Detail views of a 16 meter depth gauge. The meter hand on the left ofthe photo is made of transparent Plexiglas, which has a chamber in its tip, holding the luminous material to point out the actual depth. Gauges with Radiomir usually have a white Plexiglas hand.

By taking a close look at the dial of this instrument, one can see that it is made in the same “sandwich method” than the dials of the Vintage Panerai watches (example: “Luminor Panerai” dial of a Ref. 6152/1) can be compared here.

The center of the dial bears “Luminor Panerai” and below “Metri” is engraved. You can find more details of the tool’s dial here. The luminous material on hands, numbers, markers and dots is still reacting very quickly and bright when a light source is beamed onto the numbers and markers.

An overview of seven different aimed depth gauges (Radiomir and Luminor) can be found here.

Close look at the “Luminor Panerai” dial of a Ref. 6152/1 watch. The surface of the sandwich dial with the milled letters is showing pure Panerai DNA behind the double pencil hands.

This Vintage Panerai watch is featured in our book “History1″. You can read more about its first owner Mario Arillo in chapter IV, page 227-391.

It was early 2007 when I was contacted by my friend Fabio Castellani from Italy. He was looking to find a new home for the 6152/1 watch, which he got years ago from Mario Arillo, high decorated veteran of the Xa MAS and commander of the submarine “Ambra”. It was one of these moments in life, which rarely happen and which will remain as something very special and unforgettable. The agreement was found in a few e-mails and soon later I became the third owner of this incredible watch.

Soon later, still thrilled everytime I was looking at it, the idea of writing a book about this watch was born. It came not just with it’s original box – it came with a long history. I remembered the story of it’s first owner Mario Arillo, which I read many times in books before. It was the perfect match to some vintage Panerai watches owned by my friend Ralf, who also had the idea in mind about writing down the rich history that came along with his watches. The first book project “Vintage Panerai – Watches with History” was born – let’s do it!

In june 2007 I came across a black-and-white copy of a photo showing Mario Arillo, receiving the gold medal for bravery – the “Medaglia d’Oro al Valore Militare” (M.O.V.M.) by Italian king Vittorio Emanuele III, june 10th, 1943. Fabio Castellani gave me this copy with the note that the original photo is in property of Arillo’s family… “now that would be a photo to have in the book!” was my initial thought. I emailed Fabio, telling him about my book idea and that I would need the original photo to publish it in good quality – a black-white copy would not be enough to use… Soon later he provided the address of the family. I wrote a little letter, introducing myself, my book project and that I am the owner of their father’s Panerai watch. Honestly, I expected nothing but received more than I could hope. How would you react if a strange person would tell you such a story? To my surprise and excitement, a few weeks later a padded envelope arrived in my mailbox. From Italy – from Arillo’s family! After opening carefully – still get goose skin when thinking back to this moment – I found the original photo from 1943. I was speechless!

Happy like a kid on christmas eve, I put the photo into my scanner and digitalized it to use in my growing book project. Jackpot! A few days later I returned the original photo as promised, well protected and extra safety, together with some sweets and a letter which expressed my happiness and thanks that the Arillo family trusted me – a yet unknown person from Germany – in sending me a family treasure, which this photo surely was…

I went ahead in writing the book and soon later I got again an envelope from Arillo’s family…? I was one more time surprised. The original photo came to me again, but now with a hand written dedication on the backside – from Arillo’s daughter: “to my friend Volker, in memory of my father Mario Arillo M.O.V.M.”. I was speechless again!

After the book was finished in october 2007, it was my pleasure to send her a copy of the book which holds the photo of her father. We continued to exchange letters and in summer 2008 during the VIII Club Panerai Meeting we met in person for the first time. Very exciting moments to remember, which are beyond collecting watches for me. When I got the watch more than one year before, I never thought that one day I would have the chance to meet the children and grand children of Mario Arillo.

The typical description for a collectors’ watch “comes with box and papers” has a very special meaning for me. The photo on the left shows the 6152/1 watch in it’s original cardboard box from Panerai, a letter from Rolex dating these type of watches to the year 1955 and the original photo of the first owner, Mario Arillo.

