The History of Panerai

1860

Giovanni Panerai(1825-1897) was the founder of Panerai family business, he established watch workshop in Ponte alle Grazie, Florence. He also built interactive relationships with the well-known and respected Swiss watches factories. After Giovanni Panerai, his son Leon Francesco inherited the business.

1890-1900

Guido Panerai, who was the grandson of Giovanni Panerai, in order to expand the family business, he joined the production of precise instruments and Panerai became the designated supplier of Italian Royal Navy.

1900

Panerai moved the workshop to San Giovanni square in Florence, today, it was still the main workshop of Panerai factory. "Orologeria Svizzera" words on the sign were still clear and identifiable, which obviously highlighted Panerai's distinguished Swiss origin. Besides, the new factory also started to provide optical and mechanical instruments for Italian Ministry of Defense.

1910

The watch factory began to research luminescent materials, used them on the dials of instruments, sights and telescopes, finally successfully combined the ZnS and radioactive Bromine and developed the luminescent Radiomir. If placed the mixture of Zns and Bromine in a small glass tube, its life could be extended. With this successful invention, Guido Panerai gained a patent in Italy and other countries.

1915-1918

During World War I, Italian Royal Navy used the precise instruments made by Panerai, such as the sights' luminous devices of guns for night raid, timing devices, depth measuring instruments and the mechanical calculators that helped MAS(a high-speed torpedo boat) to torpedo.

1934

Giuseppe and Maria inherited the business of their father - Guido Panerai. Maria was in charge of "Orologeria Svizzera" workshop, Giuseppe continued to cooperate with Italian Royal Navy and supplied them underwater special instruments, flashlights, wrist compasses, wrist depth gauges and other instruments. The born of Radiomir and Luminor series in the future should be attributed to the efforts of Giuseppe.

1936

Italian Royal Navy searched all workshops in the country and couldn't find a timepiece that met their requirements. Finally they had to order a watch from Panerai, the watch factory developed Radiomir prototype watch and handed it to The First Diving Forces, the watch successfully passed all rigorous tests.

1938

Panerai officially started to make Radiomir watches for Italian naval forces, the cushion-shaped case was extra large(case diameter was up to 47mm), the strap loops were welded to the case, screw down crown, luminous dial could clearly display the time in the darkness underwater, Radiomir was equipped with Rolex manual winding movement. The wide strap was made of smooth genuine leather, the extended size was specially designed for diving suits.

1943

Panerai launched its first exclusive prototype watch - Mare Nostrum, which was specially designed for Navy Officers. For some reasons about war, this masterpiece was only in prototype stage, didn't formally come out.

The protecting device of Radiomir's crown had good fixed effect, this made the wath can dive to 200m depth in deep sea, it was a very distinguished invention at that time.

1949

Panerai got a patent for Luminor, Luminor was a type of luminescent material, it was mainly made up of Tritium, since then, Luminor has replaced Radiomir that was developed between 1910 and 1915. The names of Radiomir and Luminor series excatly came from the two inventions.

1956

At the request of Egyptian Navy, Panerai particularly made a large Radiomir watch, the power reserve of the driven Angelus movement was up to 8 days, the bezel was rotatable, 5-minute scale interval on the bezel to measure diving time.

Besides, Panerai also made limited edition watches for naval forces of other countries along the coast of Mediterranean(about 30 pieces).

In the same year, Panerai got a patent for that protecting device of the crown in Italy, this device could tightly lock the crown, so the watch was able to be waterproof. Afterwards in 1960, this invention gained the patent in America.

1972

Giuseppe Panerai passed away, the business was taken over by the engineer Dino Zei, the original Panerai Family Business was also renamed to Panerai Ltd. The watch factory continued to maintain a close cooperation with Italian Navy and provide them with wristwatches, tools and various types of precise instruments.

1980

Panerai designed a watch that could withstand the pressure of up to 1000 meters in deep sea. The case of this prototype watch was made of Titanium, the watch was equipped with mechanical self-winding movement, rubber strap, the dial and hands were decorated with vials that contained Tritium, so they had luminous effect.

