Always great to read your posts!! Well, good news is that I am starting to think more rationally this week. I took a long look at the 4 models I now have, and the time and effort I spent learning about all the history of especially two of them, the PAM 673 Marina Militare and PAM 721 "Kampfschwimmer". Like you say, stick with the old skool stuff!
Sometimes, I perhaps take things almost personally. "How dare the company change things, and start over charging for these models without my permission!"
Admittedly, I formed my collection in a very short amount of time. It seemed that, soon as the local Boutique opened, they had quite a few models that I never even thought I would see. Let alone buy. I am not one for buying online, a model I have never seen nor from a seller who is unknown to me. So, my sole source for Panerai is really the Boutique. There are no ADs here in Vancouver.
Anyway, there is another angle as well. Now, I have never purchases any of my watches based on resale value. Except in the case of my gold watches. You have to be damn sure that you are not going to resell most gold watches, as they seem to depreciate a lot more than stainless steel. Well, with all the emphasis on Submersible models, if I do decide to sell any of mine down the road, it could be of benefit. I was amazed to see the other day that the 721 is now being sold for quite a bit higher than MSRP. Some of the other models not doing that well, but perhaps this whole direction Panerai is taking will benefit the resale market somewhat. Time will tell.
I did flip my 720, though, as I ended up much preferring the 721 with the Anonymous dial, and the 720 got no wrist time. Now, I have a different watch that will be worn a lot more.
So, I am going to relax now and see how I feel about all this in the next weeks. I do tend to feel, when I purchase a watch, I am also buying the brand, as I do lots of research on both. I never just see a watch in the display and buy it because it looks nice, I have to have more of an attachment than that.
Cheers,
Carl