Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Discussion of Panerai watches.
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krait320
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Name: Leon

Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by krait320 » Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:21 am

Firstly I'd like to give a big thanks to the members here on the Panerai forum in DWC, after lurking for quite awhile and reading about the brand, I took a plunge and purchased my first Pam last year in FEB and it has been a roller coaster relationship with it.

But first a pic to warm things up,
320 AT SIS WEDDING.JPG
When I first saw a Panerai, I had no idea what the brand was about and in fact, I found it quite ugly, with its bulkiness and odd looking C shape thingy at the 3 O clock position, but that was 4 years ago when I first saw my vocational college lecturer's PAM 104. I'm not sure if some had the same experience as I did but I only started to like it after awhile when I saw other friends wear it. At this point in time I had 2 Balls... The watches I mean, the organic ones are still intact :lol: And the tritium lume spoiled me for good, so I wanted something with torch like lume, and after reading about PAMs the decision to purchase one came after I got accepted to a university in the UK.

I wanted a GMT watch and I preferred the 12 hour format over the 24 hour format. Up for consideration at this time was a Rolex Submariner or an Omega PO with the 9300 caliber. I eventually zoomed in on the PAM 320 for its 3 day reserve and because finding straps for it was really easy and allowed me to change the look.

Here's the part where I hated the watch after buying it. 2 weeks after purchase, when I was setting the time, the second hand hacked, but did not jump back to the 12 o clock position, then eventually the entire watch jammed for about 1 day and then suddenly started running, happened 2 times and I finally sent it in to PSC. The service was great but I was horrified when I got my watch back 3 weeks later. My P9001 movement was scratched and the brushed case had more scratches than it had when I sent it in. BUT above all that, after taking it home to set the time, the movement jammed again. So back to PSC and this time the staff did some wonderful service recovery and 6 weeks later, my watch came back with a brand new movement plate, brushed sides of the watch redone to look brand new. So all in all there was a 7 week wait before I could fully enjoy my watch with confidence, and since then it's been my travel companion and a daily beater ever since... Hell my Seiko's are in near mint because they mostly sit on the winder while my PAM takes most of the beatings, I simply enjoy wearing it even 1 year on.
320 IN PHUKET.JPG
H18 STRAPS ON 320.JPG
320 ON STRAPWORKS.JPG
Of all the straps that I've had so far, honestly, I'd like to praise strap works for their really comfy padded straps that soften up in less than a day, I bought the golden caramel calf strap with the 24/22 width and 125/80 dimensions, it turns out that they are from Hong Kong and for a fraction of the OEM calf strap, I really couldn't complain! I've been using this strap daily for nearly 4-5 months now and it's currently on for this trip to Hong Kong with the GF.
photo.JPG
I hope the short write up on my experience will be useful for those looking to buy into PAMs or for this model specifically.

Leon
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dukerules
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by dukerules » Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:24 am

Good write up, and welcome to DWC. The 320 is a great, do-everything PAM.

cdnwatchguy
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by cdnwatchguy » Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:28 am

Nice write up.

I must agree with you that when I first saw the brand, restricted to online viewing as there was and is no local AD, I thought they looked very silly. I too warmed up to them having owned 5 variations over the years.
cheers,

Keith

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mattcantwin
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by mattcantwin » Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:38 am

Welcome, Leon, a great post deserves a great welcome. :cheers:


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jimyritz
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by jimyritz » Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:43 am

He said "balls"... :grin:

==========
Welcome Leon and nice Panerai... :thumbsup:


:cheers:
Mike

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Pasquale
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by Pasquale » Sat Jan 18, 2014 5:13 am

How could u almost hate that.
Pasquale

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Panerai7
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by Panerai7 » Sat Jan 18, 2014 5:45 am

Welcome and congrats on a lovely Pam

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PGERRITY
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by PGERRITY » Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:30 am

Nice post! I too initially thought they were ugly, they grew on me now to the point where I'm planning on grabbing the next 243 that comes up!

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jeckyll
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by jeckyll » Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:33 am

Welcome :cheers:
We all have the same enemy. The enemy is the tyranny of the dull mind. - - Tom Robbins

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matt.wu
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by matt.wu » Sat Jan 18, 2014 9:58 am

Darin's gonna be jealous.
:htfu:

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YOHOHO
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by YOHOHO » Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:21 am

love the watch. impressive you were able to work through a crappy service job.

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moishlashen
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Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by moishlashen » Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:59 am

Welcome bud.
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"I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude."

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krait320
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Name: Leon

Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by krait320 » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:34 am

PGERRITY wrote:Nice post! I too initially thought they were ugly, they grew on me now to the point where I'm planning on grabbing the next 243 that comes up!
The 243 is such a masculine piece specially once the T dial turns and grows a patina, just came back from Hong Kong and one of the countless watch shops dealing with second hand watches had a 243 J series but I didn't dare take a pic for the fear of being :cussing: at which is pretty common lol

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krait320
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Name: Leon

Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by krait320 » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:43 am

YOHOHO wrote:love the watch. impressive you were able to work through a crappy service job.
Can't agree more, love it more by the day, the service recovery was good for a couple of reasons, they were at least apologetic and the boutique has great chocolates from Italy, like this one here

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I like Ball watches for what they make, but when my Ball EM Diver World Timer stem broke after winding 30 ish times after the PR went dead, the engineer came out of the office to give a few sarcastic remarks about how I did it wrongly etc etc...
BALL DIVER WORLD TIMER PIC 1.jpg
That was my first ever Swiss watch and I took real good care of it, sucked to hear that from the repair centre, on that note, PSC did a better job heh
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krait320
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Name: Leon

Re: Loved it, hated it, now loving it, my first Pam!

Post by krait320 » Sun Jan 19, 2014 12:45 am

mattcantwin wrote:Welcome, Leon, a great post deserves a great welcome. :cheers:


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Inspiring welcome there :lol:

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