La bella vita

Italians know how to live the good life cars, food, wine... and watches too it turns out

- RICHARD HOLT

ANYONE WHO WATCHES F1 KNOWS about the tifosi. Italian fans take devotion to entirely new levels, following Ferrari with an intense love that turns to heartbreak when things don't go according to plan.

In the watch world, Italians show similar levels of commitment.

Twice a year they hold a giant watch fair in Parma, where hundreds of thousands of immaculately dressed watch dealers and fanciers obsess over vintage Rolexes and Omegas.

In the 1990s a group of Panerai fans started chatting online and saying what they did and didn't like about various watches. They called themselves the Paneristi, and eventually the community grew so much that they now hold big reallife meetings all over the world.