The Panerai Source Forums

I was at a Torneau watch store looking at some Panerai and the salesperson there told me that the movement on the Historics and some Contemporary were made by Swatch ??? that was kind of a turn off when buying a $5000+ watch.
Seriously, what is up with that ?

i think you got your answer here----->

http://www.network54.com/Forum/353391/t ... Swatch+---

tourneau is the worst and from my experience thier employees are clueless ....well said by someone else

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dp
just living the dream
chicago, usa

Yes.. the Swatch Group owns ETA (The maker of the movements).. the Swatch Group is the largest of the Swiss watch companies and also owns Breguet, Omega and Tissot among others.

I agree that it is incorrect to say that Panerai is made by Swatch. You wouldn't expect to be told that your Ferrari was made by FIAT even though FIAT own Ferrari and Ferrari's use some parts from the FIAT group parts bin. Panerai's are made by Panerai, they just use various parts from the Swatch Group.

David Howlett

LOL what a horrible sales person. Tourneau is definitely the worst.

Can you imagine going into a Porsche dealership and the salesperson there tells you.. yeah Porsche is made by Volkswagon. Who'd want to spend $100k after that?

It's pretty much the same with that guy from Tourneau.

Yea I got ya, really pretty lame now that I think about it ..I know a little about Panerai and was taken aback for a moment..if I was just a casually interested shopper, I would be looking at something else right away. Very weak salesperson and they had a pretty nice collection there about 30 Luminors and 5 Radiomirs.

I wouldn't expect anything more from Tourneau!

Tourneau is a pathetic excuse for a retailer of fine timepieces. And they DO carry many fine timepieces, that's for sure. But the employees from the salespeople to the managers, are all clueless and about the product they carry, and have no idea what customer service is all about. Right from the minute you enter the door you are followed around by a salesperson who latches onto your shadow from a creepy distance, moving, as you move, from showcase to showcase. As mentioned by other posters on this thread, they really try to do the switch on you, they seldom know anything about timepieces, and you will NOT get a good price from them. Their stores are almost always empty. And last year ....they sold me a broken Breitling Chronomat B01 and even though I was well within the 7 day return policy, BECAUSE I PAID CASH. I was stuck with their STORE CREDIT POLICY, forcing me to shop with them, i.e wait for another Breitling Chronomat B01, that they promised would arrive in two weeks but took well over a month. They gave me such a runaround and got me so mad that the minute they handed me the B01 using the store credit I was entitled to, I lined up all their managers and told them exactly what I thought of them. When I was done I pulled out from my pocket, IN CASH, $10,000 which was to be a deposit on a diamond encrusted Breitling that was to be my next watch. As this was unfolding before them a salesman confirmed that YES, I was supposed to put money down on that piece. Obviously I didn't and left them with their mouths wide open. I will NEVER EVER shop again at Tourneau.

From the little i know, Tourneau seem like the equivilent of the UK's 'Watches of Switzerland' or WoS as they're known here. The general opinion of such organisations is, the staff are poorly trained and often make sweeping and/or inaccurate statements as referred to by the OP.

I prefer to spend my money with an independant AD who at least seems to care about me before taking my cash. Long term if stories are true, there will only be factory controlled Panerai boutiques one day, good for knowledge perhaps but not a price haggle.

It is the type of thing you say however if you're a closet hater, which we see on various watch boards on occasion.

BTW - Swatches are cool to this day.

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PAM 210

The Swatch group is a well respected manufacturer of Luxury Watch Goods, no matter what anyone says.

^^what he said^^