TL;dr getting a new Longines Spirit Zulu 42mm this week.
L3.812.4.53.2 From Longines.com
I have been a serious Panerai fan for a while. I thought to finally pick up a GMT and stop the infernal itch. I was working through the ridiculous Panerai catalog, checking various models and features, calibers, etc. and watching YouTube videos for each. I had about 60 saved in my notepad for reference and price watching.
While watching a vid on the PAM 320, a real fave, I caught glimpse of a video offered up by the algo for the Longines Sprit Zulu reference L3.812.4.53.2.
I was shocked. Stunned. Overwhelmed. Nah not overwhelmed. But I did change my focus to learning more about it. i realized that this might be my gmt. It is a true travel gmt, and I like being able to flip the hour hand on the local dial. I would normally flip this between Pacific time or UTC depending on my projects. I learned that the ceramic bezel rotates both ways, and can be used for a 3rd time zone (24 hr) by rotating the bezel so the local hour hand matches the time there. I can track PT and UTC simultaneously with this watch. Panerai couldn’t get close in the price range.
The watch looks to have a beautiful finish, is the perfect size at 42mm by 14mm, and I like the strap that comes with it and also ordered the matte calf strap. I ordered directly off the Longines.com website, creating an account and setting up delivery. The Panerai site has a similar feature but I found it to be not working well. Links didn’t click, dropdowns weren’t active, and filter settings would be lost when the Back button is pressed. It was a navigation nightmare. At Longines I was done in 5 minutes.
I looked at discount gray market for this watch and pretty much found the low price outlets don’t actually have it, or worse, were selling floor models as New, but discounted. I decided to bypass all questionable offerings and get one delivered from the source. My caution here is there were a couple videos highlighting some date alignment issues with the watch, and I wanted to be able to return it Easily. An AD in Istanbul won’t work for me.
After reading of all the problems Panerai has had, between fakes, replicas, and poor quality decisions, I like the idea of the Longines. I’ve always thought of them as a Moonphase and chronograph watchmaker, and the GMT is a nice find.