Hello Ale and all PAM enthusiasts.
First of all let me say once more “thank you†for this huge effort that makes so many people happy, me included.
I am following the PAM world since a few years and I must admit I have myself a thing for cataloguing and having stuff under control (someone would say I am a control freak I am afraid…). I must admit that this endeavor however (the PAM catalogue), is damn difficult to master. Many different collections, references, special editions, etc etc… on top of this information is not always reliable and is often sparse, especially on the older models. In two words: a mess! :blush:
Because of that I usually keep spreadsheet that are “limited†to some specific area of the PAM universe and this is working better. E.g. my greatest interest are in the Historic collection Luminor Manual models, and this could easily kept under control in a simple spreadsheet.
Anyway, the point of my post is that I wanted to provide a suggestion to improve the guide, a suggestion that start from the consideration that we are in need of a general category to “break down†all the models in a logical way. This first category, in my humble opinion, is the case type. Generally speaking I consider categorizing PAMs reference by these “classes†ordered from the more important downward:
Case type/Size/Metal/Bezel; and I intersect these info with
Movement(auto/manual and caliber number)/
Dial type. By crossing this two kind of info you will obtain a “pivot†table where all the references are cased in a cell.
But I digress: my suggestion is to review the 5.4 section in order to help newcomers and versed people in finding their watch following a more “case oriented†index. And also to improve the Chapter 2.
In fact the guide is already mentioning case type in a prominent space (Part II, Chapter 2) but this (still in my humble opinion) is 1) incomplete and 2) can be of a better use in the “guide navigation†model.
I will explain myself in more detail now:
- Incomplete because (possibly this is due to the old Paneraisource.com site) the guide mention the difference between Luminor and Luminor 1950 but not between Radiomir and Radiomir 1940. In fact this is the same difference between the Luminors! Old fashioned people like myself are in love with Radiomir and hate (joking) the 1940’s line. Then for sure inside the same category we know there are the small changes that are reflected in the OP serial number of the case, but those are details and can be disregarded. Also we should plan a fifth category for the (near?) future: the Luminor Due - in fact the real Panerai novelty of the last few years - since it introduce a new caseset that is aimed to create a new collection for a “dress watchâ€â€¦ (then, will it be repped? My guess is yes, also if it will take time because of the new metal part and caliber-visible in the open back….) Finally there should be an “Other†category where to put the rare birds like Ferraris, Mare Nostrum etc.
- “Better use†point: currently there are two views you can access the data on the guide:
- By reference number, which is ok if you know the number of the watch you are looking for
- By model type, as “Luminor GMT 44mmâ€
Unfortunately none of those methods are possible to browse (except the ctrl+f thing), and since we are talking of the longer post that the history of the forums in internet remember (J), that is quite a limit. Also “model type†classification is quite diverse and need some previous knowledge of the matter to be browsed with effect.
Therefore I suggest to use the case type, possibly also matched with case width, as a simple Navigation table directly linking to posts that contains the single reviews of watches (e.g. “Luminor 44mm†post will include all the 111, 005, 390, etc… in reference number order). The single post (including all case type/size review) should be possible to be referenced as a link inside the thread, with a “back link†at the end of each category post that refers back to the “navigator†post.
So, I guess that is it. Sorry for the somewhat long post. Just some consideration I did and I wanted to share. I am looking forward to read you again. In the meantime: cheers to everybody PAM lovers!
A-
NB: by post here I mean the single # post inside the thread, not the thread itself
