Pagani Design, model by model
If you have spent five minutes looking at affordable homages, you have seen Pagani Design. It is the brand that took the homage idea mainstream: Seiko NH35 automatics, ceramic bezels, sapphire crystals, and prices that mostly sit under $130. Here is what they are good at, where they fall short, and the right Pagani for each icon.
What Pagani gets right
Value, mainly. For roughly a hundred dollars you get a genuine automatic movement (the Seiko NH35, a workhorse that runs for years), a real ceramic or sapphire bezel on many models, and a design that reads instantly as the watch it references. For a first automatic, or a beater version of a design you love, nothing offers this much for the money.
Where it falls short
Two places. The bracelets and clasps are the usual weak point, often the first thing owners upgrade. And quality control is a lottery: most pieces are fine, but bezel alignment and lume can vary unit to unit. Step up to San Martin money and both problems largely go away. Pagani is about maximum look for minimum spend, not last-detail fidelity.
The right Pagani for each icon
- PD-1662 — the Pepsi GMT that made the brand. A genuine NH34 GMT complication for around $115. Still the value benchmark.
- PD-1664 — the panda Daytona look on a snappy meca-quartz chronograph.
- PD-1728 — the Nautilus porthole case and grooved dial, the reason Pagani sells out.
- PD-1736 — the octagonal Royal Oak silhouette with exposed screws.
- PD-1645 — fluted bezel, jubilee bracelet, cyclops date. The affordable Datejust look.
- PD-1693 — one of their best-proportioned pieces, a correct 36mm Explorer with a clean 3-6-9 dial.
- PD-1963 — the Moonwatch stepped dial and tachymeter bezel, meca-quartz.
- PD-1703 — the Big Pilot onion crown and flieger dial.
- PD-1651 — one of the visually closest Yacht-Master homages going.
- PD-1644 — the square Santos with exposed screws, kept slim on quartz.