Panerai Collection for Sale
Posted: September 5th, 2019, 7:24 pm
http://www.oliversmithjeweler.com/paner ... collection
So I visited the Panerai store in Aspen, Colorado last month, and had the audacity to wear my Kampfschwimmer homage... this is my beater, go-anywhere-anytime watch, and having met the crew in the store a couple years ago I figured it would be OK. Well, the store staff has changed over, but it was still an interesting discussion. Initially we talked about all the new models on the floor, but when I mentioned that I really liked the vintage pieces better, they took interest. Told me about a collector in Arizona who had a number of war-years watches that he had collected over the years. Something on the order of 30-40 pieces. The collector had gone as far as to track down the original owners, and obtained paperwork to establish provenance for many/most of the pieces.
These were all going to go up for sale soon, and the sale above looks like the start of that effort. The catalog they showed me had several icons in it, as well as MM's, Egi's, and I believe even one of the MM's with the flexi lug things similar to what Esdee worked on years ago. Incredible parts.
If in the market for a gen, this might be a place to watch.
Also, and more interesting to me, was that the sales guy mentioned that there were a large number of Frankens out there that were produced with parts sold after Old Man Panerai passed away. More interesting still was that he said Panerai has managed to track down almost all of these watches, and was working to obtain them. The goal as I understood it was to identify them as what they are, and then re-market them. A homage from the gen maker... This would initially devalue the Frankens to a real-world level and elevate the gens due to a more thoroughly vetted history.
So there. I've been meaning to post this for a while, but getting an email about the sale gave me the shot to get it done.
Talk amongst yourselves...
So I visited the Panerai store in Aspen, Colorado last month, and had the audacity to wear my Kampfschwimmer homage... this is my beater, go-anywhere-anytime watch, and having met the crew in the store a couple years ago I figured it would be OK. Well, the store staff has changed over, but it was still an interesting discussion. Initially we talked about all the new models on the floor, but when I mentioned that I really liked the vintage pieces better, they took interest. Told me about a collector in Arizona who had a number of war-years watches that he had collected over the years. Something on the order of 30-40 pieces. The collector had gone as far as to track down the original owners, and obtained paperwork to establish provenance for many/most of the pieces.
These were all going to go up for sale soon, and the sale above looks like the start of that effort. The catalog they showed me had several icons in it, as well as MM's, Egi's, and I believe even one of the MM's with the flexi lug things similar to what Esdee worked on years ago. Incredible parts.
If in the market for a gen, this might be a place to watch.
Also, and more interesting to me, was that the sales guy mentioned that there were a large number of Frankens out there that were produced with parts sold after Old Man Panerai passed away. More interesting still was that he said Panerai has managed to track down almost all of these watches, and was working to obtain them. The goal as I understood it was to identify them as what they are, and then re-market them. A homage from the gen maker... This would initially devalue the Frankens to a real-world level and elevate the gens due to a more thoroughly vetted history.
So there. I've been meaning to post this for a while, but getting an email about the sale gave me the shot to get it done.
Talk amongst yourselves...