement would be respectable enough to spend almost $8,000 on?

While I am often cast as a Panerai hater, let me set the record straight. The company had a long history as a respectable maker of nautical and diving instruments. The fact that its early dive watches often used Rolex or Angelus movements never troubled me because Panerai never really proclaimed they were watchmakers but rather instrument producers.

But in the 1990s, in a story that is well known to many, a certain second-rate porn-star-turned-action-film-actor discovered the brand, and soon, as the French like to say, Panerai started throwing flowers at themselves. They were bought by a conglomerate, moved from Italy to Switzerland and started charging exorbitant prices for giant watches with pedestrian movements inside. They enjoyed success thanks to guys with bigger wrists (and wallets) than brains.

The new PAM 338 isn’t Panerai’s first attempt at an in-house movement, but I feel like it is the first one really worth considering. Yes, that was painful for me to write. I say that not because the movement breaks new ground but because it is priced more appropriately for a time-only in-house movement. Whether a movement can be called truly in-house when a company shares the stable with Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Lange is up for debate.

But at least it’s not another gussied up tractor from the House of Swatch. Now, I still don’t think 42mm is small. 40mm would have been a better, more restrained size. But an old dog can only learn one new trick at a time.

--The Watch Snob