Bonati Says Farewell With The PAM911 – “Last One For Paneristi”

For over 20 years Angelo Bonati has been paving the way for the Panerai Brand. Since he joined the brand in 1997 from Cartier, he has been the face of the the rise, adoption, and love created by the brand and some of it’s most hardcore fans. These “Paneristi” have had a special place with the brand and have had a number of limited pieces created just to celebrate them. As his final farewell to these die hard fans, Panerai released the PAM911 which was designed by Mr. Bonati himself without any press or fanfare. We don’t know if this will be the last one ever, but it will for sure be the bookend for the models created under Mr. Bonati’s tenure.

To understand where things come to an end, we must look back at where they began and the journey to the PAM911.

The first was the PAM195 limited to 200 pieces which was released for the 5th anniversary of Paneristi.com. These pieces each had the name of the owners engraved into the case back.

The second one in the collection was arguably the best one released in the Paneristi line, the PAM360 which was limited to only 300 pieces with all of the owners selected through a lottery system.

A few years later, Panerai released the PAM532 which was the first Radiomir in the collection. The 47mm Radiomir featured the same color combo as the PAM360 and was limited to 500 pieces as well. This model was dubbed the “Paneristi Forever” and had it engraved in the case back.

For the 15th year anniversary the brand released the PAM634 which was the first stainless steel model that wasn’t PVD’ed, had a snap back case, and blue logo dial.

This brings us to the “Last One For Paneristi”, the PAM911. This final piece that was designed by Angelo Bonati himself features a 44mm Stainless Steel Luminor Case and beautiful camouflage green dial that we have seen most recently in the new green dial series pieces like the PAM736, PAM735, & PAM737

The green dial features a sandwich dial construction with a faux patina lume that has been featured in all the pieces except the PAM195. The watch also features gold hands for the first time which work perfectly with the color of the dial and lume color.

In the heart of the PAM911 is an 8 day in-house manual wind movement. One of the best decisions that Mr. Bonati made with this piece was not putting the words 8 days on the dial that a lot of us have had issues with recently. He retained the beauty of a clean Panerai dial by doing this and for that we are all grateful to say the least.

Another great move was to go back to the screw in case back as opposed to the snap back that was present in the PAM634. The case back features an engraving in the middle that says “Last one for Paneristi. A nice little touch that you don’t notice right off the bat is that Mr. Bonati’s initials are also engraved subtly on the back in small print with the rest of the text. It’s an everlasting reminder of the work that Mr. Bonati has done for the brand and his final goodbye through the design and release of this timepiece.

The PAM911 comes on a brown Ponte Vecchio strap as well as a dark brown OEM rubber strap that can be changed using the screwdriver that is included in the amazing green colored wooden box that comes with this watch.

This last Paneristi watch by Mr. Bonati is limited to only 500 pieces worldwide and is priced at $6,600 USD. Compared to the 634 you really get a great bang for your buck for this time pieces especially since this has an in-house movement as compared to the ones that used the Unitas 6497.

This piece has already been flying out of the boutiques as soon as they get any allocation to some of the most loyal Panerai fans in the world. The waiting lists for the next wave of allocated pieces is growing super long, so if you are lucky to get your hands on this beautiful piece, consider yourself very lucky. It will take a while before we really see how this model stands up with the rest of the pieces in the Paneristi line but for me it’s already in the top 3 after the PAM195 and PAM360.

The PAM911 is so different from any other Paneristi in the past and is the perfect way for Mr. Bonati to say goodbye with.

Sig Bonati, as a fan of the brand for so long, I truly thank you for all the great things you have done for the Panerai and all the passion and amazing innovations you have spearheaded along the way.  We have all enjoyed the ride from start to finish and wish you the best in your future endeavors.

PANERAI PAM911