Angelo Bonati, former CEO of Panerai
Just a few days ago, the watch world lost a fine leader, a gentleman, and a man who revolutionized the wearing of big watches. Angelo Bonati, former CEO of Panerai and the man who built the brand, passed away at age 75. Way too early. But he did things way too early his whole life.
I knew him when he entered the Watch world in the late 1990’s, charged and ready to bring Officine Panerai to the forefront. He started out at the company as head of sales and it was just him. He didn’t even have a secretary, but that didn’t daunt him. He was thrilled and passionate about this little watch brand with big watches and a big Italian history.
His vision for the brand was big when he came on board with Richemont, then Vendome Luxury Group. He was made head of sales, and the brand made its debut in 1997 at SIHH — what is today known as Watches & Wonders Geneva. That was when I met Angelo Bonati.
Previously, Bonati had worked at Cartier, but when Johann Rupert, Chairman of the group asked him to handle Panerai, he stepped up.
“When I took over Panerai, my friends and the people around me said asked me ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Are you crazy, you work for Cartier and now you want to join a new brand?’” said Bonati during an interview eight years ago. “But there was something about that watch that called to me. I didn’t know what it was, but I believed I could create a brand around this watch.”
Reserved but exuberant, stoic in a beautiful Italian way, and passionate about Panerai’s past and future. In fact, Bonati was warm, friendly and a visionary. He knew what he wanted for the brand and he had plans to achieve it. Leading it to incredible sales heights, he became CEO of the brand and regularly mingled with the Paneristi followers and with the celebrities like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger that wore Panerai watches on screen and off.
For more than 20 years, he helmed the brand and brought it to great success. I’ve read a few other comments from people who met him — mostly in the new millennium — but nobody seems to have captured the Bonati I met in 1997: a gleam in his eyes, a smile on his face and a plan in his head that was light years ahead of its time. He knew to embrace the online forums before social media was as hot as it is. He knew to interact with the collectors and to make this an insider’s brand. He understood marketing and the idea of partnering with retailers, and when he interacted with press, he was a charming, delightful man. I am blessed to have had many occasions to meet with him over the decades.
Finally, in 2018, he officially resigned as CEO. I sat down with him, once again at Watches & Wonders Geneva, for a last interview with him in that role. We laughed together, we reminisced together, and both of us even cried a little at the end of that talk knowing it was our last professional interview.
I remember asking him if he could change anything he had done at Panerai would he. His answer was quick and honest: “If I could do it again, I would do the same thing; I would not change anything.”
I will always remember him for being a leader, a “roll your sleeves up and get to work” type of guy, even though he probably never rolled his sleeves up because he was always impeccably dressed. He knew what it took to build a success of an Italian-heritage brand, of oversized watches when they weren’t fully the trend. And he did it. But then, as I said when I started this reflection, he always did things early.
And even when he left the CEO position, he was humble. He didn’t take enough credit for what he had built. He simply wanted to see Panerai live on. He was a man who had a vision bigger than anyone could have imagined, and he brought it to life. I will miss him.
