Why Panerai and how did you get into the brand?

That’s an interesting question, actually. So I have always been into watches from a young age. I remember going into department stores while my mother shopped and just staring at the cases at all the watches. Back then $100 was a lot of money to me so these watches were definitely out of reach for me at the time. As I grew older and slowly took steps up the ladder in terms of price point, I remember a good friend that worked at my office come in with a watch I had never seen before. It was big, pronounced had a very visible dial and this interesting crown guard on the side. Naturally I asked him what type of watch it was and he said, “Panerai”. This was in the early 2000’s so it was the early stages of Panerai coming to the masses so I started spending hours and hours researching, reading, and trying to figure out all that I could about the brand. Over the years I started to really fall in love with them and I told myself when the time is right for me to jump into the luxury market that would be my first. Fast forward a few yeas and through some hard work I was able to finally get my first luxury watch, pulling the trigger on the very versatile Panerai PAM312. I was so excited to show my friend that I had got one as well so I rushed over to his place and unboxed it. He fell in love with it and it was there that he let the cat out of the bag, his Panerai was a fake. So long story short, it was a fake Panerai that got me into the brand which I never would have expected.