Read more about this watch and its first owner in Chapter IV of the book “History1”.  
[Volker Wiegmann]

Put the focus on the onion shaped crown (Type 11) of a Reference 3646 watch to capture the details of the “Brevet +” signature with the swiss cross symbol. The crown has a diameter of 7 mm and can be screwed down onto the tube which is surrounded by the typical “neck” shaped side of the 47 mm cushion shaped case of the Reference 3646.

More information about the different crown types used on Ref. 3646 watches can be found in our new book “History2”, in which two watches are featured using the Type 11 crown (“Brevet +”) aside two watches of which one is using a Type 12 replacement crown (“Rolex Oyster”) and one is using the well known tubular shaped Type 13 crown (“Oyster Patent +”). All three type of Rolex crowns have the same thread, matching the tube.

Tried to catch the fantastic domed shape and the reflecting edges of the huge Plexiglas on a Ref. 6152/1 together with the “Luminor Panerai” engraving on the sandwich dial… pure Panerai DNA!

This Vintage Panerai watch is featured in our book “History1″. You can read more about its first owner Mario Arillo in chapter IV, page 227-391.

During the last visit at auctioneer Dr. Crott in Mannheim, another very rare Vintage Panerai watch was available for a detailed expertise: A yet unknown Ref. 6152 with “Radiomir Panerai” dial and Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2 movement.

The watch surfaced in Italy and will be auctioned in may during the 87th auction on saturday 11th. The watch comes with original strap and GPF-buckle (without engraving).

Always a special moment when such a rare watch can be seen with own eyes. The extraordinary design elements of the 47 mm case with the “crown pit” and the “edged cushion” are outstanding, just mentioning two of the 6152 features which makes it different to watches of the references 6154 and 6152/1.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 6152
Dial: “Radiomir Panerai” (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 958697
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2

Most interesting about this watch is the fact, that it is building a second number group together with watch number 958713, which surfaced in 2010.

Aside the Reference 6154, which was produced for the Egyptian Navy, the Reference 6152 can be called as the rarest Vintage Panerai model. Only ten watches are known until today, which are divided into two number groups: 956632 to 956643 and 958697 to 958713.

Hopefully in the future some gaps inside these two small number groups can be closed with other surfacing watches of this reference…!

The combination of 6152 case and 6152/1 caseback isnt an individual issue – until today only two 6152 watches are known with “matching” 6152 casebacks. The 6152/1 caseback which comes with this watch, bears the engraving S.M.Z M.M. 170.

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]

Another visit at auctioneer Dr. Crott brought us another new database entry for the Reference 3646 / Type B. The yet unknown watch with the case number 1009992 will be up for auction in may, bearing the typical features of watches of the number group 1009925 – 1010024, representing the Reference 3646 / Type B.

Until today we have recorded only 13 existing specimen of this type of 3646 watches in our database, which is one of the smaller groups inbetween known watches of Type A to Type G.

The small Oyster stamp on the inner caseback is one feature aside the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement with 17 Jewels and no Incabloc shock protection. Typical for this type of movement is the “ROLEX 17 RUBIS” engraving on the center bridge. As usual on movement used in watches of the Reference 3646, the balance cock bears the S-F / A-R regulation device.

The watch comes with the high version of the bezel, neccessary on watches with sandwich dials from Panerai. The bezel carries a domed Plexiglas, which is today in very good condition. The “neck” of the cushion shaped stainless steel case is still existing, on which an onion shaped “Brevet +” crown (Type 11) is screwed on.

The case has not been polished and appears with a nice patina on case, bezel and caseback. Also the watch comes with an old leather strap with a big “belt style” buckle, which we have seen on some other Ref. 3646 watches before.

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]

The caseback of a Ref. 3646 / Type D watch. It bears engraved initials of the first owner of the watch: “SK”. The initials are placed above the year in which the “Einsatzgruppe Keller” was founded (February 1945).

The history of this watch is featured in our new book “History2” (Chapter V). Aside this watch’s history, we discovered in the last years the history of three other today existing watches of the same task force (16 frogmen). In the last months of the 2nd world war, several missions have been carried out under the command of Lieutenant Alfred Keller.

Our book “History1” carries the story of the “HP” watch (Chapter II), while two more watches of the “Einsatzgruppe Keller” are featured in our new book “History2”: The “HK” watch (Chapter VII) and the “WL” watch (Chapter VIII).

