Happy new year all! Hopefully, you are all over 2008. It was a time of transition, recession, and at the same time hopeful change with new President Elect Barrack Obama.! I have a feeling as much as last year royally sucked, we are headed for better times. The 2008 roster of Basel and Geneva novelties were one big constipated fart in my opinion, it lacked passion and bravado. The reason? Who cares! The bottom line is that we are in a New Year, and now SIHH in Geneva is underway in like two weeks, I feel this is serious hope for the watch world. One of the things I am very hopeful for as well as the entire Panerai community, is the possibility of a ceramic 1950. I mean why not? Today we live in a world where barriers have finally been broken, with the first black president of the United States. Why Not A black ceramic 1950? OK, I know I am being a bit dramatic, and it's no where close to the same thing, but how hella cool would it be to see this?
Two years ago, CEO and President of Panerai worldwide, Angelo Bonati gave us all a temporary hard on, by wearing a prototype of possibly one of the coolest Panerai's possibly made, which was extremely brilliant because it kept us wanting more. This made the entire core Panerai collector community have smurf balls for the last two years. It is inevitable. I mean people, besides the IWC Big Pilot watch having a ceramic case eventually, the ceramic 1950 is the most important ceramic release in the world. The history of the watch alone is mind blowing and has become as epic as the brand itself. I don't care if after this, ceramic is not used again, because to be honest ceramic in general in wristwatches, is getting to be a little bit nauseating, predictable and boring despite how hot it is at the moment.
The 'Fiddy' as it is affectionately known by Panerai collectors, is a 47 mm 1950 case, which is really a cross between a Luminor and Radiomir case. This watch is very distinctive and has orbited out of space in terms of collectible. The year was 2002 of it's official release, and at that time for the bargain price of $6,800 if you were at the right place at the right time you could own this piece of Panerai royalty even though it came with a hundred dollar manual wind Unitas movement. Who new that today, 7 years later the watch would go as high as a record breaking $30,000 for a brand new one.
In today's terms for that real mans watch there is nothing more comfortable, more vintage feeling and more masculine as the Panerai 1950 in stainless steel. It can make even the smallest guy in the world feel like he can kick some serious ass. The rumor is that the Fiddy could be arriving in a base model with a tobacco brown dial. As long as it comes with a sandwich dial and 47 mm ceramic case, shit count me in. This will be one for the ages and highly collectible, and add a whole new dimension and fan base to one of the fastest growing brands in the world, PANERAI which is the Rolex for our generation today!
pic courtesy of www.horomundi.com
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