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Originally Posted by Avalon
Are they buying up watches like Patek does? That is certainly one reason why Patek prices at auction are so strong - Patek has made a point of buying up lots of vintage pieces to keep their resale value high.......of course they deny that this is the reason they buy them.  |
Don't know if they do for sure, but I know they have mini museums in all their boutiques (i.e., store only sells Panerai) and they also have a touring museum exhibit, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Last year there was a big Panerai auction at Christie's where PAMs from the 30s, 40s and 50s went for US$75,000+. I would imagine the company would want to pick some of these vintage pieces up as they likely didn't keep any in the vault (like the Egyption Navy's 8 day PR diver, for example). Given that between the 1930s and 1997 Panerai only produced about 300-odd watches, it shows how rare these vintage pieces are.