Panerai

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Sort by Position Name Price

One of the undisputed highlights of the 2009 S.I.H.H. was the presentation of the “little” Panerai manufacture caliber. The caliber family P.2000 introduced two years ago with tourbillon, column wheel chronograph, and ten days of power reserve clearly targeted the top price segment, both technically and ideologically. The new caliber family P.9000 was, in contrast, conceived right from the beginning as a price-conscious alternative to the purchased base movements available to the purchased base movements available up to now. The casual description “little manufacture caliber” is not only directed at the movement’s measurements. With a diameter of just about 31 mm and a height of 7.9 mm, it has the precise diemsions of a Valjoux movement in “amputated” form—without chronograph mechanism—which has thus far been used as the standard automatic movement of the Panerai collection. By leaving out one of the three spring barrels from the base design of Caliber P.2000, the watchmakers won some room for additional functions to be added later. The power reserve thus shrinks to three days, but remains an excellent and practical value. The automatic group with the Magicic hook winding also derives from the “large” Panerai caliber, saving developmental costs.

The debut line encompasses three caliber versions: caliber P.9000 with 195 components serves in the Luminor 1950 Marina and Luminor 1950 Submersible models. The two Marina models in 44 mm stainless tel cases are—like their historical role models—outfitted with a black sandwich dial with datewindow and subsidiary seconds at 9 o’clock. The Submersible is housed in a 47 mm titanium case.

The Marina models are also available outfitted with Calibers P.9001 and P9002, which feature a power reserve display in addition to the date and a second time zone. This is banned to the back on the P.9001, where the second time zone is indicated by a second hour hand adjusted in increments by the crown; if it is not needed, the arrow-shaped hand disappears underneath its “colleague” and makes its rounds in a synchronized manner. Even though the model name GMT might lead one to believe it is a 24-hour display, in reality it is not. Caliber P.9002 sees the power reserve indicator on the dial at 5 o’clock. Both calibers are outfitted with a zero reset function, which has the second hand automatically jumping to its starting position when the crown is pulled to the second position to avoid adjusting the time for the second time zone set in the first crown position. A very sophisticated design.

The nicest surprise is, however, that base manufacture Caliber P.9000 only makes the unostentatious Luminor 1950 Marina a few hundred dollars more expensive than the version outfitted with Caliber OP III based on the Valjoux movement and which continues to remain available.

 Panerai

Officine Panerai joined the Richemont Group in 1997. In the past ten years, it has made an unprecedented rise from an insider niche brand to a lifestyle phenomenon. The company, founded in 1860 by Giovanni Panerai, supplied the Italian navy with precision instruments. In the 1930s, the Florentine engineers developed a series of waterproof wristwatches that could be used by commandos under especially extreme and risky conditions. After 1997, uner the leadership of Angelo Bonati, the company came out with a collection of oversize wristwatches, both stylistically and technically based on these historical models.

In 2006, the Panerai headquarters was moved to Neuchâtel, Switzerland. A year later, the brand produced its first in-house manufacture movements (caliber family P. 2000). Last year, the new “little” Panerai manufacture movements (caliber family P. 9000) were released. From the start, the idea behind them was to provide a price-conscious alternative to the purchased base movements available until a year ago; the description “little manufacture caliber” is not only directed at the movement’s measurements. With a diameter of just about 31 mm and a height of 7.9 mm, it has the exact same dimensions as a Valjoux movement in “amputated” form – i.e., without chronograph mechanism – which has thus far been used as the standard automatic movement of the Panerai collection.