New Panerai 372 - what to pay?

New Panerai 372 - what to pay?

Author
Discussion

T S Magnum

Original Poster:

487 posts

201 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
For the last 18 months I've been aiming at a new 372 for an approaching 'bigger' birthday. This will be a keeper for life. The most expensive watch I've bought to date is a pre-owned Seamaster for £700! I am finally visiting a dealer in Manchester on Jan 2nd, can't wait smile

I've heard there's currently a drop in new watch sales and it's a buyer's market. What sort of discount should I be going for? RRP is £7.3k.

Thanks for any help.

warren182

1,088 posts

209 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
Worldwide there has been a drop, but not in the UK. One of the few places still showing growth (partly due to foreign buyers).

matrignano

4,344 posts

209 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
Been hankering after a Panerai for years but never managed to buy as dealers (Florence and NYC) always refused to budge even €1/$1 on price. On principle I refuse to buy a watch at RRP.
Hopefully things have changed in the last few years.

Edited by matrignano on Thursday 15th December 16:28

piquet

613 posts

256 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
its very hard to get a discount on panerai unless you already have a good relationship with the dealer, even then it can be hard and dealerships who regularly discount the watches to people loose their franchise

does it have to be new you can get a second hand one for a serious discount the alternative would be to look at the grey market although that isn't risk free and there are always horror stories

T S Magnum

Original Poster:

487 posts

201 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
I looked at pre-owned and at £5.5k it's a good saving. I thought it worth getting new for the significance, being a keeper.

nikaiyo2

4,670 posts

194 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
T S Magnum said:
For the last 18 months I've been aiming at a new 372 for an approaching 'bigger' birthday. This will be a keeper for life. The most expensive watch I've bought to date is a pre-owned Seamaster for £700! I am finally visiting a dealer in Manchester on Jan 2nd, can't wait smile

I've heard there's currently a drop in new watch sales and it's a buyer's market. What sort of discount should I be going for? RRP is £7.3k.

Thanks for any help.
On a 372 I doubt you will get anything at all, I think it's one of their most desirable models, and iirc they only make 1000 per year. A free strap (maybe 2) is usually doable with Panerai ADs.

TWS (grey dealer) have them for £6.9k available to order, not sure I would bother for £400 saving.

darreni

3,759 posts

269 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
I got no discount when I bought mine. The limited supply & enforced rrp sees to that.
Even the Florence boutique gave no leeway on price during a personal visit.

I bought from the Wonder room in selfridges in the end.

jules_s

4,235 posts

232 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
There's one for £4750 at Blowers. Buy with confidence there IME

darreni

3,759 posts

269 months

Wednesday 14th December 2016
quotequote all
jules_s said:
There's one for £4750 at Blowers. Buy with confidence there IME
That's a great price.
unless you really have to have a new one, it's the way to go.

T S Magnum

Original Poster:

487 posts

201 months

Thursday 15th December 2016
quotequote all
Thanks everyone, much appreciated. It's a pity prices are firm but at least now I know and won't be barking up the wrong tree.

I agree on the particular pre-owned price mentioned above and have made inquiries.

david hockney

1,198 posts

152 months

Thursday 15th December 2016
quotequote all
Without wishing to be on a downer- you have to REALLY love Panerai design to spend several grand on one because they are notoriously crap quality when compared to other brands such as Rolex.

In the early days of Richemont ownership Panerai put basic ETA movements in the watches which although cheap and basic were at least fairly reliable and bomb proof.......if you were happy spending £4000 on a Luminor Marina with a $60 movement they were perfect.
More recently after some considerable flack for selling cheap tat movements in their watches Richemont went all 'serious watch maker' with Panerai and started making in house movements.......which is all fine other than the fact that they are very unreliable and not very good at all- Rolex are in a different league.
I know someone who has had 4 different Panerai models and 3 had to go back because the movement just kept stopping or kept terrible time.
Also, Richemont are notoriously terrible at service, I bought a JLC Reverso and the strap fell apart after 2 weeks. Richemont took 3 months getting a new strap to me and finally admitted they had faulty glue hence the straps were falling apart- hardly what you expect after parting with a few grand.

So, to conclude- Panerai's look great- but don't be surprised if it stops working after 2 months.

darreni

3,759 posts

269 months

Thursday 15th December 2016
quotequote all
david hockney said:
Without wishing to be on a downer- you have to REALLY love Panerai design to spend several grand on one because they are notoriously crap quality when compared to other brands such as Rolex.

In the early days of Richemont ownership Panerai put basic ETA movements in the watches which although cheap and basic were at least fairly reliable and bomb proof.......if you were happy spending £4000 on a Luminor Marina with a $60 movement they were perfect.
More recently after some considerable flack for selling cheap tat movements in their watches Richemont went all 'serious watch maker' with Panerai and started making in house movements.......which is all fine other than the fact that they are very unreliable and not very good at all- Rolex are in a different league.
I know someone who has had 4 different Panerai models and 3 had to go back because the movement just kept stopping or kept terrible time.
Also, Richemont are notoriously terrible at service, I bought a JLC Reverso and the strap fell apart after 2 weeks. Richemont took 3 months getting a new strap to me and finally admitted they had faulty glue hence the straps were falling apart- hardly what you expect after parting with a few grand.

