I was just like everyone of you who doesn't get it........until THE DAY.
I had seen them on the forums for months and kept hearing the name repeated in thread after thread. I didn't get it, they were just these plain looking oversized wall clocks that people were wearing on their wrists. They all look the exact same and most don't even come on a bracelet, they come bands, oh no they call them straps.....straps....and they buy more than one for just the one watch......can't they make up their minds? At that point I decided that I needed to see one in person. This would help me make up my mind and maybe understand the lust for these things or I could at least decide that I hated them.
I looked up the Panerai website and found the AD in my area....the ONLY AD in my area. Weird!
So, on THE DAY we decided to head down to the mall that contained the AD. It was a nice day out and the sun was sitting high in the sky. We talked about going to different stores and maybe eating at one of the nicer restaurants, but I reminded her that my main interest was the watch store. She smiled and rolled her eyes, but she said that she remembered.
Once we arrived and found the store I was in heaven. Watches and watches and nothing but watches this was the greatest store ever. I looked at the Pateks, the JLCs, the Breitlings, the Omegas, the Rolexes.......and then I saw the case. The great big Panerai display case that should have contained 20 something watches, but only contained 3. I was a little surprised, but I stared at the 3 they had anyway.
As I stood there a clerk popped up from nowhere and asked if he could show me anything. I told him that I was interested in looking at the Panerai that they had and asked why they only had 3. He laughed and told me the rest of them sold yesterday. He opened the case and asked me which I preferred. I thought about it and not really knowing the difference I asked for the white one. He handed me a PAM 113. I took it and began to look at it. The leather was very nice and the dial looked much better than in any of the pictures I had seen. I really liked the look of the movement and seeing it in real life was pretty cool. I showed it to my wife and she smiled, but didn't pay much attention. The clerk suggested that I try it on, with a very big smile.
I held out my wrist and placed the watch on the appropriate spot, the leather band wrapped itself around my wrist and I began to fasten the buckle. I noticed right away that the leather was very soft against my skin and that the metal and glass on the back of the watch were very cool. Once the buckle was fastened I turned my wrist back to look at the dial. Just then lightning flashed outside and the thunder shook the entire room. The lights in the store flickered and then steadied. The earth began to tremble and everything in my peripheral vision became extremely blurry. The whole room began to spin out of control and everything went completly silent, but I could not take my eyes off the watch.
Suddenly I was brought back by the sound of my wife's voice, asking me what I thought. The only thing I could offer was a giant, ear to ear, idiot's grin. I was hooked, I knew it and the clerk's expression showed that he knew it as well. He had the most evil grin on his face and to this day I swear I saw horns. That bastard HAD HORNS!
When I got home that night, I ordered my first Panerai. It was a model PAM 192 and I waited in agony for every second that it was not on my wrist. I ordered 5 straps that night too. I currently own 2 Panerai and I am about to order 2 more. The screen saver on my desktop at work and my laptop at home are both straight from the Panerai website. I think a woman wearing Panerai is dead sexy. I am trying to talk my wife into a Panerai. I have a Panerai tie tack. I plan on finding a Panerai logo sticker for my next car. I look at every Panerai hat, shirt, jacket, etc that shows up on ebay. One of my DOGS is named Panerai. I am completely hooked!
The point to this story is that it is easy to look at not understand. It is easy to think we are all nuts. It is easy to just not get it. It is not easy to try one on and walk away. This things are cursed!
