Panerai is an Italian based watch making company which is owned by Richemont. Although the business is Italian the watches are actually manufactured in Switzerland due to its reputation for production of high quality timepieces. Most Panerai watches use movements by a Swiss manufacturer called ETA. Some of the movements used in Panerai watches, however, are manufactured and designed by the company itself. Two of the most famous vintage Panerai watches include the Luminor and Radiomir. These watches were used by the Italian army in the Second World War.
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PANERAI HYGROMETER THERMOMETER PAM00256 NEWUS $1,732.29 |
Panerai PAM 302 Nautical CurvimeterUS $1,750.00 |
Panerai Nautical Curvimeter PAM00302 With Box And PapersUS $1,895.00 |
History
The Panerai watch manufacturing company was originally founded in 1860 by a man called Giovanni Panerai. It was first setup in Florence and still has its headquarters located in the city today. One of the reasons why Panerai became such a well respected watch making company is due to the fact that it became the official Royal Navy of Italy supplier. The company later began to build highly precise watches.
Up until around 1993 the company produced wristwatches which could be used for diving. At this point Panerai decided to stop manufacturing watches for the military as they could no longer produce watches that met the strict specifications and still make a healthy profit. It was this that forced the company to start producing watches for the mass consumer market.
Due to the fact that Panerai largely manufactured military watches for a long period of time it’s no surprise that they were relatively unknown by many consumers until recently. The standing of the company was greatly increased when Sylvester Stallone was photographed wearing a Panerai watch for a film in the 1990s. He also bought some of the watches for famous friends. This dramatically increased the popularity of Panerai watches.
Some vintage Panerai watches are manufactured using movements produced by Rolex. It’s no surprise that these can sell for a large amount at auction – especially models produced during the 1940’s and 1050’s.
Panerai Watch Collections
Although there are a large number of different Panerai watches for sale they mainly part of four collections. These are called the Contemporary, Historic, Special Editions and Manifattura. When buying a Panerai watch you should be aware that many are only produced in limited numbers. All Panerai watches have a serial number on the back of the case which helps to identify them from fake Panerai watches. Due to the high price for certain Panerai models it’s essential to do research into the exact model you are planning on so that you can spot a fake.
Panerai manufactured a new Limited Edition model each year. As you’d expect, these are often more highly sought after than some of the other models which aren’t as rare. For example, in 2006 the company re-released the California Dial Radiomir which was the first model used by the Italian military.
Panerai also produce watches for Ferrari ever since the contract between the car company and Girard-Perregaux expired. Many people consider Panerai to be the official watch maker and time keeper for the company. New models of the Panerai Ferrari watches can sell for tens of thousands of dollars depending on the model. There are two main collections of Ferrari watches – the Scuderia and Granturismo.
It is a common tactic of Panerai to manufacture fewer watches than they could actually sell. This helps to create a greater demand for many of the models and also means there are long waiting lists for certain Panerai timepieces.