Messages: 24 Location: New Orleans, LA
Registered: March 2011
Need your help: SSPD, PML, or PMI?
Tue, 22 May 2012 10:06
Good morning all!
I am in a bit of a quandary and need your thoughts (please). I'm finishing my MBA in July, would like to buy something to commemorate the event. Now I'm facing a choice between buying a GO Panoinverse steel, GO Panomaticlunar steel, or GO Senator Seventies Panorama Date in blue/steel.
As you can see, I am a watch lover -- it's the mechanical perfection, complexity, and both the hidden and apparent aesthetics that really captures my heart about them. My "value curve" falls off pretty quick after the $15k mark, but if something's really special, I don't mind wading in past there.
Each of the three GO's I'm weighing for this special occasion appeal to me independently, but I need to choose one. I have a 6.7" wrist.
The PMI calls out to the true watch geek in me...this (in my view) is a feast for the eyes for a hardcore watch mechanic, someone who loves the look of that seductive double swan neck and large balance. The Panoinverse sacrifices practicality -- i.e. manual wind, no date, no other complications -- for sheer beauty and functional transparency. My concern is that it will look "blingy" relative to the other watches in my collection...the guilloche, the exposed synthetic ruby jewels, etc. Is this a conservative watch? I think both yes and no.
The PML calls out to that part of me that loves complications and watches that are externally impressive to non-watch lovers. This aspect isn't a huge part of who I am (for example my Grand Seiko is the prototypical anti-recognition watch, and I love it), but it's something I recognize is very real. The PML is an amazing looking watch, sure to garner comments -- it's also an automatic movement with date and moonphase complications, two complications I value -- and so it's a more practical choice than the PMI. However, it's also a nubuck-ish strap watch, and a 42mm, and I struggle with whether it will "work" in formal settings.
The SSPD calls out to my practical side. As a 3 hand bracelet watch with a big date and WR to 10atm, it's supremely flexible with either casual or formal dress. The blue face (which would be the one I'd buy) is mesmerizing and unique. The square case design makes the watch "pop" both in a crowd and also peeking from beneath a sleeve. The bracelet is well-designed, the clasp is inspired, but the polished center links give me some hesitation.
So...given all of the above, and given my existing collection, which would you choose, and why?
- joozywoozy