Panerai

Special Editions Watches

In order to have a better understanding of the luxury watch brand Officine Panerai, we need to date back to the year 1860. Panerai began its long watchmaking journey with a workshop and school established in Florence, Italy. The company has been delivering exciting innovations to the watch industry since then. Its inventions of luminous substances for the watches are one of the biggest accomplishments in the world of horology. 

Being one of the top watchmakers in the present world, Panerai has released numerous iconic watches that are well received by collectors. Tributing its watchmaking legacy, Panerai is known for its special editions. Almost every year there are a handful of Panerai special edition watches released with various complications from in-house calibre movements to manual wind and valjoux movements. These watches are very limited in numbers and valuable. Thus the Panerai special editions are often pre-ordered by enthusiastic collectors and hold values in the secondary market.

Established in 1860, in Florence, Italy, Panerai is one of the prestigious luxury watch brands in the world. This notable watch brand, Panerai started its journey as the first watchmaking school and workshop at the town Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. Adhering to its motto “where ideas wake up”, Panerai has been astonishing the industry with its new innovations. The best known Panerai inventions should be its powerful luminous materials: Panerai Radiomir and Panerai Luminor. These innovations have largely contributed to the watchmaking industry and helped Panerai reach its status in the market. 

Panerai had been supplying high quality precision instruments to the Royal Italian Navy for decades. In this considerably peaceful generation, the brand decided to make its public debut in the civilian market. Instantly after Panerai entered the public market in 1993, Panerai achieved incredible success all over the world.

Panerai is an esteemed brand with a very focused history. As the official supplier to the Italian Navy, they created reliable and robust watches that accompanied divers and frogmen on severe missions. To honor its memorable moments, Panerai often releases special limited editions for its supporters. For example in SIHH 2017, Panerai has announced two special editions tributing to its historical watch that represents Panerai’s legacy.

Panerai Radiomir 1940 3 Days Acciaio – PAM00720 and PAM00721

The Panerai Radiomir 3 Days PAM00720 and PAM00721 were one of the 2017 Special Edition watches. These 47mm watches were released in a limited edition to 400 pieces.

This Panerai Special Edition is meant to pay tribute to the historical Panerai ref. 3646 Type-A watch. The legendary watch was made in the 1930’s that was designed to serve in WWII. It was powered by a Rolex manual wind caliber 618 movement. 

On the new 2017 edition PAM00721, the classic features of the original watch were resurrected. On its dials, there is no logo or brand markings except the numerals. This “anonymous” dial is clearly an homage to the classic Panerai watches used by Nazi Kampfschwimmer (Combat swimmers) commandos for military use during the war period. 

This time, instead of a Rolex movement, the standard Panerai in-house caliber P3000 was used. This movement was nicely created in just 37mm diameter while providing a power reserve of 3 days. You can observe the beauty movement through its crystal glass case back. 

Panerai Radiomir 1940 3 Days Acciaio – PAM00685 and PAM00687

The Radiomir PAM00685 and PAM00687 is a reissue of the 1938 'Brevettato' Radiomir. Inspired by historical Panerai models from the 1930s, the most distinguished feature of these 47mm steel watches should be the engraved bezel that holds the signature plexiglass crystal in place. This bezel is engraved with the “Officine Panerai Brevettato” marking. The last word “Brevettato” means “patented” in Italian, which refers to the Panerai patented luminous materials back in the day.

The Panerai Radiomir PAM00685 featured a standard black sandwich dial and the PAM00687 demonstrates a vintage look with a graduated brown dial that mimicked the tropical, radium-faded look. Both the PAM685 and PAM687 are powered by the in-house hand-wound calibre P.3000 movement that has a 72-hour power reserve. 

Panerai Mare Nostrum Special Edition 42mm

Mare Nostrum means “Our Sea” in Latin. Panerai took the term to name its chronograph as one of its first watches released in the civilian market in 1993. 

Being one of the first collections of Panerai watches made for civilian use – the Mare Nostrum watch 5218-301 has become iconic. It was a limited edition of less than 500 pieces. This 42mm steel watch featured a blue dial, an engraved bezel with tachymeter scale and a manual-wind ETA 2801 movement with Dubois-Depraz module. 

In 2017 Panerai released a special version of Mare Nostrum that made a faithful tribute to the 1993 Mare Nostrum which was inspired by the first Panerai chronograph of 1943. The 2017 Panerai Mare Nostrum 42mm PAM00716 was available as a limited edition of 1,000 pieces.

This new Panerai PAM00716 is almost identical to the 1993 Mare Nostrum in terms of outlook. They even share the exact same hand-wound movement - the OP XXXIII calibre that was Panerai created and personalised on the ETA 2801-2 with a base of the Dubois-Dépraz chronograph module. The movement is certified by COSC that offers a power reserve of 42 hours.

Panerai Radiomir 1940 10 Days GMT Automatic Oro Rosso

One of the noticeable Panerai special editions should be the Panerai Radiomir 1940 10-Days GMT PAM00624. The 45mm watch features a valuable 18k rose gold polished case with a brown alligator strap that is secured by a matching 18k rose gold buckle. On top of the precious metal case, it features the Panerai P.2003/10 caliber. It is a mechanical automatic movement with an approximate 10-day power reserve when fully wound. You can always admire the beauty of the movement through the transparent sapphire-crystal case back. 

For over a century, Officine Panerai has developed its own kingdom with numerous admirable masterpieces created. The special edition watches are to honour and tribute its glorious history and accomplishments. These watches are all classic and worthy for your own collection.