By Mark Wisdom Phillips
The Story
For awhile, people thought that when something new came out it also had to be complicated in order to set it apart from all of the old trends. It turns out that all of those trends are what would eventually prevail in the design world because through all of the drama…those basic ideas are what didn’t change. It was the foundation of great design and nobody had given it any respect.
There are some smart people out there who noticed this happening. A lot of them seem to work at a watch company called Panzera. The people at Panzera were
tired of paying thousands of dollars for a quality timepiece…and just to look exactly like the next guy or gal. Their goal was to produce quality timepieces with insane price competitiveness while having a timeless design. In order to do this…they looked to Germany. Germany is comparable to Switzerland when it comes to watch quality, but for a fraction of the price. Germany also was the home of Bauhaus designed timepieces that were famous in the 50s, which would inspire the look of Panzera.
Packaging and Presentation
I’m always looking to see that watch companies deliver their watches to the customer with excellent presentation. I think it adds a great touch by showing they are grateful for their business and respect the customer. Panzera is admirable because they did all of these things and provided excellent presentation through packaging. It’s most certainly not a box that I will ever throw away and that is a good sign of it being magnificent. Take a look for yourself.
Design and Specifications
• 44mm case diameter
• 9mm thick
• Stainless steel case (316L)
• Automatic Miyota 8215 movement (22 jewels, 40 hour power reserve)
• Exhibition case back
• Anti reflective hardened mineral glass (domed)
• Date function
• Luminous markers and hands
• Easy to use screw down crown
• 5ATM water resistance
• Black genuine leather strap (22mm) with butterfly clasp
• 2 year international warranty
The Face
Panzera hit the nail on the head with the design of this watch. It’s simply gorgeous. I believe the world needs more simplicity and class and Panzera is helping with that problem. The watch has a 44mm stainless steel case and domed hardened mineral/glare resistant glass. I noticed the glare resistance causes the glass to have a blue hue to it when in sunlight. It hasn’t been bothersome, but I don’t think it’s a necessary feature either.
The glass is very clear and shows off a crisp, clean face in or out of sunlight. The face is very simple with thin lines extending from the outer edges, reaching for the center where long petite silver hands point the viewer to the correct time. It also features a small date window, which I think is a great touch and not an unnecessary complication.
The face also features small luminous circles at 12, 3, 6, and 9. The hands are also luminous which will help greatly with nighttime use. When I think of “lume” I also think “bulky and ugly,” but not in this case. Too much lume is annoying, although this watch could use a few more small dots of it to give the viewer less of a guessing game in the dark. Not enough lume is the least of my worries when it comes to a watch and I’m sure you will be trying to show this piece off in the limelight rather than in darkness anyways. Overall, the watch face design is a joy to look at. There are a lot of companies trying to master simple watch faces and many are failing, but Panzera most definitely succeeded.
