new panerai owner

[bogey]

i was in hong kong last week mainly to get some vacation time and to do some shopping. On my last night there, i chanced upon a watch store ( wasn't really looking for one ) with some pannies in the window. So, i went in asked about the price. Only to find out that they were really not keen on selling ( no discounts whatsover, for hong kong !!! ) the reason being that there would be a price hike effective on the 1st of April of about 15%.-18%... I was in pannic mode ( always wanted a PAM but but no sense of urgency till this anyway ) and so i thought about it for about a good 5 min. and decided to get one. But of course, i had to do some canvassing, it was about 8:00 PM and i had only till 9:30 till all the shops closed. I quickly zoomed out of there and went to all the watch shops around the area just to canvass. There were only a few stores that carreid pams ( but i entered every single watch store). I found one which only had the PAM 49 and the 8 day which DMAN just posted on another thread. The guy in store said take it because it's the only one you would find cause all other shops are holding out till the price increase. i thought about the 8 day but i couldn't get over the size. I find the 44mm too big for my small wrists. So, i left that store and went back to the first store and finally decided on a PAM 48 ( which is only 40mm )... shooo... with only 5 min. to spare before closing time. No discount however but really happy about the purchase. Well, daytona see you in another year or two i suppose. Pics to follow later, I'm still in the office. I also got a black croc strap so that the watch is black on black.