PANERAI 2019: The Beginning of a New Scam Era!

[Panerol Forte]

I would like to hear your opinions in this thread after the unveiling of the new Submersible line-up.

Here is mine:

Untill some decades ago, the luxury industry used to provide the rich with refined high quality goods. Along with these goods came impeccable service and esteem for the patrons. There was only one golden rule: the satisfaction of the customer. It took years and efforts for those luxury brands to establish themselves as caterers of perfection and their reputation was above any consideration, not even financial.

Those were the golden days. Nowadays, luxury became synonymous of rip-off! Mass produced items manufactured in poor countries by underpaid workers in unhealthy environments are sold as Luxury items with incredible mark-ups to trusting customers unaware they are being ripped-off. Their golden rule nowadays is: make more money at any cost. Deception is acceptable, as long as profitability is increased.

What do I mean by deception? Making a costumer believe he is paying the real value of an object by giving false information is deception. Pretending the build process is long, complicated and time consuming to justify high premium, and the reality being completly the opposite, is deception.
I am going to give you an example of deception. "CARBOTECH": it sounds high tech! How do they describe it? "Forged Carbon Fiber". Panerai sells their Carbotech watches for a very high premium over stainles steel, so it must be very difficult and complex to manufacture, hence the price difference. The Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech 47mm PAM00979 sells for 19.900 Euros, and the Submersible Amagnetic 47mm PAM01389 for 10.700 Euros. That equates to a difference of 9.200 Euros, that's almost the double for the Carbotech. Same watch, same movement, P.9010 both, same water resistance. What if I told you that the stainless steel model cost them a LOT more to produce than the Carbotech?

Lets start with the "cheap" model, the stainless steel one. You already have seen all the CNC machines at work milling SS cases. SS is the most difficult metal to machine, it wears the tools like no other. Then, you have the finishing and the polishing. Dont forget the ceramic bezel, also not an easy job. And now let's talk about the Carbotech Forged Carbon Fiber. "Forged" sounds good. Some of you may think of a Japanese sword smith hammering his katana made of meteoritic steel next to a raging furnace. Others may think of the forged high performance pistons of their supercar, forged with a single stroke of a 50.000 Ton hydraulic press. Well, I hate to disappoint you all, the heat it takes to "forge"carbon fiber is 138 degrees celcius, that's 280.4 degrees fahrenheit... by comparison, french fries need the oil to be not less than 177 degrees C, or 350 degrees F, and the same temperature goes for your mom's cookies. What about the press that "forges"? well guess what? 1 Ton is more than enough! Time consuming? You must be kidding, you can make at least 10 Carbotech cases by the time you finish 1 SS case. You don't believe me? DO YOUR RESEARCH!

And now, for 2019, they raised the bar even higher. They took the same Carboteh watch, same movement, same WR, made some color variations, and they offer you the same watch that ranges from 17.900 Euros to 40.000 Euros, depending on the color you chose. Of course, the 40.000 Euros one is limited to 33 pieces, and comes with a training session with the elite divers of the Italian Navy. Well, if you buy one of those LE, everybody will know when they see your green watch that you are one of the 33 suckers that paid an extra 20.000 Euros to be ridiculed by a bunch of over trained elite divers that by the way use ultra sophisticated diving computers, not obsolete watches described on Panerai's website as "Survival instruments for modern heros".. yes, they want you to believe that if you give them your hard earned cash, you are a modern hero!

Another interesting thing is that the PAM00616 is still priced at 16.600 Euros, cheaper by 1.300 Euros than the cheapest new Submersible. The reason must be the fact that it has the P.9000 vs the P.9010 for the new ones. It makes sense. But then, I would like them to explain to us how come the new 42s, with the downgraded caliber are more expensive that the old Sub 42 that has a P.9010 .

I won't talk about the OP.XXXIV, a picture is worth a thousand words. Enjoy!