Panerai Watches

In 1860, Giovanni Panerai founded Guido Panerai & Figlio company, later the brand was named Officine Panerai. Initially, the company specialized in manufacturing of measurement technique for the Royal Italian Navy, supplying the Navy with compasses, instruments for measurement of depth, torpedo detonators. In 1936 the first Italian Officine Panerai watch Radiomir was produced, it was designed for Italian frogmen. The Rolex movement with manual winding is housed in 47 mm watch case. The luminescent central hands and numerals on the dial provide the ultimate "readability" of time even in the darkness and under the water. The soldiers from the Gamma team of the tenth flotilla of torpedo boats were sent to the dangerous missions during the World War II with these Italian watches on their wrists. The main feature of these watches was their extreme accuracy, as the success of the operation generally depended on the reliability of the wrist watches.
In 1956 the watch company released the wrist watches Radiomir with the movement of the pocket watch Angelus, the power reserve of which was about 8 days and the watches had a high water resistance. These watches were designed for the Egyptian Navy.
For the Navies of other countries Panerai released watches in strictly limited editions (30 items). Officine Panerai was the first watch company that used tritium for dial illumination.
In 1993 Officine Panerai watch company exposed three collections of wrist watches in limited editions. There were Luminor, Luminor Marina and Mare Nostrum wrist watches for men. The watches of those collections were equipped with Unitas caliber. In 1995 Panerai watch brand produced a new collection of Italian wrist watches – Slytech, devoted to the famous American actor Sylvester Stallone. Slytech, the name of the wrist watch, was not chosen by chance: this is how the actor is called in the U.S.A. Sylvester Stallone is a great fan of Panerai wrist watches for men. He didn't take his favourite Panerai wrist watch off even during the film shooting. This advertising immediately attracted the people's attention to Panerai wrist watches. So now, those who like extreme know, that with Panerai wrist watch you can overcome all the difficulties and even jump into the water. There is an engraved Stallone's signature on the watch back.
Panerai watches became available for the masses in 1997, when Italian watch brand joined the famous Swiss Richemont Group, which includes the world-famous watch brands, such as Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, IWC, and several other brands of haute horlogerie.
In 1998, Panerai brand produced the first automatic watches Luminor Submersible, designed for professional divers, as well as Luminor GMT with a second time zone indicator, and Luminor Power Reserve  with a power reserve indicator.
In 1999, Panerai presented to the admirers of watchmaking a wrist watch with the case diameter reduced to 40 mm and with a metal bracelet. The company style can be easily recognized  by the overall dimension of watch cases. This Panerai wrist watch has a chronograph function and water resistant to 300 meters (30 bars).
A year later, the company manufactured Submersible Luminor watches for divers. The main feature of Submersible Luminor is the water resistant to 100 meters (10 bars), so, the watches allow to investigate the underwater world. The watch case is made of 3 mm steel, and the dial is covered with 5 mm sapphire crystal. With such a unique watch you can boldly submerge into the water of the deep ocean.
Panerai watch company also produces manufactory movements. In 2006, the AR 2002 caliber was released (21 jewels, diameter – 31 mm, thickness – 6.5 mm), that was designed and assembled in the workshop of the company in the city of Neuchatel. The watch movement with manual winding consists of 245 elements, and has an eight-day power reserve, the frequency is 28800 v/h. The first manufactory movement was a great success, that was followed by the company's new calibers P.2003, P.2004, P.2005, P.9000, P.999 and P.3000.
Since 1997, the Panerai company has been manufacturing the limited editions of wrist watches with rare calibers specially for collectors. In 2003, the limited edition of Panerai Radiomir Chrono Split-Seconds watch was released (only 10 items).
Panerai men's watches are characterized by high reliability of the movement, unbeaten accuracy, water resistance and shock-resistance. The original wrist watches with the bold design and complicated engineering data meet the wishes of every hard-to-please custom. The most experienced watchmakers of the company emphasize the optimal combination of quality,  traditions and modern technology. The company's headquarters is located in Switzerland.