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.  Although not having  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.

Although I have been to the P-Day 3 in 2004 and had a great time, I didn’t attend any of the later organized P-Days though. I figured out I am not the 1 brand kind of guy. Panerai are great watches however, certainly not the best watch you can buy for the money, but a great experience because with minimal effort you can change the entire look of the watch just by putting another type of strap on it.

I also understand the whole cult about the brand, being military watches during WWII; rediscovered and promoted by famous actors; being a family brand; having used Rolex movements in the past; using Zenith El Primero chronograph (36.000bph) and Omega Memomatic movements in limited editions; introducing their own inhouse movement; care for the online community etc. etc.

To celebrate all that, once a year, global Paneristi organize a P-Day! The vintage Panerai watches get most attention ofcourse, being rare / expensive and having that raw and military look. Using an ammo pouch strap on a brand new Panerai for example, can be seen as a way to imitate or as an attempt to get that look. The original deal though, is a vintage 1940s Panerai, with a handwound Rolex-Cortebert movement.

Although this brand is being critized by a lot of watchfreaks, the Paneristi community seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year. Panerai isn’t a hype or a fad anymore, this brand should be get a bit more respect in my opinion, using their own unique designed cases, nicely finished case/dial/buckles and movements. Besides using their own nicely crafted inhouse movements, the standard Unitas movements they use have been upgraded with a swanneck regulator and superb finish.

Perhaps not worth all the pennies you pay for it, but is a Rolex Daytona? Or an IWC watch based on a valjoux 7750? P-Day is about respect for Panerai watches, the company and for your fellow Paneristi. A nice thought!

Some fellow Dutchman did visit the 7th P-Day in Frankfurt and had a blast! Below are some photos to give you an impression of the Paneristi weekend. All pictures by Martin and Gert-Jan.

A few hours drive from The Netherlands to Frankfurt/Germany..

A happy place for Paneristi!

The new PAM 00026! Again, as with most Panerais, expect to be on a waiting list for this one

Same goes for this PAM 203!

More pictures can be found at www.paneristipix.com

A while ago, I posted about this watch strap made out of the leather interior of this Mercedes-Benz 300SLR (owned by Jean Todt). If you own a Panerai watch, you probably know all about this strap thing. I have seen them in all kinds of colors, materials (even elephant) and with all types of buckles and inscriptions.

A very popular leather strap seems to be the ammo pouch strap. Yes, an ammo pouch. Below you’ll see one of a Russian soldier outfit from the early 20th century.

I have seen some really nice models over at Catcherstraps, and for a decent price as well. The straps made by Ted Su are also very popular amongst Paneristi world wide. I really like the vintage Swiss ammo pouch strap by Ted Su, as pictured below, but for 250 USD I would like to see it before I buy it.

I have a couple of straps for my Panerai and a few of them are really stiff, which kinda annoys me after a full day of wear. It is great that WatchUseek has this special ‘StrapUseek’-forum, this way owners of these non-OEM straps can exchange information and experiences. I also have good experiences with buying straps from TCStraps, although they don’t seem to carry a lot of Ammo Pouch straps. However, they do have the famous Mario Paci 1938 straps The military pouch strap they have is quite nice though, see the picture below:

You can get really caught up in this Panerai strap thing if you don’t watch out!

Oh, shoot me. This Panerai Forum is something I set-up with the help of some Panerai enthusiasts. The Dutch Rolex Forum is quite popular, so I wondered if there would be space for a Dutch Panerai Forum as well. Panerai is a brand that I have the famous love – hate relationship with. I had this wonderful PAM 113 and sold it because I thought I could do without. Boy, I was wrong. I really missed the whole Panerai experience.. being a Paneristi, buying and changing Panerai straps once in a while (or too often). So, about a year after I sold it, I ran into this great looking Panerai 000. As good as new. And the enthusiasm was immediately there again. Anyway, as a result, I started the Dutch Panerai Forum. For Flemish and Dutch writing/reading Panerai enthusiasts. So if you are one of those, click and take a look at the forum!

http://www.paneraiforum.nl

Photo by Gertjan, visitor of the paneraiforum.nl site.