Family history Panerai has been closely linked, for over a century, to the production of precision instruments intended to accompany the Italian military in their exploits. Commissioned by the Royal Italian Navy to supply high-precision instruments, it was thanks to the Radiomir developed by Guido Panerai - a radium-based substance that glowed, allowing visibility in the dark - that the brand's history began, with the filing of its patent in 1916.
A historical document states that the first prototype of the Radiomir watch was deposited on 24 October 1935, exactly 88 years ago. Officine Panerai entered the commercial watch market in 1992, launching three limited-edition collections: the Luminor 44 mm, the Luminor Marina 44 mm and the Mare Nostrum 42 mm chronograph. The Radiomir, on the other hand, was not presented to the public until 1997, when the Vendôme Group (now the Richemont Group) acquired Panerai, introducing the first Vendôme special edition in sixty pieces, the PAM21 in platinum.
Today, Officine Panerai presents a new timepiece in a limited edition of just 300 pieces from the Radiomir collection, featuring restyling elements that bring its aesthetics closer to its roots. It is the Radiomir Officine PAM01385, which pays tribute to many of the iconic elements of the 1935 Radiomir prototype, while incorporating contemporary technical expertise.
This special Radiomir uses the famous 45 mm polished steel coussin case, with its iconic conical crown, combined with a matt brown hollowed dial with indexes and Arabic numerals at 12, 3 and 6 filled with beige SuperLuminova with green emission. At 9 o'clock are the small seconds. The hour hand is 'split' in half, an emblematic feature of the Radiomir since its inception. Paired with a brown leather strap, this shade highlights the colour of the dial, with its matt finish present for the first time in the collection. The revisited elements include the dial, which features only the wording "Radiomir Panerai" (without the collection's typical "OP" logo), and the case made from a single block of steel. The new Radiomir Officine PAM01385 is driven by the hand-wound P.6000 calibre, with a three-day power reserve, and is water-resistant to 10 atmospheres. It is an ecommerce exclusive, launched just today, which is (as mentioned above) exactly 88 years after the patent for the first Radiomir was filed.
Price5,500 euro.