So, to conclude- Panerai's look great- but don't be surprised if it stops working after 2 months.
On the flip side, I've had various panerai over the last 14 years & never had an issue.

Op, buy whatever floats your boat.

david hockney

1,198 posts

152 months

Thursday 15th December 2016
quotequote all

I've had a Luminor Marina and a Radiomir- both were fine.....although the Luminor had a ETA movement and the Radiomir
was the model which had a JLC movement.

But the brutal truth is that in many watch enthusiast circles Panerai are regarded as crap quality-

One or two English Panerai authorised dealers voluntarily stopped selling Panerai because they were fed up with
the grief of returning watches to be fixed etc.
Without wishing to sound a Rolex fanboy- how many Submariners or Daytona's do you know get sent back to Rolex
to be fixed under warranty? Not many.

jules_s

4,235 posts

232 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
david hockney said:
I've had a Luminor Marina and a Radiomir- both were fine.....although the Luminor had a ETA movement and the Radiomir
was the model which had a JLC movement.

But the brutal truth is that in many watch enthusiast circles Panerai are regarded as crap quality-

One or two English Panerai authorised dealers voluntarily stopped selling Panerai because they were fed up with
the grief of returning watches to be fixed etc.
Without wishing to sound a Rolex fanboy- how many Submariners or Daytona's do you know get sent back to Rolex
to be fixed under warranty? Not many.
Many watch enthusiast circles? Rolex forums perhaps?

I've seen the odd moan here and there, but never a 'crap quality' issue and Certainly not on 'many' forums

david hockney

1,198 posts

152 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
Richemont have got a terrible reputation full stop- let alone their brand Panerai in particular.
IWC is another brand owned by Richemont that is simply not worth the cash-
I had an original Big Pilot once.......cost over 8 grand and the time keeping was so appalling that it
only lasted about 2 months before I flogged it at great financial loss.

I have no idea what Rolex forums say about Panerai because I've never read any-
but I do know a Rolex Deepsea is better quality than any Panerai X 10- no competition.

T S Magnum

Original Poster:

487 posts

201 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
That's all well and good but I don't want a Rolex smile

I have a couple of G-Shocks, the Omega and an iPhone that give very reliable time keeping so that aspect is not the big driver in this purchase. I'm also not trying to impress.

Is a Rolex the watch equivalent of a mapped 335D or MX5? I certainly understand this 'why have anything else' logic (owning an MX5 and a 335D is evidence of that!) but I have wanted the Panerai for my coming birthday since seeing it in a magazine two years ago.

As an update, a kind tip sent as a PM has got me an excellent price and an order is placed. PH is great for this, thanks all. wavey

david hockney

1,198 posts

152 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
Richemont have got a terrible reputation full stop- let alone their brand Panerai in particular.
IWC is another brand owned by Richemont that is simply not worth the cash-
I had an original Big Pilot once.......cost over 8 grand and the time keeping was so appalling that it
only lasted about 2 months before I flogged it at great financial loss.

I have no idea what Rolex forums say about Panerai because I've never read any-
but I do know a Rolex Deepsea is better quality than any Panerai X 10- no competition.

Pupp

12,205 posts

271 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
Crikey. I must get down to the scrap yard to weigh in my two immediately; can't risk anyone thinking I have stupidly invested in something less than horological exactitude...

Thanks for your freely volunteered insight David; do you have an advice forum I can subscribe to in order to avoid making any more significant decisions that are equally ruinous to pocket and reputation, either in the eyes of serious watch enthusiasts or the wider world? I need to buy a vacuum cleaner; are Dyson any good?

ascayman

12,732 posts

215 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
T S Magnum said:
That's all well and good but I don't want a Rolex smile

I have a couple of G-Shocks, the Omega and an iPhone that give very reliable time keeping so that aspect is not the big driver in this purchase. I'm also not trying to impress.

Is a Rolex the watch equivalent of a mapped 335D or MX5? I certainly understand this 'why have anything else' logic (owning an MX5 and a 335D is evidence of that!) but I have wanted the Panerai for my coming birthday since seeing it in a magazine two years ago.

As an update, a kind tip sent as a PM has got me an excellent price and an order is placed. PH is great for this, thanks all. wavey
You don't know what you want clearly, buy a rolex for crying out loud, David said so laugh

david hockney

1,198 posts

152 months

Friday 16th December 2016
quotequote all
I've always loved the look of Panerai watches hence I've had a couple-
But it's like buying a Porsche 911 with a Lada engine....

I merely used Rolex as an example of considerably better quality than Panerai but obviously there are many alternatives
such as Audemars Piguet and Omega etc.
A friend of mine only a few days ago asked where they could get their Luminor Marina fixed because they could
only set the time winding it backwards.......

Obviously taste and design are purely subjective but ask any watchmaker about Panerai quality and you'll get the same answer.
It's worth noting the backlash against Panerai really started several years back after they were found to be using the very cheapest undecorated ETA movements in a £4500 special edition NYC boutique watch- had you already bought one Panerai agreed to take the watch back and put a better movement in it free of charge- companies don't tend to do this sort of thing unless they've been caught out being naughty.