The Florentian Dream

In the year 1860, the Italian city of Florence saw the creation of the first Officine Panerai shop near the Ponte Alle Grazie bridge. Founded by watchmaker Giovanni Panerai, the shop not only served as a watch repair and service centre, but also became the first watchmaking school in Florence. In the following decades, under the able stewardship of Giovanni Panerai’s grandson, Guido Panerai, the company achieved new heights. From producing watches and instruments for the Royal Italian Navy to patenting new technology, G. Panerai & Figlio (Sons) was becoming a force to reckon with. 

After groundbreaking patents like Radiomir, Luminor, and the crown protection case, the latter part of the 20th century saw Panerai wade into uncharted water. Ceasing to produce just for the Italian navy, the company opened itself to embrace the civilian market. Following the acquisition of Panerai by the Swiss group Richemont, the company was launched into the international market at the turn of the 21st century. Since then, with its unique patented innovations and craftsmanship, Panerai has become one of the most trusted luxury watch manufacturers in the world.

The Making Of The Italian Dream

The Richemont group ownership led to the opening of the first manufacturing and production unit outside Italy in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in the year 2002. Twelve years later, the company opened a new production facility in an area called the Pierre-à-Bot, located on the foothills of the mountains in Neuchâtel. However, the new production improvements have not led the company to bid farewell to the old policy of hand-made watches. Even now, all models and their intricate designs are made and assembled after hours of painstaking precision by about one-third of the 740 employees in the company. 

The new 2014 Panerai Manufacture boasts a space of 10,000 square meters and it is here where the Italian excellence for design and profound heritage is combined with the ingenuity of Swiss watchmaking. In this new manufacturing unit, the raw components are carefully curated to produce watches, flawless in every single aspect of the movement. Thousands of hours of perfection leads to components with stringent margins of errors. The same can be said for the phase where the components of the watch are assembled. It is here that the finesse of the watchmaker comes into play. After this delicate process is completed, the watches are exposed to a wide variety of quality control and tests. Such tests check how the watch reacts to external occurrences like water pressures, shocks, wear, extreme temperatures, acids, UV radiation, and magnetic fields. Not surprisingly, due to their years of manufacturing for the Italian Navy, Panerai watches are absolutely waterproof and are often trusted by divers. Once verified for quality, the Panerai watches go out for sale in their boutique shops.

Innovations & Love For The Sea

Innovations and patents are not new for a company with a history of Panerai. The most famous innovations amongst them are the patents for Radiomir, a substance from Radium which glows in the dark, and the similar Luminor. Sharing the common vision of professional diving watches, most of the early Panerai watch designs were manufactured by Rolex. However, since the late 1940s, Officine Panerai has designed and manufactured all its models.

Currently, there are four major watch families within the company. They are the Radiomir, the Luminor, the Submersible, and the Luminor Due. Due to their collaborations with various explorers and sports icons like the former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni and the famed explorer Mike Horn, there are many special editions made by the company. One such recent special watch was the limited edition Panerai Submersible Chrono Flyback Jimmy Chin Xperience watch - only 14 of them were made in collaboration with explorer Jimmy Chin. Thus, there shouldn’t be a need to emphasize how exclusive and unparalleled Panerai watches are.

With the Panerai penchant for pushing the boundaries of innovations, a Panerai will always be a fantastic example of exquisite class, unmatched quality, and horological precision!