The Panerai Source Forums

Being a Panerai newbie, I naturally wanted to pay a visit to my local AD - the one and only in Vancouver - to look at the watches, and to get an idea of their knowledge and level of service. I'm talking about Palladio on Hastings Street downtown. The knowledge of watches was nil, except on a very superficial level, and of course it was mention numerous times that these watches are very hard to get and a deposit will be required before an order can be placed. Both of these things I realize without being told, and I definitely will not be getting my Panerai from them. I can definitely understand why our admin does not want to deal there. I went in last week, to look at some rings, and was actually helped pretty well.
I do visit Toronto a couple of times a year, and am thinking maybe on my next trip will try to find a decent AD over there. It's a shame, because the pretentious atmosphere of the place and the "hard-to-get" stigma of the watch is almost putting me off entirely. Sportback has mentioned this sort of thing in his postings a couple of times, and I can totally relate to how he feels. If owning this watch is going to become something of an "eletist rarity", then I quite honestly don't want to buy into the whole thing. I know I really would like to own a Panerai at some point, and it definitely will not be from Palladio in Vancouver, and it definitely will not be the end of the world if I never get one.
Anyway, the other alternative is to order one. Perhaps some of you could give me a couple of tips on the best place to get started. I really do like the Panerai watch, for reasons of my own, and would really like to go about getting one in a fun an non-pretentious way, in the spirit of this forum, which takes so much after the spirit on Breitlingsource.com.
Thanks for listening.
Cheers,
Carl

Well obviously given the delays incurred when ordering from an AD, a lot of people trawl the fora for the watch they're looking for.

The pros and cons of this are pretty easy to understand: from an AD (regardless of the knowledge or inteligence of the people you're dealing with) you get a 100% gaurantee - the watch is genuine, and there's the after sales service etc.

Buying from an ad on a forum can be very dicey. The expressin often used is "buy the seller, not the watch" - if you do reference checks from people on the same forum, if you can arrange a face-to-face deal, if someone you know also knows the seller etc. There are numerous ways of making it work, but you have to be very careful as there are very experienced 'scammers' out there, using other peoples photos to sell either watches that don't exist, or fakes.

Personally eBay is a no-no - but I have heard people who buy Panerai on eBay without problems.

Just for the record, I've bought from fora and never had a problem - however, the very first Panerai I bought was from an English guy in Prague - from a forum. The deal went thru, a little under list, and took about a week. When the watch arrived, it was a genuine Panerai, brand new, never worn and I was very pleased. The guy who sold it to me did a few more deals and I was used as a reference. Sadly, this didn't last, and after a comparitively short space of time, I realised what he'd done (And how lucky I had been) - the scam was astonishingly simple; he bought half a dozen new Panerai - nothing particularly expensive - then he put an ad up on a forum, sold all the watches, making sure he had a good price and great shipping etc. This meant that he would have half a dozen happy customers who would give him glowing references.

Then all he had to do was advertise a bunch of watches he didn't own, give our names as referees, and wait for the money to roll in...obviously this kind of scam gets discovered pretty quickly, but in the month or so of operation, I estimate he could have easily sold a dozen watches that he didn't actually own - do the math!

_________________
Own: 219, 253, 270, 308
On order: 28 Selling: 164 OOR
Past loves: 000,176,199,240,250,251,252,288

Thanks for the advice, Sportback. And the rather sad tale. Take it from one who knows, I always say! I am also not quite confident in going the way of eBay. I think when the time comes, I will probably look for an AD when I go out of town. Sorry about all the ranting in my post, but I was disappointed when I found out for sure that our only AD is a dud, at least for me. As I said many times in Bretilingsource.com, one of the biggest pleasures about my Breitlings, is the type of place and people I get to deal with at my AD.
I have often given up purchases for the simple reason that I did not like the establishment or sales staff.
Anyway, I am sure that when the time does come to really get my Panerai, that something will sort itself out.
Cheers,
Carl

Yeah unfortunately that is why I won't buy from them.. I resort to dealing with established members of the fora, and meeting up with locals. Speaking of which, I am arranging a get together with a few local guys.. a few of which are Panerai guys. Let me know if you are in Carl!

Sounds like a great idea! I really would like to see some Panerai models, as in touch, feel, wear,etc. Please let me know more details.
Cheers,
Carl