German editor Jens Koch wrote an excellent story about the unique design of Panerai watches, following their roots from the past until today and in the future. The actual special issue of “Chronos” watch magazine (“Uhrendesign” / “watch design”) features his story on page 92-100.

By describing the history of Panerai from the early beginnings as a supplier of the royal italian navy until today’s models, photos of Vintage Panerai watches are featured (Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer”, Ref. 6152/1 “Luminor Panerai” and a GPF 2/56 “Egiziano Grosso”). Koch explains in detail where Panerai today still use the DNA of the historic watches and how the brand can create new models by using the classic design elements today and in the future, as well as different case sizes and new materials.

Get your copy of the “Chronos Spezial Uhrendesign” at the newspaper stores across europe. Find more info at www.watchtime.net [Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

Captured the domed shape of the plexi on this Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer”. Slightly above the bezel, the “volcano dome” starts its smooth rounded shape from the lower outside to the higher center. Ref. 3646 watches have been produced over several years with different shaped plexi glasses. Another known shape is the flat centered version with a stronger curved outside area (see this Ref. 3646 / Type C “Radiomir Panerai” to compare / see this Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” to compare).

As the plexiglass was, aside the onion shaped or tubular shaped winding crown, one of the most damaged and naturally worn off part of these watches, spare plexi glasses replaced the initial plexi glasses. Its great to see another watch which comes still with its original “volcano dome”.

Another Vintage Panerai Ref. 3646 / Type D with a similar plexi is featured in our book “History2” on page 632 / chapter VI.

Got the chance to stop by at auctioneer Dr. Crott in Mannheim / Germany for taking a close look at yet surfaced Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer”, which will be auctioned on saturday, november 15th in Frankfurt (LOT 78).

The watch is filling another place of a piece in the big Vintage Panerai puzzle, matching our database criteria in the group of the watches of the Reference 3646 / Type D. It has been recently delivered to the auctioneer being a heirloom of a german watchmaker’s family.

The front view shows the anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” sandwich dial and the bright blue steel hands with their original luminous material (partially off). Small cracks in the plexi are proof of age of the “volcano dome” shaped plexi.

Also the aged numbers and markers of the dial in different colors (from yellow to light orange / amber) are a typical feature of 3646 / Type D watches and can be found on many others. The screw-down caseback of the watch is plain (without individual engravings).

The inner caseback shows the – typical for the Ref. 3646 / Type D criteria – Rolex SA stamp, reference number and case number and has a fully decorated finish. The engine of the watch is the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement.

Typical for this type of movement is the “ROLEX 17 RUBIS” engraving on the center bridge. As usual on Rolex Cal. 618 movements used in watches of the Reference 3646, the balance cock bears the S-F / A-R regulation device.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type D
Dial: “Kampfschwimmer”  (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 2606XX
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1

The new owner of this watch may decide to change the actual non-screw-down replacement crown with tubular shaped “Oyster Patent” crown (Type 13) or – with some luck – with an onion shaped “Brevet +” crown (Type 11). The “neck” of the cushion shaped case still exists and a good watchmaker should be able to place a tube into it to get a screw-down crown from Rolex on it.

Similar watches of this type with anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” sandwich dials are featured in our books “History1” (chapter II) and “History2” (chapter V and chapter VII).

We hope the watch will find a good new home and that it remain surfaced in the Vintage Panerai collectors world.
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

CHAPTER IX – “Helmut Rösel”
(98 pages, 63 photos, 4 technical illustrations)

The collectible items of the former combat swimmer Helmut Rösel, which was submitted for auction to the auctioneer Dr. Crott, contains not only his Panerai watch but also some documents from his time as a combat swimmer, some of which are extremely rare in this day and age. They give precise information about the stages of his training and his successful missions at the western and eastern fronts. The German Federal Cross of Merit, which was awarded to him in 1983 provided new insights, following our enquires at the Office of the Federal President, into his professional career in the Protestant Church, in which he was a pastor from 1961 and a military chaplain for the Bundeswehr from 1971. Letters written personally by him and a 1994 jewellery certificate for his Panerai watch are precious pieces of evidence are just as difficult to find in this day and age as the historic Panerai watches themselves.

Vintage Panerai “History2”
26 x 26 cm, 480 pages,
trilingual (= german, italian and english language in one book),
hardback jacket, slipcase.

“History2″ is in stock and can be ordered directly at our bookstore.

Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

CHAPTER VIII – “Walter Lewandowski”
(72 pages, 48 photos, 4 technical illustrations)

Walter Lewandowski also followed an unusual path in the Second World War. In 1943 he was initially with the Luftwaffe as a paratrooper and pilot of a transport glider in “Battle Squadron 200”, then posted to the Navy, and immediately afterwards trained as a combat swimmer in Valdagno and in the Lagoon of Venice. After a failed mission on the Adriatic coast, where he managed to find his way back to his own lines overland after many days, he was then sent back to the Eastern Front in Germany for the last weeks of the war. There, as a member of the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”, he carried out a number of missions against the Soviet pontoon bridges. He first escaped captivity by the Soviet troops, who were advancing on Berlin with immense superiority of strength, but then on the island of Sylt he shared the fate of many other combat swimmers and was a British prisoner of war until 1946.

Vintage Panerai “History2”
26 x 26 cm, 480 pages,
trilingual (= german, italian and english language in one book),
hardback jacket, slipcase.

“History2″ is in stock and can be ordered directly at our bookstore.

Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

CHAPTER VII – “Hanns-Martin Kaufhold”
(70 pages, 58 photos, 6 technical illustrations)

The chapter about Hanns-Martin Kaufhold shows comprehensively just how helpful a collection of field post letters has been when researching this member of the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”. His correspondence with his then-girlfriend, which lasted more than three years from his entry into the Navy in 1942 until the end of his imprisonment in July 1945, provides information about the stages of his time as a trainee officer and combat swimmer. These rare documents, including identification papers and travel documents issued in Venice, allow us to reconstruct the route he took to the mission grounds at the Eastern Front. A mission report written by Hanns-Martin Kaufhold on April 3rd, 1945 – an unique and extremely rare document – describes a mission carried out by him and four comrades in the “Einsatzgruppe Keller”.

Vintage Panerai “History2”
26 x 26 cm, 480 pages,
trilingual (= german, italian and english language in one book),
hardback jacket, slipcase.

“History2″ is in stock and can be ordered directly at our bookstore.

Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

CHAPTER VI – “Manfred Lau”
(82 pages, 39 photos)

The chapter about the contemporary witness and author of the book “Schiffssterben vor Algier”, Manfred Lau, with whom we have been friendly since 2003, is a very special one. It is the “chapter without a watch”. Nevertheless, precisely his personal story is of great interest to us, as he is a veteran of the “Lehmann pig group”, who were trained for deployments with two-man torpedoes (SLC and SSB devices) on the island of Le Vignole in the Lagoon of Venice. In impressive and precise detail he describes the difficult journey from Hamburg through a Germany that was, by the autumn of 1944, severely marked by the scars of war, and down to northern Italy, where the secret training centre of the combat swimmers was located. The detailed memories of his training period to become a pilot of the two-man torpedoes, almost 70 years ago, and supplemented with historical maps and pictures, take the reader on a journey to the Adriatic coast. There the midshipman ended his time as a sea fighter with a march into captivity, from which he returned to Germany in 1948.

Vintage Panerai “History2”
26 x 26 cm, 480 pages,
trilingual (= german, italian and english language in one book),
hardback jacket, slipcase.

“History2″ is in stock and can be ordered directly at our bookstore.

Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

CHAPTER V – “Jochen Burnus”
(112 pages, 67 photos, 4 technical illustrations)

The chapter on Jochen Burnus describes his period of duty as a combat swimmer, from his posting away from Yugoslavia in 1944 and his training in northern Italy to his missions at the Elbe, where he ended up in American captivity on April 20th, 1945. After his release he worked in Hamburg Harbour as a recovery diver, together with other former combat swimmers, including Siegfried Köneke, who also belonged to the “Einsatzgruppe Keller” in the Second World War. Burnus later received his friend’s Panerai watch (Ref. 3646 / Type D) from Köneke’s parents, after Sigi was killed at the age of 28 in tragic circumstances while working in Hamburg Harbour on March 14th, 1949. Thus the stories of two combat swimmers merge inseparably and allow us to trace the journey of a combat swimmer watch and its earlier owners from 1944 to the present day.

Vintage Panerai “History2”
26 x 26 cm, 480 pages,
trilingual (= german, italian and english language in one book),
hardback jacket, slipcase.

“History2″ is in stock and can be ordered directly at our bookstore.

Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

Spot on “Red Radiomir”! Only a few watches have been aged in the way that the black color of the dial faded to grey and the luminous “Radiomir” of the four numbers 3, 6, 9 and 12, as well as the eight 5-minutes-markers turned into a deep and intensive red color. More info on this amazing 3646 / Type C watch has been published earlier  and back in 2010.

A similar watch with dark red aged “Radiomir Panerai” dial is featured in our book “History1” in chapter I.

Our first book, published in 2007 and entitled “Watches with History” opened with the words “In this book we would like to give the reader an overview of historic Panerai watches and their documented history.” 2013, six years passed since then, during which we have embarked on many interesting trips into the past while researching this subject. In 2012 we were able to take an even deeper and more comprehensive look at the wearers and the uses of these watches in the book “History1”. In the book “History2” we once again take our readers on a journey through time with five more stories; five exciting and moving fates of courageous men, for whom their Panerai watch was not an item of jewellery, but rather an important piece of equipment. At the end of each chapter we document the current condition of the watch in question, its special features and technical details with a current extract from our database, which we have set up and which we are expanding constantly.

While many of the questions today about historic Panerai watches and their wearers are often the same, the traces we have followed on our research trails and the answers we have found could not be more different. The starting point of our journeys of discovery is always a Panerai watch that still exists today. Every story that we have brought to light has taken us to our destination by very different paths. These stories, which have in the most literal sense “resurfaced”, provide the reader with answers to the questions: Who used the watch? Where and under what conditions did the training of the special marine units take place? When and to what purpose were the missions carried out? And further: How and by which means were the combat swimmer missions conducted? How do the veterans now assess their deployments at that time? We have pursued these questions and, thanks to the help of some of the surviving veterans of the Second World War, their descendents, and through the analysis of previously unknown documents such as personal notes, interviews conducted with the veterans or documents from enemy archives and their espionage departments, we managed to compile very impressive and authentic chapters.

It was and remains very important to us to endow the veterans with a “voice” in this book, to tell their true story. This book does not represent a political statement about the period of the Second World War – rather, we have tried document the historically provable facts about the circumstances and events of that time. This book outlines the personal experiences of the combat swimmers and describes in the smallest detail their fate, which has, during conversations or in written correspondence, evoked at times painful memories and great emotions after many decades. Without their inspiration and great support, this book would never have been possible in such comprehensive form. For this we wish to express our deep gratitude to “our” veterans.

The four watches presented in this book (Reference 3646) were in action under “real” battle conditions in the Second World War. They accompanied their original owners since combat swimmer training and indeed for many years after the war.

Our book “History2″ is in stock. It can be ordered directly at our bookstore. Enjoy reading!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]