Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2025, and IWC: Back to the 80s online auctions, running from 12:00 PM HKT, Wednesday, 17 September, to 2:00 PM HKT, Wednesday, 24 September. The sales feature nearly 150 different high-end luxury wristwatches, covering everything from A. Lange & Söhne and F.P. Journe to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, including the Panerai models highlighted below.
– By Logan Baker
I never thought I’d own a Panerai.
Too big, too bulky, too much of a statement for my wrist. Like many collectors who came into the hobby in the 2010s, I associated the brand with an earlier era – when Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger wore 44mm Luminors on-screen and off, when watch forums buzzed with Paneristi passion, when once-unobtainable models flipped for multiples of retail. It was certainly a moment in watch history, but not one I felt was mine.
That changed about a year ago, when I purchased an early 2000s Panerai Luminor PAM00055 on a whim. At 44mm, it still sounded enormous on paper, but in practice, the watch surprised me. The titanium case kept it light, the stark brown dial had a certain graphic power, and the cushion case hugged my wrist better than I expected. More than anything, the watch felt honest – toolish, stripped down, direct. I realized I’d been too quick to dismiss Panerai.
And maybe you have too.
If you were around the hobby in the late 1990s or 2000s, you’ll remember the frenzy. Panerai was the hottest brand in the world. What had started as a niche revival of oversized Italian naval dive watches exploded into one of the fastest-growing luxury watch brands of its time. Prices spiked. Entry-level Luminors often traded above retail, and “Pre-Vendome” models from the early 1990s became cult collectibles.
At its peak, those early 1990s Panerais traded in the mid-five figures. To put that in perspective: at the time, you could buy an F.P. Journe Résonance for less. It feels absurd now, but if you’ve been around long enough, it also feels familiar. Panerai mania presaged the speculative waves we’ve seen sweep through collecting more recently.
The craze didn’t come out of nowhere. Panerai tapped into something primal about watch design. These were not delicate dress watches or complicated chronographs. They were bold, legible, and functional. A Panerai dial at ten feet is still instantly recognizable.
That clarity made the brand a cultural phenomenon. Stallone wore one in Daylight (which Phillips sold in 2020 for USD $214,200). Schwarzenegger followed in Eraser. So did countless other action stars and athletes. A Panerai watch was shorthand for oversized toughness.
But beneath the celebrity endorsements, the watches had real substance. They carried forward a genuine military lineage from the 1930s and ’40s, when Panerai supplied oversized dive watches to Italian naval frogmen. The modern Luminor and Radiomir were faithful in spirit, if not in every detail, to those originals.
Today, Panerai doesn’t command the same attention. You don’t see waiting lists or frenzied forum debates. And that might actually be the best reason to take another look.
Unlike the speculative heat of the 2000s, today’s Panerai market feels calmer and more grounded. There are plenty of models – neo-vintage, discontinued, and even modern – that capture what made the brand so appealing in the first place, but at prices that make sense.
Take the nine Panerai watches featured in the Phillips Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2025, Online Auction:
-
The PAM00305, a titanium Submersible, embodies the rugged dive-tool identity at its core.
-
The Arktos PAM00092, with its Luminor Submersible design, channels the early 2000s vibe perfectly.
-
The PAM00587, a modern Radiomir homage to the 1940s ref. 6152/1, is one of the best expressions of Panerai’s heritage.
-
The PAM00995 and PAM00514 highlight the brand’s fascination with larger-than-life cases and clean dial executions.
-
And other 21st-century references, like the PAM01176, PAM00432, PAM00057, and PAM01384, demonstrate how Panerai is able to still experiment with design while staying true to its DNA.
None of these are watches you’ll mistake for anything else – and that’s the point!
Panerai taught me to reconsider what I thought I knew about case size. Yes, they’re larger than what I’d typically wear, but they’re designed to be. The broad bezels, clean dials, and thick lugs balance the diameter in a way that feels deliberate, not gratuitous. Once you accept that premise, the watches start to make sense.
And in a collecting world often obsessed with millimeters, restraint, and under-the-radar elegance, Panerai offers the opposite experience. These watches are bold, graphic, and unmissable. They remind you that fun, not just subtlety, is part of collecting, too.
Panerai likely won’t relive its early-2000s heyday. The days of the Paneristi frenzy are gone, and that’s okay. What remains is a brand with a unique story, an instantly recognizable design language, and a catalogue of watches that still feel compelling – especially once you put one on your wrist.
If you, like me, once dismissed Panerai, maybe it’s time to take another look. Because sometimes, the watch you least expect to love ends up being the one you can’t stop wearing.
You can view the complete Phillips Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2025, Online Auction catalogue here.
A circa 2015 Panerai Radiomir 3 Days PAM00514 (lot 8122) is featured in the hero image.