Panerai – A Special Watch

Whether you are professional watch collector or just a seasonal watch enthusiast. You have to admit Panerai watches are special. The brand has many passionate followers around the world, that known in the watch community as “Paneristi”. So what is so special about Panerai watches? What makes them so unique and interesting?

The history of Panerai begins in 1860 in Florence, Italy when Giovanni Panerai opened his first watch shop. At the beginning of 20th century Giovanni’s grandson, Guido Panerai expanded the family business and renamed the company “G. Panerai e Figlio”. Around this time Panerai became official supplier of Royal Italian Navy. Interestingly, all first Panerai diving watches, except for the GPF 2/56 were designed and manufactured by Rolex. Today Panerai offer it’s watches across four marketing lines: Historic, Contemporary, Manifattura and Special Editions.

During it’s long history Panerai came out with many models. Someone who sees Panerai collection for the first time might think that all the watches look very similar with hardly any differences. There are two main design lines, one with the open crown and another with the crown protector. The casing is always square with the round dial and bezel. Panerai watches are usually much larger than most of other luxury watches on the market, they designed to be a tool watches and always make a bold statement.

The dial is the where Panerai offer to it’s customers plenty of features. Starting with the classical dark dial of Panerai Radiomir all the way to skeleton Panerai Lo Scienziato – Luminor 1950.

The straps is where Panerai is the king of customization. You can choose one of many Panerai’s leather straps or fit your watch with a NATO strap.

Every Panerai has a serial number on the back. Based on that a watch owner can find out the year and how many watches has been made for this particular model. For example J418/700, meaning that your watch is #418 out of 700 made. A limited supply of watches in some series make them very valuable.

Panerai is for the people who love an extremely well made mechanical timepieces that have a distinctive and easily recognizable look. Panerai is not a dressy or formal watch, but If you want a utility luxury product that will simply make you feel good, Panerai is a great choice.