Panerai 184 a rare beasty.

bigclive2011 · Oct 24, 2024

Good afternoon fellow Paneristi.

About fifteen years ago I went into a BMW main dealer and bought a 330 convertible (Great car) and I noticed that my salesman was wearing a Panerai, conversation ensued, showing him my 88, and him showing me a 42 mil Radiomir with two crowns, that I had never ever seen before.

It was a 184, and ever since I have been looking for one, but ever mindful of the JLC movement it uses, bearing in mind they are old watches, early 2000’s, and will need expensive servicing at some stage.

Today I found one that has just come back from Panerai after a 3 month, £850 service and total refurb including a new Chrystal and a polish, so basically as new.

Its minus box and papers, so will be the first watch I have ever bought this way, but I am 100% happy with the seller, so no worries about authenticity, and it will come with a two year warranty.

I am so very pleased to have snicked this watch after all these years, and they do seem to be really rare, with only 1000 made over a two year production run.

Anyone else on here got one? Pics and a review of ownership would be much appreciated.

I will post up pics of mine when it arrives.

Live long and prosper fellow nerds, as a bloke with pointy ears used to like saying.

bilwilvegas · Oct 24, 2024

Congratulations on such a huge win after all these years! I can not wait to see your pics when it arrives!

Mtvandi · Oct 24, 2024

bigclive2011 said:
Good afternoon fellow Paneristi.

About fifteen years ago I went into a BMW main dealer and bought a 330 convertible (Great car) and I noticed that my salesman was wearing a Panerai, conversation ensued, showing him my 88, and him showing me a 42 mil Radiomir with two crowns, that I had never ever seen before.

It was a 184, and ever since I have been looking for one, but ever mindful of the JLC movement it uses, bearing in mind they are old watches, early 2000’s, and will need expensive servicing at some stage.

Today I found one that has just come back from Panerai after a 3 month, £850 service and total refurb including a new Chrystal and a polish, so basically as new.

Its minus box and papers, so will be the first watch I have ever bought this way, but I am 100% happy with the seller, so no worries about authenticity, and it will come with a two year warranty.

I am so very pleased to have snicked this watch after all these years, and they do seem to be really rare, with only 1000 made over a two year production run.

Anyone else on here got one? Pics and a review of ownership would be much appreciated.

I will post up pics of mine when it arrives.

Live long and prosper fellow nerds, as a bloke with pointy ears used to like saying.

Awesome find!
That was my first Panerai and I loved it’s uniqueness and JLC movement. I had it for about 10 or so years but sold it to get something (PAM 118) less dressy, easier to swap straps and more water resistant.

I definitely miss it, but enjoyed it a lot while I owned it! 🤠

bigclive2011 · Oct 24, 2024

bilwilvegas said:
Congratulations on such a huge win after all these years! I can not wait to see your pics when it arrives!

Thanks Bill, pics to follow 👍🏻

bigclive2011 · Oct 24, 2024

Mtvandi said:
Awesome find!
That was my first Panerai and I loved it’s uniqueness and JLC movement. I had it for about 10 or so years but sold it to get something (PAM 118) less dressy, easier to swap straps and more water resistant.

I definitely miss it, but enjoyed it a lot while I owned it! 🤠

Thanks for the reply, have you got any pics of when you had it? It’s a 24mil lug on a 42mil case, and I have a whole box full of 24mil straps, just need to get stronger glasses, thinner fingers, and a feck load more patience for those micro screws 😂

Mtvandi · Oct 24, 2024

bigclive2011 said:
Thanks for the reply, have you got any pics of when you had it? It’s a 24mil lug on a 42mil case, and I have a whole box full of 24mil straps, just need to get stronger glasses, thinner fingers, and a feck load more patience for those micro screws 😂

Let me see if I have any photos.

BTW- I believe the OEM strap was 25mm, which made it interesting finding appropriate straps.

bigclive2011 · Oct 24, 2024

Mtvandi said:
Let me see if I have any photos.

BTW- I believe the OEM strap was 25mm, which made it interesting finding appropriate straps.

Typical 🙄

What a mil between friends? Or lugs in this case.

Jonathan T · Oct 24, 2024

Congrats on finally finding what you were searching for. a JLC movement! interesting indeed! Please post the pics when it arrives!

bigclive2011 · Oct 24, 2024

Jonathan T said:
Congrats on finally finding what you were searching for. a JLC movement! interesting indeed! Please post the pics when it arrives!

Thanks, and I will.

Panerai always had an occasional link with JLC and a few other rather interesting movement manufacturers, prior to the “In house” move, where everything started to be buried under those enormous metal covers 🙄

This one looks great, with some real high end finishing, a bit of a “Q” watch, quite sedate, some would say boring on top, and a Stunner from the bottom.

