Panerai

Table Clock Watches

Being one of the most popular luxury watchmakers, Officine Panerai is known for its two genuine characteristics: its rich Italian sense of design and the sophisticated Swiss watchmaking skills. The brand has been providing quality timepieces with high precision to the military and later all the watch lovers over the world for decades. 

In 2014, Panerai released a fascinating Table Clock that can well represent the brand’s perspectives. The Panerai Clock features the iconic design of a Panerai Radiomir dial while housing the advanced Panerai in-house manufactured movement. Holding up the brand’s legacy, the spherical table clock has instantly become one of the most popular collectables for the watch collectors. Encased in a perfect sphere of mineral glass, the Panerai Table Clock would definitely look amazing in the collector’s desk. 

Panerai is a leading Italian watch brand that is renowned for its stunning professional military watches. The brand was founded by the talented Italian watchmaker Giovanni Panerai in 1860 in Florence, Italy. The original Panerai company was the first watchmaking school workshop established at Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. With its slogan “Where ideas come to life”, Panerai has been contributing to the watchmaking industry with its innovative inventions for over a century. 

In 1916, the company invented and patented its groundbreaking luminous substance Panerai that far surpassed all other similar materials on the market. This was the first of all Panerai patented inventions filed in its history. This self-luminescent compound based on radium paste had instantly become the key attraction in the production of Panerai watches. The Radiomir radium-based powder was incorporated to illuminate the dials. Its high visibility underwater had brought great attention from the military. 

Addressing the demands by the navy on equipment during the wars, Panerai had been providing its products to the military. Before 1993, the company had been the official supplier manufacturing precision instruments for the Royal Italian Navy. Many of the watch models manufactured by Panerai were only exclusively created for professional use by the navy divers, including the Panerai Radiomir.

In 1936, Panerai developed a prototype of Radiomir for the Italian Navy that needed to be highly fluminous, easy to read and water-resistant. This first Panerai military marine watch featured luminescent indexes, a screw-down crown and water resistant case back for military use. Since then Panerai has delivered numerous notable watches to the universe of horology. The Panerai Radiomir jumping watch has developed into a very mainstream collection among noticeable big names. It has been an unexpected accomplishment in the watchmaking journey of Panerai. Holding up the legacy of the brand for a hundred years, Panerai has captivated the watch lovers in the world. 

Panerai has been renowned for its large size military watches. There numerous Panerai models that have become an icon highly admired by the watch enthusiasts. In 2014, Panerai put the dial design of its signature watch into a much bigger product - a table clock. 

Case and Base 

The brand surprised the market with the introduction of Panerai 8 day table clock with a mechanical development. The new Panerai Table Clock reference PAM000581 is encased by a large 65mm case with domed mineral glass on both sides. There is a large twisting crown placed on top of the 12 o'clock. It looks like a large pocket watch that is placed in a round sphere. The round table clock is safely placed on a brushed steel round base with the brand name "Officine Panerai" engraved on the front.  

Protected by the domed mineral glass, one side reveals the dial while another side shows its remarkable movement. The beautiful details of the dial and the movement can be easily admired while everything is enlarged through the magnifying effect of the glass.

Dial 

Ever since its very first watch of the 1930s, the dials of Panerai watches have been plating its special luminous material which is radium-based to illuminate the markers. There is no exception on the Panerai table clock. Through the half side of the mineral glass globe, the highly readable dial amplifies its impact. You can read the time easily even under the poorest lighting conditions.

The design of the dial is a true standout while incorporating the iconic components of the history of Panerai mechanical watchmaking. Tribute to its origin of watchmaking, the marking "Radiomir Panerai” is engraved on the dial together with the term "8 Days" which are to indicate its outstanding power reserve. .

Movement

The clock housed a hand wound P.5000 movement with a 8-days power reserve. The development of this movement was inspired by the historial Angelus movement that was used in their watches from the 1940's. 

Seeing the success of its enlightening first table clock, a pair of new spherical table clocks were introduced in 2015. They are the reference PAM641 with a dot-and-dash S.L.C. dial, and the reference PAM651 with a “California” dial. 

Both clocks are a follow-up to the first Panerai table clock PAM581. The table clocks are in 65mm diameter, with a sphere shape coming from the doom mineral glass on the front and back side. While PAM581 featured the classic Panerai dial with baton markers and Arabic numerals, the new PAM641 has an S.L.C. dial. The dial was named after the Siluri a Lenta Corsa human torpedoes that were used by the Royal Italian navy frogmen during the Second World War. Because of its unusual outlook, the S.L.C dial was only found on the Panerai prototype wristwatches. The revival of it on the table clock has surprised many Panerai watch lovers. 

On the other hand, the PAM651 features the familiar “California” dial, that was originally designed by a Californian company Kirk Rich Dial Corporation in the 1980s. The playful dial displays Roman numerals on the top half and Arabic numbers on the bottom. Alongside the table clocks, Panerai also introduced the Luminor 1950 DLC Titanio watch reference PAM629 with this “California” dial.

Just like the ancestor, these clocks are powered by hand-wound P.5000 movement that can run for 8 days on a full wind. Visible through the transparent glass back, you can enjoy watching the Panerai in-house calibre clearly.