The Pam 911 - Love It or Hate It?

Panerai is one of those "love it or hate it" brands in the watch world and I happen to fall in the former. Something about its military history and unique style resonates with me. 

During a silent release in early 2018, I was fortunate enough to acquire a special Panerai that was limited to only 500 pieces. This Panerai is known as the PAM 911 “Last One for Paneristi”. For more than two decades, former Panerai CEO, Angelo Bonati, grew Panerai from a micro-brand to a major player in the Richemont portfolio.

During his time with the brand, Mr. Bonati would release numerous limited editions but the PAM 911 would be his final farewell to the brand and its dedicated fans/collectors known as the “Paneristi”. 

What I love about the PAM 911 is how Mr. Bonati went back to the basics and put together a watch that the Paneristi wanted to see. The watch comes in a stainless steel 44mm Luminor Marina case with a military green dial. The dial is stunning and can look black, grey, dark green, and light green depending on the lighting conditions.

The dial also features a sandwich construction with faux patina lume and finished off nicely with matching gold hands. Other noteworthy features are the 8 day in-house movement without “8 days” on the dial and screw down caseback engraved with “Last one for Paneristi” and Angelo Bonati’s initials  “A.B.”. 

One major perk of owning a Panerai is the ability to customize the watch with straps. Panerai has a huge strap culture with many OEM and aftermarket strap options to choose from.

Pictured on my PAM 911 is the new curved end leather strap for Panerai from Everest Horology Products. Everest is the first strap manufacturer to utilize their curved end leather strap design for Panerai watches. This enables a seamless case connection between the watch and strap and gets rid of any unwanted gap. The leather is sourced from some of the world’s best tanneries and the straps are Swiss made. Everest also plans to launch a curved end rubber strap in late 2019, so keep your eyes (and wallet) open!