(#defsoneanddone) One & Done - Chapter Five (Officine Panerai)

Foreword

Welcome and welcome back! If you're new here, I'm exploring the 20 best-selling watch brands of 2022 (as seen on GQ Australia) and answering the question: If I could only have one watch from this brand FOREVER, which would I pick?

Today we are looking at Panerai, but if you want to see my previous article where I covered Van Cleef & Arpels, follow #defsoneanddone or click the link here!

As always, tell me what you think! What watch from this brand would YOU want forever? I'd love to hear from you!

#16 - Panerai Luminor (PAM0111)

It seems fitting that, amid these gorgeous, romantic timepieces inlaid with precious metals and other pretty things, we finally break up the tempo with this seemingly inelegant and brutish watch.

I find that, in the watch community, there are two types of people: Those who love the designs of Panerai, and liars. Yes, that's right - I wholeheartedly believe that, even deep in the heart of the most pretentious watch snob, every collector holds a soft spot for at least one Panerai model. It is our reluctant love, our guilty pleasure, akin to enjoying 2000s-era Justin Bieber or secretly anticipating watching Ryan Gosling as Ken in the upcoming Barbie movie.

Don't pretend otherwise - You know you want to.

In all honesty, Panerai's Luminor, particularly the model PAM0111, makes absolutely no sense to anyone who isn’t one of the three S's:

1) Schwarzenegger

2) Stallone

3) Silverback Gorilla

It’s about as subtle and understated as Grown Ups 2, as practical as a gun with the barrel bent backwards at you, and about as quiet of a statement as those annoying little untrained rat dogs that rich old ladies own. But why do we still love them?

The answer is quite simple: Like a world without a movie as horrific as Grown Ups 2, a world without the PAM0111 is a world that is lost indeed. Despite all its perceived shortcomings, we know that, definitively, there is no replacement for the Luminor. Those who hate to see its existence will be the first to mourn its passing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SCqmlw_beg

This video from YoureTerrific, the inspiration for my written piece, dissects exactly what is wrong with this watch and why it makes it so right. The 44mm cushion case, the sandwich dial with the (hopefully not radioactive anymore) luminescent base, the gaudy, gimmicky but absolutely awesome crown lever – nothing like it had ever, has ever, or will ever come close to the signature Panerai aesthetic.

Even I, a small(ish) man with an even smaller wrist, have worn many a Panerai, and despite literally every red flag in the book ringing away in my head, one look at the 44mm Panerai-shaped hole in my wrist always makes me think those four dreaded words: I can fix him.

Be sure to follow the hashtag #defsoneanddone to keep up with my next post! I'm excited to write my next one - Tudor is my favourite watch brand!