Panerai Swiss

CULT MILITARY WATCHES

Thanks to their oversize cases, extra-resistant models, and long association with the Italian army, Panerai watches have become beloved cult objects – an unusual fate for a brand exclusively designed for military use until 1993.

Until 1993 Panerai watches were made exclusively for the army (barely three hundred models were produced for civilians from 1939 to 1992). In 1993 the brand entered civil society with two limited-edition series featuring the Luminor and the Mare Nostrum chronograph (an early 1940s prototype). Between 1993 and 1997, in what is known as its “pre-Vendome” period (the Richemont group was then called Vendome), Panerai whet collectors’ appetites with a tantalizingly sparse production of 828 watches. In 1997 the Richement group decided to capitalize on the brand’s history by producing formally and technically faithful replicas of its original military models. Over the next five years, Officine Panerai produced more than ninety thousand watches and developed an international stature.

Although these in-house calibers today represent only an infinitesimal portion of production, they enable the company to legitimately take its place beside other Swiss watchmakers, and fuel passion among new collectors ready to spend up to $100,000 to wear a Panerai with a tourbillon.