ChristopheH · Oct 24, 2024

Nice story with a quest !
These rare watches with their very particular design have a lot of charm.
The JLC caliber is the cherry on the cake. Congratulations !

bilwilvegas · Oct 24, 2024

Dang it . . . I have come back to this thread a couple times today and Googled the PAM 184 to see images and show them to my wife. There is just something about this brand . . . I keep finding really cool variations . . . my "want" list is growing faster than it should! LOL

Russ1965 · Oct 24, 2024

Congratulations 🎉 🎉 🎉

Can't wait to see the pictures, Clive.

bigclive2011 · Oct 25, 2024

ChristopheH said:
Nice story with a quest !
These rare watches with their very particular design have a lot of charm.
The JLC caliber is the cherry on the cake. Congratulations !

Thanks.

It just stayed in my mind all those years (As watches do with us nerds) and the opportunity arrived, at the same time as I sold another Panerai, three gone now 🥲

So I had the funds, and heh, you only live once.

Mr Bond…..

bigclive2011 · Oct 25, 2024

bilwilvegas said:
Dang it . . . I have come back to this thread a couple times today and Googled the PAM 184 to see images and show them to my wife. There is just something about this brand . . . I keep finding really cool variations . . . my "want" list is growing faster than it should! LOL

Panerai is like a can that you open and find it’s full of smaller cans…well something like that.

There are lots of interesting unusual models, with unexpected things, like highly decorated high end movements, and very unusual case materials, have you seen the almost blue Tantalum models yet? Now they are unusual.

Once the bug bites you are well and truly bitten.

bigclive2011 · Oct 25, 2024

Russ1965 said:
Congratulations 🎉 🎉 🎉

Can't wait to see the pictures, Clive.

Thanks Russ.

It was like you and your orange monster, you wait and wait Until the right one comes along, only with a run of 1000 worldwide, that takes a while longer.

Cant wait to get the watch, and then the pics will follow 👍🏻

Stephen2020 · Oct 25, 2024

Well done on getting another Panerai! 😀

JBear · Oct 25, 2024

I feel like I need to go check the "I'm selling off and going on a big cruise" topic for updates. Also, in my experience, more Panerai are always a good thing.

ChristopheH · Oct 25, 2024

bigclive2011 said:
Panerai is like a can that you open and find it’s full of smaller cans…well something like that.

There are lots of interesting unusual models, with unexpected things, like highly decorated high end movements, and very unusual case materials, have you seen the almost blue Tantalum models yet? Now they are unusual.

Once the bug bites you are well and truly bitten.

I agree

Panerai looks like a matryoshka giving birth to children so different and without denying a family resemblance. Thanks to all LE, SE .. etc.
There are watches I like ... and then there is Panerai.
The difference is not in the degree but in its nature.
I like not to systematically try to understand everything. This kills the mystery surrounding the charm ... or maybe bewitchment ?

bigclive2011 · Oct 25, 2024

JBear said:
I feel like I need to go check the "I'm selling off and going on a big cruise" topic for updates. Also, in my experience, more Panerai are always a good thing.

I will update you right here.

I sold off enough to pay for the cruise, so that’s sorted.

I still have half a dozen watches on the market, and I just sold one, hence the watch fund was topped up, temporarily.

bigclive2011 · Oct 25, 2024

ChristopheH said:
I agree Panerai looks like a matryoshka giving birth to children so different and without denying a family resemblance. Thanks to all LE, SE .. etc.
There are watches I like ... and then there is Panerai.
The difference is not in the degree but in its nature.
I like not to systematically try to understand everything. This kills the mystery surrounding the charm ... or maybe bewitchment ?

Panerai sometimes do things that suprise me, and not in a good way as well.

Two examples.

My 671 has a 9010 movement that hacks, and why wouldn’t it in a £15k watch, and then they changed it so that it didn’t on later production 🤔

Small wristed folk always asked for a smaller case size than the 42/44/47 commonly offered, a good request, I mean why lose a third of your customers, so they brought out a 38/40 mil Luminor case and called it the Due. But it wasn’t WR any more for diving or even swimming 😳

How many other manufacturers get 10atm from a slimmer/smaller case? All of them basically.

I think that Jean-Marc has resolved this one with the introduction of the Quaranta, but what on earth happened with the Due?

So you are right, love them, but don’t ever try to understand them.

Kinda like my wife really 😂

Panerai 184 a rare beasty.

bigclive2011

bilwilvegas

Mtvandi

bigclive2011

bigclive2011

Mtvandi

bigclive2011

Jonathan T

bigclive2011

ChristopheH

bilwilvegas

Russ1965

bigclive2011

bigclive2011

bigclive2011

Stephen2020

JBear

ChristopheH

bigclive2011

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