Panerai

While most watch manufacturers anticipate market demand, and rise to meet it, there is one brand which follows its own path, regularly choosing to produce fewer watches than consumers demand. With long waiting lists a constant feature, and limited editions typical of their production style, who is this elusive brand? The answer: Panerai.

Although founded in Florence in 1860 by one Giovanni Panerai, the company spent most of its long history not selling watches to the public at all, only launching themselves fully to the global market in the 1990s. But what were they doing before that?

Giovanni Panerai formed links with the Swiss Watch industry when he opened the business, which gave the brand enough accuracy and credibility that when his grandson inherited the company, he was able to become the official supplier to the Italian navy, by specialising in high-precision instruments. The link between the two would continue well into the next century, and branch out into other areas of the military, beginning with shipments of optical and mechanical instruments to the Ministry of Defence. In 1910, Panerai began testing luminescent materials, later patenting a mixture called Radomir. This luminescent substance, and its successor Luminor, gave their names to two of Panerai’s most recognised models.

Panerai presented prototypes of their first Chronograph, the Mare Nostrum, in 1943. The watch was designed for Italian Officers but the war which was keeping those officers occupied at the time meant that it never went into production. Product development continued apace leading to a version submersible to 200m, quite a feat for the time. Over the next half century the company worked closely with the Italian military, until it no longer became cost effective. This is what finally pushed Panerai into the consumer market, and in 1993 they finally released a number of limited edition models aimed at the civilian market. These included The Luminor, Luminor Marina, and the Mare Nostrum Chronograph. The company was further promoted when Sylvester Stallone requested the Limited edition Slytech watch following his discovery of the brand while filming Daylight.

Panerai have become very popular in recent years; their military legacy has been a range of highly accurate and precise watches which are nonetheless in short supply – the company have never been in large scale production and waiting lists for popular models – such as the Luminor Marina and variations thereof in the Contemporary Collection – are always long. It was Panerai that lead the recent trend in large dials, and its watches are highly prized; not least because they produce a limited number each year. If you want a new Panerai, be prepared for a long wait.