Showdown: Reverso vs. Luminor vs. Moonwatch

Which would you buy?

Every afternoon the fine people at Bernard Watch send me an email with a selection of their gently used or NOS watches. I highly recommend it. It’s the watch equivalent of wiping your face with a steaming hot towel at the end of the work day.

On Thursday I was struck by the relative value propositions of three of the watches in the Bernard send. Let’s talk about them.

Panerai! Such a hip watch!

I appreciate Panerai for what they are. Sure, it’s a little weird to sell a watch based on its heritage as a tool for the Italian military, which hasn’t covered itself in glory over the last thousand years.

It’s a big watch. When you watch a Dodgers game and see shots of Dave Martinez with his arm resting on the fence, you can almost tell the time on his Luminor. Also, I don’t like crown guards. For me, it’s a comfort issue. But the aesthetics aren’t good either.

The art deco numerals? Ugh.

On the plus side, the Panerai sandwich dial is cool and the lume is next-level awesome, if that’s your thing.

At a $3,000 price point, Panerai might be a compelling watch.

But at more than 2x that? AYFKM?

Which brings us to . . .

The Man on the MOOOOOON Watch!

Look, whatever you do, don’t think about this. Don’t think about it! Just concentrate on the Hesalite and the co-axial escapement and the medallion on the caseback and don’t let the—

Fuck. It happened. I couldn’t stop it.

And you can’t, either. Can you? It’s like trying not to think of pink elephants.

Or pink, plastic chronoquartzes.

Which brings us to . . .

It’s $1,600 less than the Panerai. It’s an icon. The fit and finish is off the charts.

This is a watch with heritage: The Reverso was originally built for polo players—you flip the face around and the caseback is solid steel so if you get whacked with a mallet, your watch is okay.

Everything about the Reverso Gran Sport is cool: The sword handset, the font on the numberals, the placement of the date window—and especially the tiny bit of red pop on the seconds hand.

Maybe the rectangular design of the Reverso isn’t your thing. And I can respect that. But in terms of comparative value? Killer.

Tell us what you think in the comments.