1993

Panerai opened civil market, introduced several limited series, including Luminor, Luminor Marina and Mare Nostrum chronograph watch.

1995

Panerai introduced Slytech special edition. Sly was the nickname of Sylvester Stallone, in the film "Daylight", because of requirements on movie content, he asked Panerai to customize a watch called Submersible. Afterwards, he ordered a white dial Daylight watch from Panerai, as well as a personalized Mare Nostrum watch. The case backs of the three timepieces were all engraved with Stallone's signatures.

1997

Vendome(Richemont today) purchased Panerai and took over the productions of wristwatches, compasses, flashlights and depth gauges.

The factory began to launch new products and imporve production quality, those watches that originally earmarked for the Italian naval forces have shown increasely important international status since their introduction to the global market.

1998

Panerai first introduced the mechanical self-winding watches to global market: Luminor Submersible professional diving watch, Luminor GMT and Luminor Power Reserve that could display the remaining energy of the movement.

1999

At SIHH, Panerai introduced several Contemporary models that have some important improvements, including the slightly smaller Luminor, case diameter was 40mm, metal bracelet; Luminor Chrono, chronograph function attached, the case has been redesigned, the crown bridge and the chronograph buttons has been cleverly combined; Luminor chronograph watch used Titanium and steel to make case and bracelet.

2000

Panerai designed a professional diving watch - Luminor Submersible 1000M, this watch fully met the diving standards of NIHS and could withstand the pressure of up to 1000 meters in deep sea.

The sapphire crystal glass face was 5.1mm thick, the case back was 3mm thick, the watch had a Helium Valve that was specially designed for releasing pressure.

2004

Radiomir became more prominent because of 8 Days watch. This watch was full of vintage style and reused the key of the contemporary mechanical watches - manual winding 8 days power reserve movement. The watches in the 40's used Angelus movement, and the new watch was based on Jaeger-LeCoultre movement. Case diameter was 45mm, screw down case back and crown to ensure 100m waterproofness of the watch.

2005

P.2002 was the first movement that was independently researched by Panerai. 8 Days Power Reserve model used this innovative manual winding mechanical movement. P.2002 included 245 components(each of 191 components was different), main power reserve was set in a new device, including three spring barrels(Panerai Patented) and a linear power reserve indication. The movement has a 28,800BPH frequency. The Linear Power Reserve Indicator was at 6 o'clock. P.2002 movment also had GMT indicator, 12 hours local time display and the displays of AM, PM, hours, minutes, seconds and date. Timing adjustment system used Seconds Reset device, when the crown was pulled out, the rotor stopped and second hand returned back to zero, so this could ensure a precise adjustment between your watch and the standard time. Because the technology was complicated, Panerai spent four years to develop this movement.

2006

At SIHH, Panerai published the brand new 2006 new model and Ferrari series. After the first self developed movement - P.2002, launched in 2005, as well as the Radiomir 8 Days Power Reserve GMT watch that used this In-House movement, in this year, Panerai made persistent efforts to introduce the second model that 100% used a self-made movement - Luminor 8 Days Power Reserve GMT, and created a new series that was equipped with their In-House movements - Manifattura Collection. Manifattura was absolutely loyal to Panerai brand standards, solid quality and mixed precise technical performances and unique styles.

Besides new Panerai watch, another series that attracted your attention was the Ferrari series, it was designed for Ferrari Depot. The appearance design of Ferrari watch referred to the engine machine and body lines of Ferrari cars, fully exposed the car's distinctive style. Ferrari watch was divided into two selections, Granturismo and Scuderia. Granturismo was full of elegant sports style, however, Scuderia looked strong and highlighted the elements of racing cars, but they all showed exquisite sports style and sophisticated technology content.

2007

After the launch of P.2002 in 2005, Panerai was very proud to announce another three movements, they were all planned, designed and manufactured by Panerai itself, to continuously provide power for future works of Panerai.<!-- end content --><!-- end center -->

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