You are told to never meet your heroes. Just in case they don’t live up to your lofty expectations. So I approached my first meeting with Angelo Bonati at the 2004 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie Genève (SIHH) with some amount of trepidation. This was, after all, the man who resurrected Officine Panerai, and transformed its military tool watches, the Radiomir and Luminor Marina, into the hottest luxury timepieces on the planet. As he walked into the room, I could already feel my pulse racing. To say Angelo Bonati was intimidating was a massive understatement. With a visage that looked hewn of granite by Bernini, he could have been a Roman general in another life. He wore his signature double-breasted suits with the noble bearing of a military uniform. Of course, I was desperate to meet him. After all, it was Panerai that got me into watches and inspired me to become a watch journalist. Of course, I knew the story of how he had been given the mission of turning Panerai, the watch worn by the Italian Gamma Commandos (the Italian Navy’s elite forces) into a true luxury brand by Richemont Group owner Johann Rupert and Dr. Franco Cologni. Together with designer extraordinaire Giampiero Bodino, they didn’t just launch watches, but also ignited a cultural revolution around these timepieces that would take the world by storm. 

The crazed cult devotion that these watches inspired was incendiary. Each successive new Panerai limited edition released became the object of frenzied competition for ownership. Panerai and Angelo Bonati created the concept of “the drop” way before any other watch brand. By the time he sat down across the interview table, I was already the proud owner of a Panerai PAM 00061, a titanium-cased Luminor Marina with a tobacco dial which was the very first luxury timepiece I purchased with my meagre watch journalist savings. And that was the beginning of a financially crippling addiction, as in a few years, I would add a PAM 00024 Submersible, a PAM 00029 “Tuxedo Dial” GMT and was, of course, intent on tracking down a PAM 00004 “A Series” PVD-coated Luminor Marina.  

PAM 00004 “A Series” PVD-coated Luminor Marina. Image: Wind Vintage

When I finally met Bonati at the 2004 SIHH watch fair, there were already rumors swirling on the online forum Paneristi.com about Panerai creating its own in-house movements. A year later in 2005, Bonati would, of course, launch the Caliber P.2002, his eight-day power reserve movement. But a year earlier, amid the rampant speculation and incredulity, as doubt swirled around Panerai’s capacity to produce its own movements, the words “WAIT AND SEE” appeared in the comments section of a Paneristi forum thread signed by “ANGELO BONATI.” Here was the first time a luxury brand CEO had entered the room to engage with his loyalists and fans directly in a massive precursor to the social media age. But that was Angelo Bonati, passionate to a point that he could not help himself from posting his reply. 

When he entered the interview room, he exuded a quiet dignity that was impressive. He didn’t smile at all but looked directly into my eyes. It was like encountering a character from a Visconti movie, such was his grandeur of character. I started to ask him about the movement and his visage changed instantly. He became animated and talked with immense interest about the codes of Panerai: long power reserve, chronometric accuracy and how these would be translated into the movement. He looked at me and paused with a wry smile and added, “Of course, this is all hypothetical,” to which I laughed. By then, he had noticed the watch on my wrist. I confessed that I was obsessed with his work, and he smiled. It was in that instant we started a friendship that would endure for two decades — the entire existence of my magazine. In 2004, I had not yet launched Revolution, but I explained the concept to him — a  magazine that made watches culturally relevant without losing their core authenticity and technical value. He told me to reach out again when I launch Revolution, as he liked the idea and would support it. Panerai would eventually give me great friendships with individuals like Alexandra Zoller, Fabien Levrion, Grace Yeung, Jean-Sebastien Gerondeau, Carla Salicini, Philippe Bonay, and, on the collector side, my friends Alan Bloore, a.k.a. Hammer, Kristian Haagen and so many more. 

Wei Koh (left) presenting Angelo Bonati (right) the Lifetime Achievement Award for Revo Awards 2018

From that point forward, when I was in Milan, he would invite me to lunch and teach me important life lessons, such as the culinary delights of the fried artichoke known as carciofi fritti and how it pairs exceptionally with Barbaresco. I remember in 2007 when he celebrated the 10th year of Panerai under his helm, he held a party in the brand’s birthplace of Florence. There he unveiled the full might of his vision for in-house movements. After witnessing the launch of his monopusher chronograph Caliber P.2004 and his incredible 30-second vertical tourbillon P.2005, I rushed back to my room to write my story while most of the other journalists were enjoying the champagne-enriched anniversary celebrations. I quickly published the article on what was my website at the time, “Horomundi.com.” The next morning, Bonati invited me to breakfast and congratulated me on being the one person that had gone off to work while everyone else was partying. It was a nice moment for me. 

In 2015, Bonati did something rather remarkable for me. He agreed to create a limited edition watch for Revolution magazine’s 10th anniversary. You should understand that Panerai was at the height of its desirability. He even agreed to a black case and four-line dial Luminor Marina designed by Alan Bloore inspired by, of course, the pre-Vendôme Panerai watches, in particular the famous “Black Seal.” I am proud to be an owner and frequent wearer of the resulting timepiece, the PAM 00599. 

Panerai Luminor Marina 8 Days PAM 599 Revolution 10th Anniversary Edition

In 2018, Bonati retired from Panerai after 21 years as its leader. During this time, he worked tirelessly to transform what was once a military secret into one of the most important and unique luxury sports watch brands, now complete with its own highly integrated manufacture. Before he retired, I asked him about the beginnings. He explained that he started all alone with no assistant — just a desk, a chair and a computer in a nondescript office. He had a lot of memories. Some of the stories are legendary in Panerai lore, such as the one about him making back the USD 1 million investment for purchasing Panerai with the PAM 00021 a run of platinum-cased Radiomir watches with vintage movements that were found at the historic shop. He launched the modern Panerai brand with the two most basic movements imaginable, a manual wind Unitas pocket watch caliber used primarily for training purposes, and the automatic Valjoux 7750 with its chronograph function suppressed. Yet he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, because of the power of Panerai’s designs and the incredible authentic story rooting the modern watches in their pragmatic past. 

Bonati with the Eileen

In 1997, as Bonati traveled around Italy with prototypes of the watches designed by the great Giampiero Bodino in his suitcase, he would single-handedly start the revolution for oversized watches that dominated modern watchmaking until five years ago. Soon, Bonati knew he was on to something. All the retailers that had purchase Panerai watches reported back that they needed more. By 1998, when Panerai launched at SIHH, the brand was producing 6,000 watches, and every single one of these would be almost instantly sold out. The Panerai craze would grip the watch world throughout the early part of the new millennium like nothing Swiss watchmaking had ever seen. Panerai would become mainstream, worn on the wrists of Sylvester Stallone in the film Daylight, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser and Jason Statham in The Transporter. And there was always one man in the center of this storm, always calm, his large hands firmly on the wheel of his brand in the same way they would steadfastly pilot his wood-hulled ex-America’s Cup J-Class yacht Eileen in later years. That man was Angelo Bonati and the entire watch industry owed him a debt of gratitude for the cultural impact of what he did with Panerai. You are told never to meet your heroes lest they not live up to your lofty expectations. But in the case of Angelo Bonati, I am to this day overwhelmed with gratitude for meeting him. Because he exceeded my expectations as a leader, as a friend and as a human being in every way.