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I heard Panerai....I've heard that Panerai has taken quite a hit during these economic times..
anybody know if lthat is true..
How aboaut the main Pam blards... any talk of Panerai having ridden the high tide and is now on it's way down... 
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mfer
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Well, as you know I'm in love with the brand.
It has DEFINITELY taken a hit, but similar to Rolex. Sales are down and discounts are being offered that were never offered before.
My AD for example never, never, never offered me a discount before (minus a cash discount of like 5%), but now are offering discount on both lines. He now tells me "When you are serious to buy, let me know and we WILL work out a deal!"
Is Panerai on its way down? No I don't think so by a long shot. There are just no other watches like them, so sporty and definitely Italian in design.
The one thing that Panerai is doing poorly right now is that Angelo Bonati (CEO of Panerai) is alienating his loyal followers which helped him build the brand up with loyalty and suggestions of what the collectors wanted. He has disappeared from the well known p.com and forgotten about the little people that helped him. An example is that over a year ago he asked us for questions about Panerai and he would answer them. Well, he never answered.
The are continuing to expand their in-house movements with the new 3-day auto 9000 line. The movements look amazing, but I am skeptical due to all of the issues I have heard of with the super popular movement in the 233 watch (8-day manual movement). Panerai's history is in making incredible watches with other's movements. I'm fine with this and love the ETA movements. I don't care what anyone says. Hopefully they have learned from their mistakes and will make a more robust movement in the new 9000 line.
Now, it may sound like I have ripped on them a lot, but it is all constructive to me. I'd gladly own any of them, but I have another on my list first!
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