Panerai Watches - Fake or Real?
Panerai is one of the most highly-demanded brands on the watch market today. While looking for a Panerai watch, a lot of customers are puzzled by the question how to detect an authentic timepiece from a replica one.
Here are the general pieces of advice to help you avoid the disappointment of being misled by dishonest Panerai watch dealers.
- Visit an authorized Panerai shop: Find the opportunity to visit an authorized Panerai shop - usually it is easy to find the nearest dealer through the official site of the brand. Try to find a person, probably among your good acquaintances, who has already purchased an original Panerai watch at a reliable resource.
- Avoid auctions or private dealers: It is advisable not to buy your first Panerai watch through auctions or private dealers. Naturally among them there the ones worth your trust. But it is better to gain some experience before you use their services.
- Handle an original Panerai watch: Get the opportunity to handle an original Panerai watch, pay your special attention to such minor details as numbers. You may use a magnifying glass. Panerai watchmakers produce watches with very legible often luminescent numbers or markers. Study the dial printing - in case of replica watches it is often not crisp or sometimes even crooked.
- Hands: The hands of replica Panerai watches are often shorter than of the original ones and may in fact feature different design.
- Bezel: A lot of Panerai watches, especially Luminor Submersible watch models, feature a uni-directional rotating bezel. If a timepiece has a rotating bezel, try to get a feeling of how the bezel of an authentic watch rotates.
- Movement: Also if a watch is supplied with a manually-wound movement, make sure to wind the watch - there is often the difference between winding an authentic and replica Panerai watch. The crown of a replica watch often feels flimsy or does not wind smoothly enough.
- Serial number: Through the official site or other reliable resources find out which parts should have a serial number on the watch bracelet. Check whether a watch you intend to buy has the necessary serial number on the required parts.
- Bracelet: Carefully study the bracelet. Panerai produces bracelet of supreme quality. Quite often the sides or edges of a replica Panerai watch's bracelet links are not solid enough. You may notice gaps the authentic watches should lack. The finishing may not be perfect -the metal may look like rolled or folded.
- Diver's bracelet: One more essential detail about the bracelet you should consider - some authentic Panerai watches, for example the Luminor Submersible Chronopassion, are available on a special diver's bracelet. The peculiarity of this bracelet is that it may be easily adjusted to any wrist - or if you are a diver - even your wetsuit.
- Put it on!: Put on the watch on your wrist. All original Panerai bracelets offer great comfort of wearing due to light-weight qualitative materials and perfect polishing.
- Glucydur alloy: Some models of original Panerai watches apply the alloy called Glucydur specially developed by the company to produce nonmagnetic watches. Replica Panerai watches surely do not apply such a distinctive feature.
