We’ve gone and done it

We’ve written before about our love of the Panerai Luminor from the Italian brand’s Historic collection. When it comes to Panerais, The Guide believe you should keep it as simple as possible, which is why the Luminor appeal to us so.

The problem us, it seems to appeal to everyone else as well: buying one is a lot harder than just coughing up the funds. Most dealers we’ve spoken to over the last twelve months or so won’t even take orders for them, preferring to feed the – somewhat artificial – mystique of the ‘unattainable’ watch brand.

Well, artificial or not, the supply problem was slowly having its desired effect on us. We’d started off slightly fancying a Panerai. After having been told “no” by authorised dealers around the world for the last year or so, we’d started to positively crave one. Damn, those cynical marketing tactics really do work.

So, imagine our considerable surprise when we heard the manager at our local Watches of Switzerland reply “yes, of course”  in response to our now routine and almost flippant enquiry about whether he would put our name down for the next PAM 111 that came in.

Whether we were off-footed by the shock or just so carried away with the pleasure of finally being allowed one step closer to the elusive piece, we can’t say.

What we can say is that 10 minutes later, we left the shop with our wallet lighter to the tune of 20% of the asking price of the watch and our name, finally, written down in an order book: PAM 111, stainless steel, black face, tan strap.

We’ve been told to expect to wait three to six months. We’ll keep you posted.