I am fairly new to the watch game as you may know if you've read my other posts... But I am, just as most of you are, fascinated by Panerais. Ive read in to the brand, and feel like I have a fair amount of information on them... But yet, when looking at Panerais for sale in the trading forum, or on ebay, or at an authorized dealer, I am left wondering many times... what am I paying for? Seeing as most of the Panerais are built upon modified ETA/VAL/UNITAS movements, and the diferences between watches that could mean 3k or 11k are as simple as gold hands as opposed to black ones.... Is it the sheer collectors value of a ltd edition piece, or is there something deeper that I am missing? As I said, I really love the design of Panerais, as well as the community which seems to embrace them, and I hope to be a part of that community some time very soon... I would just like to hear from the horses mouth what makes these things so expensive! My favorite watch as of right now is the Marina Militare 47mm. Which also happens to be quite out of my price range. Unless there is a less expensive version that I dont know about. Thanks in advance guys. John.