Quote:
Originally Posted by 1William
As an early Paneristi and a one time collector with a significant Panerai Collection, I can tell you the article does matter and the brand is dead to me and many others. The misrepresentation of material facts regarding the brands origin and history, by the brand, is not what I support or will tolerate. Panerai has been called out across multiple platforms and has had to back up from many of the stories they have told. Another example is Bremont and when they announced they did an in-house movement only to be outed that it was a modified outside movement I stopped considering a purchase. I know that the advertising game is as much about what you do not say as much as what you do say but facts as significant as what is mentioned in the article and other articles from other credible sources is enough to take me away from the brand and I will never return.
|
I first took interest in the brand around 2010. I wasn't an early admirer like you were, but I appreciated the overall aesthetic. I owned a PAM024 and a PAM005. As Panerai began to introduce in house movements, I began to see a change in the collections coupled with ridiculous price increases. This coupled with deliberate choices to add unnecessary text to dials, add too many novel case materials, and pivot to some kind of "lifestyle" brand really made me fall out of love with Panerai.
I never really cared much about the Stallone backstory; if anything, I found it kind of a cringeworthy selling point for the brand. Instead of relying in their interesting case designs and simple dials, Panerai seems to have built their reputation more and more on historical nonsense. It doesn't surprise me that this article completely debunks a myth that I never felt was interesting in the first place, but it does put the cherry on the top of a marketing campaign that is suspect at best.
I've owned around eight Panerai over the past decade and they've all been flipped. Brand image and reputation is still important to me especially when a brand is moving away from the aesthetic that I fell in love with: simple dials in steel cases with minimal fuss. Looking around the brand now, there's only a handful of models that I would say are vestiges of what once was. Couple that with scandals of unfinished movements, questionable movements, snap-on case backs, special editions that get released nearly identically a year later as regular releases, an emphasis on expensive case materials; I think I am not alone in falling out of love.
I am sure others will come along and say that if I don't like a brand, to keep it to myself; but I think, like you are saying, there was SOMETHING about the brand that initially made us fans and that seems to be gone. Panerai can't correct all the fake history it has put out, but it can retool their design language. I often liken the brand to IWC. IWC was a brand that a few years back (prior to the John Mayer letter) was really losing sight of its direction. The course correction they have made has made me a huge fan. Just my two cents. The purpose of this post is not to bash Panerai fans or even the brand itself, because there is something there. I just think their focus is way off.