Has this ever happened to you?

[advocatia]

Short version. Rolex only guy for many, many years. Discovered Panerai. Started with the 88 then sold it for the 422. Could not get the Rolex GMT2C out of my head though so picked one up BNIB last week as a second watch and have been wearing it since while my 422 sits in a drawer.

The GMT2C is beautiful to be sure, love the bezel and the polished links, but I get this feeling that it just lacks something the 422 has in terms of making me smile when I look at it. For one, it now seems smaller than it really is. Second, I think that Panerai are so different and so unique that there is just something special about them. Hard to put into words, really. A "presence", I suppose, at the risk of sounding too dramatic.

Slapping on the 422 tonight (after bringing it back "to life") and will use the GMT2C for golf, fishing, swimming, beach, and hot humid outdoors activities as well as to change things up a bit from time to time. The boring old manual wind, three hand, no date 422 just brings me more joy.

And yes, I know I'm nuts to be this analytical about a watch. I hope my wife does not lurk here. It would just reaffirm her long standing suspicions about my mental health.