Officine Panerai

I'm a little puzzled with the so called limited edition and the regular production watches from Panerai.

I've been eyeing a pam242, apparently thats limited to 300 pieces production but its not a limited edition piece. My current 287 indicates that there will be 1500 produced, i mean that in its own way is limited too. Then you have pieces like the 246 that are specifically categorised as Special Edition.

This is making me really quite confused...I assume Special Edition and Limited Editions are totally 2 different matter? In that case every Panerai is limited edition because they are limited to a production number? Or does the production number only indicate the production figure for the year and they can have another figure for the next year?

Lets take for instance the 242, it's limited to 300 pieces. Will they produce another 300 next year with the same design? Or 300 means thats it, finish selling and u guys out there fight for it?

Lets face it we all know these limited edition thing with engraving on the case back is nothing more than a good marketing gimic...it's just a really glamourous and feel good way to give every watch a production number for identification sake. At the same time silly people like myself go after watches with nicer production numbers....that on its own is great marketing. How many nice numbers we can come up with for a 300 piece production 001,002,003,004,005,006,007,008,009,010,011,018,020,022,030,100,111............the list really does go on (you get the drift on what i'm driving at)...but then again due to the scarcity of Panrais we'd be happy enough to find the Panerai we want...

So back to the limited edition, special edition and regular production issue whats the difference?

Cheers,

ClockOnWrist

 

With Panerai, a regular production watch is limited to a certain number per production year; this is identified by the letter engraved on the caseback, with I being 2006, J for 2007, etc... Panerai would decide each year whether the watch will continue to be produced, and how many for that particular year.

On the other hand, the limited special editions are produced over an extended period of time, and as far as I know, that letter then only represents the year of introduction. So it's possible that two or three years down the line, deliveries are still being made for a particular special edition model.

And then you have the out of range watches, or OOR. For any of the above, Panerai sometimes decide to produce a handful more, usually a run of 12 watches.

Finally, there are shadow watches, those with no production number at all. These were produced either as prototypes, or for internal use, but they sometimes trickle out onto the secondary market.

I trust that our esteemed moderators will jump in to complete this info, should I have missed anything

although not a mod

Sean, your explanation was very thorough, just want to clarify 2 small points ~

 

The run for the production year includes a model type and not a specific watch, so if your PAM 2A shows a total number of 1000 made, that would include all Base Luminors for the year 1998 including PAM 9 and PAM 10 (btw, the split was 500 2's, and 250 each for the 9 and 10).

Regarding the OORs, there is no '12' rule, as there were 100x2s, 80x61s, 6x163s, etc.

 

Cheers,

 

~Asi~

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If there is a choice, is it better to buy a panerai shadow watch than a normal panerai watch.

So can i conclude that the Pam242 that i'm interested in buying though states that 300 will be produced, it can mean that more will be produced in time to come? the Pam242 is no Special Edition watch, but its been sold and publicised as a limited edition watch of 300 pieces, can i assume that after 300 pieces has been delivered they reserve every right to produce more should there be further demands?

What about Special Edition watches, does that mean they will adhere strictly to their mentioned production quantity?

Thanks for your replies guys.

Cheers,
ClockOnWrist

Millesimation is a production of XXXX pieces per Year.
LE is only one production an unique production of XXX pîeces.
As for the 242, Panerai used the millesimation, ie, 300 pieces for 2007.
In 2008 ,they're free to do what they want and how they want.
300/500/ 1000 or more...
LE is another thing.
LE are unique edition of XXX pieces.
For example, pam 127 is 1950 pieces, Pam 217 is 1000 pieces, and Pam 163 is 230 pieces.
In a normal world , this has to stay like that, as Panerai guarantees that is an " UNIQUE" Edtion.
But there are some OOR phenomenons...
As for my 3 examples, 12 OOR Pam 127, 6 Pam 163 ,and 12( not sure about the number ) Pam 217...
That means that these 3 pîeces are not anymore an UNIQUE edtion.
Best.
Nicolas

You can conclude that for a certain year, not more than 300 pieces of PAM242 and related PAMs would be made (probably no other related PAMs in the 242's case). The next year, OP can decide to stop production or make another run at any number.

For example, the PAM 57 (Titanium Power Reserve) was a regular production watch. It was made in 2000-2001 (series C and D) with the following breakdown:

For C millesimation was 2000 and for D millesimation was 2500. That does not mean there were 4500 57s made, it means that there were 4500 Power Reserves made. (Actually there were 500 57s made in C and 50 in D).

For Special Editions, the number is total and final. If there are 150 pieces of PAM 203, it means only 150 will be made.

The exception to this are OORs. Sometimes, OP make a run of OORs that exceed the millesimation . For SEs it had made some collectors somewhat unhappy.

 

Hope its clear,

 

~Asi~

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys...that makes things very much clearer to me now.

At the end of the day i guess the amount of pieces produced shouldn't be that huge of a factor if i like the piece enough. Perhaps like many i'm trying to find excuses for my extravagant indulgent...

Cheers,
ClockOnWrist

The PAM 242, although not a SE model, was only produced for the "I" model year. There are no PAM 242 J's. Therefore it could be concluded that only 300 PAM 242's will ever be made, that being the 242 "I' series. This seems almost certain as the 242 houses a JLC movement and Panerai is discontinung the use of any JLC movements in their watches.

Well i suppose that makes the purchase that bit more interesting. Thanks for sharing the info.

Cheers,
ClockOnWrist

Apart from 190 and 242, are there any Panerai Model that use the JLC movement?

PAM's 184 & 185

Also..the siblings of the PAM 190.....PAM's 197, 198 and 208

I think this is all of them...?

PAM 223, like the 185, but in platinum.

 

Asi