Finally got to see some Panerai watches.  As you may know, they were the official watches of the Italian navy, including their divers.  They are huge, almost ugly, but very popular, with many homages out there.  I was able to try some on at C.D. Peacock.

The first one I tried on was the Luminor Marina:

A nice looking watch, not too big, at 40mm.  Ugly ass cyclops magnifier over the date.  There is a 44mm available as well.  Neat, but pointless crown guard at 3 O’clock.  Way overpriced, over $4,000.

The next was the Radiomir:

A beast at 46mm or so.  I have to say, it didn’t hang over my wrist like I thought it would.  Unless you are legally blind, you will be able to read this watch.  I liked the look of it, then I looked at the back.

Jesus, the movement filled the case.  I looked it up later, 44mm diameter movement.  They basically took a hand wind pocket watch and attached to your wrist!  As a comparison, the Seiko 7S26 is 27mm across, the Seiko 4206 is less than 23mm.   I am sure it is solid engineering, but BIG movements are cheap to make.  At $4,800, I was not impressed.  A pretty face with a cheap movement don’t work for me.  They even have temperature compensating weights on the balance.  A feature not needed in 100 years.   It adds cost and does nothing for accuracy.  Much like a tourbillon. which does nothing as well.  (More on these points on a longer post I am writing.)

Overall, they were very nice looking, but very expensive watches.  They are very desireable now, but what about 10 to 20 years down the road?  You can get watches that look very similar, with probably better movements for about 1/50th the price.

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