Trip to the AD...

[Markg]

so we went down to carmel yesterday, and visited a panerai dealer.

they had a really nice collection of panerai's, about 12 or so in all. they had the best in stock selection, by far, of the dealers i had visited in the past. but i had never spent any real time looking at panerais before, always looking at other brands (partially because the dealers never had any stock to browse).

anyway, the ones i remember they had were the 111, 104, 48, 88, and 90. they also had a few others i dont remember, including one they kept in the safe (for someone else, but the owner brought it out to show me) that was a 1950 limited edition automatic with the view back and domed bezel. apparently this was the closest they had to the 270 i wished to see.

so i put myself on the waiting list for a 270 (he said it will take about 2 years). but the 111 looked pretty darn nice!!

i did try on a 40mm, figuring 44 was just too big. the odd thing was that the 40 actually looked too small! the style of the watch NEEDS the 44mm to look right, at least on my wrist. and i tried this one on FIRST so it wouldnt just look small compared to the others. go figure.

then it was off to the rolex dealer across the street....

[bimmer]

Perhaps u might want to go with what they have in stock as I don't even know how many price increase there might be in the next 2 years. You might be better off buying something now than later. PAM almost trippled their values in the past 5 years.
I think u posted another thread regarding which PAM u should get a while ago and I mentioned 111 in my reply. In my opinion, the 111 is a very good starter PAM if you don't mind the winding part.

[boa2]

Sorry I missed you, Mark. My wife & I were there at Chatel twice over the weekend. I did get to speak at length to a gent who was wearing his Panerai 3646, made in 1941 with a Rolex case & movement. What a classic piece!

Carmel has some pretty amazing watch shopping in a few short blocks. And for the first time, we also went to the Crossroads plaza--about a mile from downtown--where there is an AD who sells Rolex, Patek & Breguet.

[Markg]

i didnt know there was any patek dealer down there....used to stop at crossroads for breakfast before we went diving at monestary beach!!

guess i will have to go there next time. too bad we missed you guys, we were pretty much in the store alone.

[Markg]

Originally Posted by bimmer

Perhaps u might want to go with what they have in stock as I don't even know how many price increase there might be in the next 2 years. You might be better off buying something now than later. PAM almost trippled their values in the past 5 years.
I think u posted another thread regarding which PAM u should get a while ago and I mentioned 111 in my reply. In my opinion, the 111 is a very good starter PAM if you don't mind the winding part.

the wait is good, as i have been buying too much stuff in the last 9 months.

i do like the 111 the best of all the watches i have seen so far though. probably my next watch, but i do need to wait some....

[boa2]

Originally Posted by Markg

i didnt know there was any patek dealer down there....used to stop at crossroads for breakfast before we went diving at monestary beach!!

guess i will have to go there next time.

Hesselbeins is the AD name. A very nice man helped us there, and they had a surprisingly good selection of Pateks.

[Markg]

Originally Posted by bimmer

Perhaps u might want to go with what they have in stock as I don't even know how many price increase there might be in the next 2 years. You might be better off buying something now than later. PAM almost trippled their values in the past 5 years.
I think u posted another thread regarding which PAM u should get a while ago and I mentioned 111 in my reply. In my opinion, the 111 is a very good starter PAM if you don't mind the winding part.

ok, so now i have been to two pam ad's (two left to go), but i have talked to all four in the area (within one hour drive).

i have decided i must have the display back, so that seems to limit me to either the historic/manifattura/special edition models.

in person, i also loved the sandwich dial that seems only available on the radiomir versions (is this true?). and the brown/blue dials dont look that great to me.

so the only models i could find that fit the above requirements were the 183, 190, 249, and 235. (there might be more, but its tough to navigate their web site)

if price were no object, i liked the 235 a lot! but 32k seems a bit much.

so i guess i'll try another trip to a third AD and see what happens...

[Lol-x]

Originally Posted by Markg

so we went down to carmel yesterday, and visited a panerai dealer.

Carmel sounds like a strange place makes me think of caramel

Originally Posted by Markg

i did try on a 40mm, figuring 44 was just too big. the odd thing was that the 40 actually looked too small! the style of the watch NEEDS the 44mm to look right, at least on my wrist.

I agree the 44mm looks the right size for this kind of watch

Originally Posted by Markg

i have decided i must have the display back, so that seems to limit me to either the historic/manifattura/special edition models.

in person, i also loved the sandwich dial that seems only available on the radiomir versions (is this true?). and the brown/blue dials dont look that great to me.

I have a PAM 177 it has a display back and a sandwich dial, it is definitely a stealth model and here is a pic, it is worth considering. It is made of titanium, but it does not have the usual light as a feather feel on the wrist that you can experience with many titanium watches.

[Markg]

i dont know much about these, but could only find radiomirs with the sandwich dial; guess i need to go back and look at the luminors again, since i like that style a bit better.

and if the 177 has that dial, the 111 must have it as well; my AD has that one in stock.

maybe i'll try them this weekend.