O-M-G!!! This new arrival is one of my grails!!! When the first Panerai Bronzo was released in 2011, it was love at first sight. The love eventually turned into frustration as it was impossible to purchase one unless you knew someone or were a VIP customer. The years passed, new versions were released, but the Bronzo remained a myth… unobtainable at retail. What made things more infuriating was seeing many Brozos in the secondary market with a $10K premium or seeing one owner with multiple versions of the Bronzo (in many cases with all versions)... and there I was still dreaming about owning one someday.
The Submersible line now has their own boxes.
Flash forward 8 years and Panerai finally ditched the silly idea of keeping the Bronzos as “limited edition” models. And I say silly because after the tremendous success of their first model, it was clear that they had no intentions of not offering more bronze watches in the future. I would not be surprised if the Bronzo is the most sought after watch in Panerai history. With the announcement this year that the latest Bronzo PAM 968 was going to be a regular production model, it reignited my hopes of one day obtaining one. However, due to the insane demand for it and the limited production number of 1,000 units a year, I figured it was just a matter of patience before I could score one. Thanks to my friend Panerai Central, I was able to obtain one much sooner than expected! The latest Bronzo is still nearly impossible to obtain at the moment, but according to Panerai’s CEO, Jean-Marc Pontroué, if you place a deposit now you should be able to obtain one by summer of 2020.
New box for the Submersible line.
Why did they feel the necessity to label the strap and the screw driver?
PAM 968… beautiful rose gold tone on the bronze case before any patina has developed.
Needless to say, I am ecstatic about finally receiving one of my grails after a loooooong wait. The old saying “good things come to those who wait” is only half right. Good things really come to those who wait and know the right people at the right time.
Though they appear black in photos, the dial and bezel are actually dark brown.
Special thanks to Panerai Central and Brandon Skinner (Panerai La Jolla Boutique Director) for making my Bronzo dream come true.
