Believe me, there is one I know VERY well
And I do agree on this one
'they are tired of getting the "Pedestrian" pieces and the boutiques get all of the sweet ones'
and this pisses me of too. It's a shame Panerai discriminates AD, especially when some of these AD are selling Panerai since more than 10 years. The AD are also responsible for the succes of the brand.
Believe me, if there comes a day that I can order only the mainstream pieces at my AD and the more special pieces only via a boutique .... well they can put their watches xxx ( this would be censored lol )
On the other hand, I do not agree with your thought about the Ferrari watches. You are right they did not sell but that was imo predictable.
Girard Perregaux tried it too and the didn't succeed neither. People just don't want such a stupid Ferrari logo on their watch. That would maybe work on a 200 usd watch but not on a high end piece.
When buying expensive watches we buy a brand which is famous in the watchworld and we don't need extra names on the dial, especially when these brand names have nothing to do with horlogerie.
If they would have used exactly the same watch ( case) for a new Panerai watch and don't put the Ferrari crap on it, I'm sure it would have sold damn well. There was nothing wrong with the design. But calling it a Ferrari watch ???