This time, together with TC Straps & ViaPaneristi, we are giving away a Historic Italian Military reproduction of the De La Penne Ship. This cool accessory is something that every Paneristi probably would like to have in his (or her) collection. It is valued at $249 and we don’t want to give it away like that…. You have to answer a question first. The answer can be found in the usual places.

The question is: What was so special about the Special Editions Panerai made in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Leave a comment with the correct answer, your name and a valid e-mail address and you can be the winner of this nice give away from Fratello, TC Straps and ViaPaneristi. Everyone can join, no regional restrictions.

The winner of the Mario Paci MP XVIII (sponsored by TC Straps) is Luigi G from Canada. Congratulations with your new strap! A cappuccino coloured strap (as you wished for) is coming your way.

Another great contest for Panerai lovers is coming up, thanks to Elliot of ViaPaneristi/TC Straps. Wait and see…

Fratello has some nice give aways coming up, and this Mario Paci MP XVIII strap is one of them! Together with TC Straps and ViaPaneristi, long time friends of FratelloWatches, I can offer you this great give away for your Panerai time piece.

Leave a comment with your name and a valid e-mail address, and a winner will be picked on the 15th of July. You will be contacted in order to ask you what colour strap and which size you prefer. The following sizes are available (width at the lug & buckle and long part length & short part length):

24/24 115/75
24/24 125/80
24/24 130/85
26/26 125/80

The MP XVIII strap will be available in the following colours: Camel, Cappuccino and Nero (as seen below).

Thanks to Elliot of ViaPaneristi! Make sure to participate if you have a Panerai or want to surprise someone who has a Panerai with this great strap!

Paneristi world wide celebrated their shared passion in Firenze (Florence/Italy) this year, during the P-Day 8 event. The Panerai forums are flooded with pictures, like every year after the event.?Ǭ� Although not having?Ǭ� a Panerai in my current collection, I still have lots of love for this brand. After owning a Panerai 113 and a Panerai 000 Logo, it still itches every now and then. Especially now that Panerai has great inhouse movement models (like the Panerai PAM 00312), for decent prices.

Dutch Paneristi Martin Wilmsen, also known for his blog www.wristwatchphoto.com, has this great website PaneristiPix where you can find great photographs of Panerai, Paneristi and their famous get-to-gethers.

Photo by Martin

Besides PaneristiPix.com, make sure to visit the mother of all Panerai sites, www.paneristi.com for some great photo stories about P-Day 8.

Paneristi (= dedicated Panarai fans) are famous for their GetToGethers. The best known GTG is P-Day, this year to be held in Florence, Italy. Home of the Officine.

Last weekend, WatchRon (one of the Dutch Paneristis) organized a GTG for all Belgian and Dutch Paneristi. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join them, but the stunning pictures they posted on PaneristiPix and the wristwatchphotoblog by Martin make up a lot.

A good GTG comes with a good meal, and according to some of the attendees in the Dutch Panerai Forum, the meal was excellent.

Part of the Panerai fun is about straps (and changing them). Dirk Grandry, one of the most famous strap sellers, was also there, presenting a large collection of Panerai straps. I blogged about Panerai straps several times in the past, including an article on the ammo pouch straps (click here to go the article).

Besides good food and Panerai straps, there were a lot of fabulous watches. I came across this picture by Martin, of two Panerai PAM127 models, or also known as “Fiddy” or “1950″. Panerai stopped the production of these watches, and prices are going sky high ever since. I think a lot of people are upset because they either sold them too early or didn’t buy them at all back when these were in production.

Paneristi love tradition. Making a table shot of all watches from the GTG attendees is also tradition. PierreSim (also responsible for the first two pictures), did a nice job on the table shot below.

It is just incredible that a brand initiated such a cult of vintage diving watches, straps, GTGs and loads of dedicated websites and forums. Angelo Bonati (CEO of Panerai) did an excellent job, not only on branding, but also on listening to the buyers/collectors of Panerai watches. After the use of relative simple handwound Unitas movements, Panerai upscaled to the fine few that uses their own inhouse movements. Their basic (Luminor Base and Luminor Marina) models still make use of the Unitas movement, still enabling ownership for (almost) every watch enthusiast.