February issue of WatchTime

Okay, I know it's a couple of months behind, but Daren was good enough to send me some of his back issues and I just finished reading about the new Panerai in-house movement for the 8-Days, designated the P.2002.

This watch has an eight-day power reserve (actually it's good for nine days), a GMT function, hours, linear power reserve on the dial, minutes, seconds, am/pm indicator and the date. The thing is a technical marvel and I highly recommend this read. Panerai is certainly stepping up with becoming a 'manufacture'.

BTW, that issue also has an interesting acticle about Glashutte and how their factory was designed with 'watch tourists' in mind.

[dman]

I love the movement, love the gmt function, hate the PR. Just looks better on the back like the 190.

Originally Posted by Atomic

Okay, I know it's a couple of months behind, but Daren was good enough to send me some of his back issues and I just finished reading about the new Panerai in-house movement for the 8-Days, designated the P.2002.

This watch has an eight-day power reserve (actually it's good for nine days), a GMT function, hours, linear power reserve on the dial, minutes, seconds, am/pm indicator and the date. The thing is a technical marvel and I highly recommend this read. Panerai is certainly stepping up with becoming a 'manufacture'.

BTW, that issue also has an interesting acticle about Glashutte and how their factory was designed with 'watch tourists' in mind.

I have been very busy so am behind in my watch mag reading, so coincidentally, I just read that piece last night!

I agree the movement is quite good, and has some interesting features. I do question the need for a power reserve indicator that requires so many parts (these are normally not something that requires a ton of parts) and I wonder if they have gone complicated just for the sake of it. Hopefully it will be reliable.

I am mostly impressed with the "zeroing" function on the second hand. This automaticlly snaps the second hand to zero when you pull the crown out to set the time. Excellent feature!

I do wish they had done something better for the finish on this movement. The "brushed" looking finish does not do it justice IMO.

Overall a great job though.

I was not aware that the "original" company had produced so few watches - only 300 of the "real" Panny's out there!

[dman]

Originally Posted by Avalon

I was not aware that the "original" company had produced so few watches - only 300 of the "real" Panny's out there!

And of those, they can't locate them all. Think they are worth some coin?

Originally Posted by dman

And of those, they can't locate them all. Think they are worth some coin?

Given the auction last year of some of the original pieces, YES!


Remember that Egyptian navy 8 Day went for something like US$85,000! Didn't Bruce say a former colleague of his has his dad's Luftwaffe Panerai? Man that's gotta be worth at least $50K.

The only thing I don't like on the 8 Day is the linear PR indicator. I couldn't care less how many parts it needs, but I prefer the JLC 8 Day movement that had the PR indicator on the back of the movement. Really, a PR is such a waste. But the P.2002 is an impressive feat for Panerai and puts them on firm ground for the future, even though they're firmly established in the Swatch group. Good thing too that S. Bonani decided to keep them low-key rather than a mass producer, too!

Originally Posted by Atomic

The only thing I don't like on the 8 Day is the linear PR indicator. I couldn't care less how many parts it needs, but I prefer the JLC 8 Day movement that had the PR indicator on the back of the movement. Really, a PR is such a waste.

Well, I have a watch with a PR and I like it. A watch that you wind every day, like my PanoReserve, it becomes a daily habit and part of your routine, so you could argue the idicator isn't needed. For an 8-day movement, I would not trust my memory as well to wind it once a week. IMO it makes more sense here than on other watches.

Originally Posted by Avalon

Well, I have a watch with a PR and I like it. A watch that you wind every day, like my PanoReserve, it becomes a daily habit and part of your routine, so you could argue the idicator isn't needed. For an 8-day movement, I would not trust my memory as well to wind it once a week. IMO it makes more sense here than on other watches.

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. I'm not big on PRs, you like them.

I just wish Panerai had followed JLC's move and kept the PR on the 190 on the back.

[dman]

Originally Posted by Atomic

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. I'm not big on PRs, you like them.

I just wish Panerai had followed JLC's move and kept the PR on the 190 on the back.

I think a big reason they didn't was too seperate themselves from the JLC movement. I think a linear one on the back would look cool though.

[mamas]

have you guys got a photio of this panerai? sounds like quite a piece..

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Atomic

That's what makes this hobby so much fun. I'm not big on PRs, you like them.

I just wish Panerai had followed JLC's move and kept the PR on the 190 on the back.

I also like the PR feature and I prefer it on the front, which is where my JLC Master Geographic has it. I find that the auto winding function on that watch doesn't work all that well, mainly because my wrist doesn't move around all that much during the day - mostly reading and keyboarding, which is fine for finger movement, but it doesn't agitate the wrist very much. If I wear the JLC for several days at a time, I can see the PR indicator dropping precipiticely to the point where if I were to not wind it and take it off at night, it would come to a screeching halt before I put it back on in the AM. So I'm in favor of keeping the PR meter where it can be easily seen - on the front.

[dman]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

I also like the PR feature and I prefer it on the front, which is where my JLC Master Geographic has it. I find that the auto winding function on that watch doesn't work all that well, mainly because my wrist doesn't move around all that much during the day - mostly reading and keyboarding, which is fine for finger movement, but it doesn't agitate the wrist very much. If I wear the JLC for several days at a time, I can see the PR indicator dropping precipiticely to the point where if I were to not wind it and take it off at night, it would come to a screeching halt before I put it back on in the AM. So I'm in favor of keeping the PR meter where it can be easily seen - on the front.

I agree Ed, normally, but this one looks not so handsome IMHO. I will post a pic later tonight.

[dman]

Here is the pic. If you go to Panerai.com they have a good write up on the inhouse movement.

compliments of Paneristi.com


Also from Paneristi.com from the SIHH show


Still don't like the linear PR on the dial. But a cool addition is the GMT funtion. By the sub seconds hand is a am/pm indicator. Pretty cool way of doing it, I think.

[mamas]

thanks for the photo darren.. i agree the linear pr doesnt look very nice. .. just seems out of place on the dial

[dman]

No problem Mamas. The center PR is just overkill, IMHO.

[Rockrolex]

I mostly agree with you, Daren. The linear PR indicator doesn't quite make it on that dial.

But just this moring I went to put on my JLC Master Geographic. It had been on a winder, but the program was set wrong and I noticed that the PR was down below 10%. If the indicator was on the back, I would never have noticed, and the watch would likely have stopped sometime during the day. That's why I vote for a visible PR on the face.

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

I mostly agree with you, Daren. The linear PR indicator doesn't quite make it on that dial.

But just this moring I went to put on my JLC Master Geographic. It had been on a winder, but the program was set wrong and I noticed that the PR was down below 10%. If the indicator was on the back, I would never have noticed, and the watch would likely have stopped sometime during the day. That's why I vote for a visible PR on the face.

Then you also agree with me. I think the linear indicator is ugly. I don't mind a PR if it's done nicely (like on most JLCs, GOs, Lange, etc)... but that is just ugly, IMO.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by Atomic

Then you also agree with me. I think the linear indicator is ugly. I don't mind a PR if it's done nicely (like on most JLCs, GOs, Lange, etc)... but that is just ugly, IMO.

Oops. If that has me agreeing with you, John, then you must have been mistaken. I love the linear PR on the front.

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

Oops. If that has me agreeing with you, John, then you must have been mistaken. I love the linear PR on the front.

In that case Ed... I really, really, really like you. You're the best!