...Exclusive First Look...
★All-New Panerai★
Radiomir 1940 Marina Militare
47MM PAM00587
At Jake's Panerai World, we were extremely fortunate to get ahold of the first Panerai PAM 587 to reach the United States, so a special thanks to Panerai for making this happen!!!
We are working on a super-detailed review of this amazing new vintage inspired historic Panerai model. We've had the watch since last week, and I have been testing it and studying all the magnificent details. My preliminary opinion is that the PAM 587 is the most historically accurate, best-looking, absolute coolest Panerai ever made by the contemporary Panerai company, and I don't say that lightly...It belongs to both the vintage world and modern world, and as a result is a truly timeless design which remains ahead of its time...
Some Preliminary Observations:
• The tapered 26/22/4 strap took me by surprise. I thought I would not like it, and would want to instantly replace it with a 26/26/4 strap, but that was not the case.
• Brown leather strap with ecru stitching is sooooo good looking, warm and Italianate...Very 1940s English Patient (movie) palate looking...I'm surprised the hot-stamped OP logo kind of looks cool, and is much more low key than it looks in photos...Also the tapered strap is very comfortable and the highest quality OEM Panerai strap I have ever seen. I think one of the reasons it works so well is the strap is 4mm thick, so it is beefy, just like the watch...
• The curved and polished trapezoidal polished steel buckle gives the watch a dressier, more formal/modern industrial design look. Buckle is really beautiful...
Compared to the PAM 372
• The case is NOT the same as a PAM 372. The PAM 587 has taller, wider, curvier, squarer, thicker lugs, which look more balanced and masculine, and also have much longer flat bottoms. The top to bottom (from lug to lug) has the 587 measuring just a tad bit shorter (1/3MM)
• Wears smaller than a PAM 372, and looks much dressier as well. I am including the photo below that show a Luminor Panerai PAM00372 next to the Radiomir Marina Militare PAM00587. The 372 is considered by many Paneristi to be "THE Panerai", but I think that quotient has just changed with the advent of the PAM 587. The PAM 587 makes the 372 look almost contrived, whereas the 587 looks much more balanced and organic, and more complete in a less-is-more kind of way.
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
–Leonardo da Vinci
• The pointed pencil hands look super-sharp and clean, which give the watch a great streamline, clean art-deco, Populuxe look...Arguably Panerai should replace the hands on the PAM 372 with these significantly improved hands. These pencil hands are not dauphine hands, but they have that great 1950s, long and lean elegant, pointed look...
• The 587 "Marina Militare" etching has a smaller font size, and looks more refined and elegant.
• This watch exudes warmth, understated sporty elegance and charisma.
• Extremely versatile to mix and match with everything from shorts and flip-flops to being worn with a suit.
• Insanely timeless, art-deco, Avant garde design, which has been beautifully updated and modernized by Panerai.
• Super clean, uncluttered BASE dial design is highly complemented by the simple 8MM winding crown. This watch is as simple as it gets, and the large dial makes it so easy to see the time at a glance.
• This is a TRUE Minimalist Masterpiece.
• The etched OP logo on the 8MM winding crown is beautifully executed, and highly dimensional.
• Super low-key, understated design. This watch is bold and outstanding, but in a quiet, reserved kind of way. Most people, I imagine won't recognize it is a Panerai for two different reasons. First, since it lacks the half-crescent crown guard, and secondly, since it does not say Panerai on the dial. Having the 'Marina Militare' designation is kind of like a reverse, reverse psychology, in the sense it will throw most people off. And that is kind of what the quiet appeal is of this watch. It's like a more gentlemanly Panerai. If the PAM372 is Sylvester Stallone, the PAM587 is Cary Grant. Some watches are about showing others who you are and what you have achieved. This watch is about showing yourself who you are, and not caring what other people think...
Vintage Rolex Design DNA
• Amazingly good-looking, handsome watch, with very Rolex Oyster Cushion-Case look. Basically this watch is very rich in Rolex DNA, including the 8MM Brevet 'Big Crown'. This might sound unusual, but in my mind all the vintage Panerai watches, since they were made by Rolex are basically Rolex watches. The best vintage inspired Panerai watches, including the PAM587 have so much art-deco Rolex design DNA, that in my mind they are amazing Rolex watches...
It is important to realize that Rolex and Panerai were once as close as brothers, and now in some ways they may seem like distant cousins. The Rolex watch pictured below is a 47MM Rolex Reference 6154, which was made in the early 1950s, and I put it next to the late 2014 PAM00587 to illustrate how similar the case DNA design is, as well as the sharp pencil hands. Obviously back in the 1930s through the 1950s, Panerai made their own trademark 3, 6, 9, 12 Sandwich dials in their Italian workshops.
The Rolex on the left was made just around the time of the Rolex Submariner model in the early 1950s, and shares its 8MM 'Big Crown', which is a great look. The Panerai PAM 587 shares this fantastic look, and I measured the crown diameter–just out of curiosity– which came in at 8.5MM. There is a tremendous amount of subtle design refinement in the Panerai what is not visible to the untrained eye, but this is both the beauty and mastery of Panerai today.
Despite being an immense fan of Panerai, at my core, I am even more of a Rolex fan, and the thing that originally drew me to modern Panerai was the awesome Rolex Design DNA...Hopefully at some time in the future, we will once again see Rolex and Panerai collaborate together, and pick-up where they left off...
Ironically the vintage Rolex-Made Panerai model 6152/1 which the PAM00587 is based upon, was the Panerai model that first got me to fall madly in love with the Panerai brand.
Having worn a PAM00372 for a year now, was basically a stop gap to my grail watch which is really a Rolex Made Vintage Panerai Reference 6154. The PAM00587 is so close to the Reference 6154 with the only difference being the raised 'high-hat' crystal v. the domed low-profile crystal like you would see on a PAM00127 'Fiddy'.
The photo below shows me years ago wearing the original Rolex Made Panerai 6152/1, which the PAM00587 is based upon...
In the days and weeks to come, we will be doing an in-depth review of this instant-classic limited-edition Panerai. The photo below of the 587 is on the best I have seen so far. You can learn much more about this beauty from the first preview article I wrote on the PAM 587.
