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OAK ISSUE - n° 16 - 2018 - € 10 www.theoney d.com

The Art of Sailing CRN Latona 50m

QUART ERLY - P.I. 28/10 /2018 Intern ationa l € 10, Poste Italiane S.p.a. Chf 10,50 , UK £ 7,50 Spedizione in Abbon Postale - 70% amento LO/MI

[ The WATCH ]

WATERTIGHT Having originally designed for the Italian Royal Navy special forces, the now-ultra-fashionable luxury watch maker Panerai creates diver’s watches with a patented bridge-and-lever crown protector to keep the latter watertight

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The Luminor Base Logo 3 Days, a manual mechanical watch with a steel case that is water-resistant to 100 metres. The wrist strap is black leather

by Paolo De Vecchi

T

he luxury sports watch maker Officine Panerai

watches commissioned by the Royal Italian Navy in

began life in Florence in 1860 as a mechanical

1936 for its special forces. Production began a couple

workshop producing depth-meters, compasses

of years later of a large, watertight, easily-readable

and other precision instruments as well as holding the

watch known as the Radiomir. The latter played its part

patent for a substance that made the dials of sighting

in Italian history as it was worn by the special forces

instruments luminescent. The next important step in

divers involved in a successful raid on the British fleet

the company’s career came when it produced prototype

in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1941.

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[ The WATCH ] A passion for classic sailing Other milestones in Officine Panerai’s history include the brand’s acquisition by the Richemont Group in 1997 which turned its military timepieces into sought-after luxury watches, and the opening of its own manufacture at Neuchâtel in Switzerland in 2002 to allow it design and make its movements in-house.

The brand has a deep and abiding connection with classic sailing, a field with its own historic register as well as huge amateur and market interest. The brand, which began life in Italy but now makes its watches in Switzerland, has been sponsoring the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge since 2005.

The latter is considered the world’s leading such circuit. Panerai also fields its own Bermudan ketch, Eilean, built in 1936 at the historic Fife shipyards in Fairlie, Scotland, and purchased and restored in 2007.

Clockwise from left: The Scienziato Luminor 1950, a manual mechanical watch with skeletonised movement and second time zone. It also has a power reserve indicator (144 hours) and tourbillon plus a 47mm titanium case. The Luminor Submersible 1950, an automatic diver’s watch with a titanium case water-resistant to 300 metres, and a rubber wrist strap. The Luminor Due, an automatic watch with a steel case and 72-hour power reserve indicator. The Luminor Base Logo 3 Days, a mechanical watch with a steel case and grey textile wrist strap

In 1949, the Radiomir was replaced by the Luminor. The name originally referred to a new, more efficient type of luminescent substance used on the company’s second watch, but the following year was adopted as the moniker for all of Panerai’s timepieces which now also sported innovative features such as the bridge-andlever crown protector that also keeps the watch watertight.

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