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 There are
plenty of watches manufactured every year and throughout several centuries,
though rare watch can boast with the interesting story and eye-striking
watches. Panerai watches made in Italy are famous for the black color
dial plate and luminous digits which are seen at any distance, even in the
muddy water. And what is about water? The point is the Panerai Company was the
official supplier of chronographs for officers of the Navy of Italy. Though,
the best way is to describe the story in details.
When
Giovanni Panerai opened a shop of Swiss watches in 1860 in Florence, he had not anticipated such a
triumph of the product and prosperity for his company. And in the end of the XIX
century his grandson Guido expands the production and received an order from
the defense authority. However, the way to success was not easy and the Italian
manufacturer had to master the production of optical and mechanical tool of
high precision. Moreover, he had to get to introduced to chemistry for the
military men appreciate the opportunity to use the appliances in darkness.
Guido
managed to work with the luminous material first when he mixed sulfur zinc with
the radium bromide and later on he took out a patent calling it Radiomir. The
radioactive mixture was too hazardous for human health though too advantageous
for business since it allowed the bright and persistent light in any
conditions. The preliminary experiments with the illumination at the back panel
failed and the World War I that occurred that time required new ideas and
urgent solutions to problems, and thus, the demand for the new material and
Panerai items highly increased.
The Panerai
Company regularly received orders from the Italian Army to manufacture spyglasses
and telescopic sights with luminous viewfinders and points, lamps for submariners,
depth gauges, compasses and clockworks for blasters and since that time Guido
Panerai has become the official supplier for the Navy in Italy. However,
he never gave up the work initiated by his grandfather. Yet, therefore, in 1936
he took the vitally considerable solution for the company developing the
watches for diver- subversives. Watches with the large up to 47mm pad-like case
with the soldered staples to fasten the wristlet, Rolex clockwork with manual
winding up, long wristlet from leather steeped in grease which allows wearing
the watch over the wet suit, the luminous hands, digits and signs named Radiomir
to honor the luminous material. All these advantages committed to high professionalism
of divers but not to popularity and fame for Guido.
The world of
watches has never recognized Guido Panerai since the information was wholly classified
as secret though Panerai was not upset with this fact. The watches he developed
were launched in limited edition for divers working for the secret service of
Italian Navy, soldiers of Gamma group and several military services of Mediterranean
countries. Throughout the total forty five years about thousand watches were
launched and each of them was exclusive!
However,
the chemical experiments with luminous substances were under development still
and in 1949 a
new luminous compound was elaborated on the base of tritium called Luminor, which
gave the name to series of watches produced consequently.
A new stage
was notable in 1993 in
development of the Company and it proceeded to work for civil people. The watches
were immediately appreciated since the Panerai watches have always something to
do with secrets. The company did not try attempts and more funds for the
advertisement campaign but the watches were acknowledged by Silvester Stallone
who worked free of charge to advertise the watches purchasing and presenting
watches to friends and starring in movies showing the watches by Panerai. So, after
the movie Daylight was aired, millions of Americans found out about watches
perfect for diving in extreme situations. Though apart from Stallone, Panerai
watches were promoted in movies by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hugh Grant, Pierce
Brosnan
and Orlando Bloom.
The
following stage in development of the Company is when the concern Vendome which
was later renamed into Richemont group purchased the Panerai Company in 1997.
Then, the Company contributed to turn the Panerai into the elite watches for
collectors, creating flamboyant and unusual models in limited edition like Luminor
GMT with the indicator of the second time-zone, Luminor Power Reserve with the
indicator of range, Luminor Submersible specially designed for diving, Radiomir
GMT/Alarm – watches with the alarm, Luminor Arktos GMT for polar explorers, as
well as watches made from rare metals, with rare gaging and rare functions. Luminor
Marina acknowledged the public award at the Geneva Grand Prix in 2001, and in
2004 the title of the best sports timepiece went for Luminor Submersible with
the water resistance of 2500m. This watch achieved the unprecedented level when
the considerable niche in the watch segment of the market was taken from Rolex
Submariner. And now, the preferences are made by you.
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