Recently we took a close look at a high precision lathe made by Panerai in the last century. This masterpiece of Panerai engineering will be auctioned at Dr. Crott in their 87. auction (May 11th, 2013).

Panerai has produced various types of lathes with different beds, ranging from 200 to 500 mm. The lathe is mounted on a wooden base and comes with additional tools to be used on the lathe, depending on the mechanical work to be done.

A collection of spring collets is part of the auction too. The spring collets bear the famous GPF logo (Guido Panerai & Figlio) on the heads aside the sizes. The drill chuck bears the GPF logo as well and the number 172 (probably a matriculation number, giving the idea of how many of these high precision instruments have been produced).

It has been nice to observe this rare instrument and spot some Panerai DNA on many corners of the high precision lathe.

Additional information about high precision lathes from Panerai can be found here. These instruments are also featured in the book “Panerai Historia” (by Giampiero Negretti / Officine Panerai) on page 28/29 and in the book “La Panerai di Firenze” (by Dino Zei / CLD Libri) on page 74.

Recently I had the chance to see another Ref. 3646 / Type D watch, which surfaced into the Vintage Panerai world a few months ago. The pictures which were available haven’t been very detailled so it was interesting to take a close look on the details of the watch and take some photos.

The first noteable thing is of course the replacement dial, taken probably from a cockpit instrument (VDO gauges) which is using a very reduced design, bearing only 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. Needless to say on which brand’s dial design this is a reminder…

The fact that such a dial was used for replacement is answering the question byself, with which dial this watch once came. Because of the flat bezel of the watch (see photo), only a flat dial (“California Dial” or painted brass “Kampfschwimmer”) is possible (for explanation read also our book “History1”, Chapter II.I page 162-163 or “The References”, Chapter I.VII page 156-157).

The comparing photo shows the watch (3646 / Type D 260838 on top, flat bezel) placed above another 3646 / Type D (260554) with the high version of the bezel, using a sandwich dial from Panerai.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type D
Dial: flat, matching with the bezel (anonymous)
Case number: 260838
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1

The original strap has not “survived” but we know this has happened on most of the sewn-onto-the-case straps of Ref. 3646. It should be easy to find a “vintage style” strap, so there are many options for this kind of  “personalization” in the future to let this watch look nicer than on the actual bracelet. From what I was able to see, the steel bracelet did not cause serious damage (abrasion / wearout) on the welded-to-the-case lugs.

Once again, this “new surfaced” Ref. 3646 watch is matching our Type D criteria by its details, which has risen the number of Ref. 3646 / Type D database entries up to 60 watches (as of march 1st, 2013). In combination with the 6 digit case number, the Rolex SA embossing on the fully decorated inner caseback is a typical feature of Ref. 3646 / Type D watches (this particular watch has the highest number – 260838 – expanding the Ref. 3646 / Type D number group to 260408 – 260838).

Matching with the inner caseback engravings is the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement with its typical engravings on the center bridge. The outer caseback bears no engraving. The steel hands have kept their blueish color, the luminous material partially felt off but is worth to conserve as is. Seal rings should be attached as well to keep humidity off the case.

It may not easy to find an original onion crown in the future to bring back the original appearance. Actually the watch bears a replacement crown, as we know this watch was used for a long time, the winding crown is one of the main parts which had to be replaced. Lack of original spare parts caused the use of different crowns than the originals, which has happened on other 3646 watches too.

Informations provided by the owner of the watch, answering questions I asked him via e-mail are the following:

Question 1: Is there any known history coming along this watch?
“The watch was in possesion of a yugoslavian army officer. Actually its function was a “polit komisar” in the army. This was a quite high titule in the communist yugoslavian army. We know the name of this officer but at this time his relatives would prefer to keep it secret since they do not know why it would be of interest to anyone, so I also do not see a reason to disclose it. The watch has been worn until the death of this person in 1982, daily. Thats why also the parts where exchanged. The dial actually was not readable anymore. After 1982 it was more or less in a wardrobe closet. It must have been obtained in the second world war, where directly is not known since this officer has been active on different parts and battles against Italians and Germans at that time.”

Question 2: Do exist any photos of the past, showing the previous owner wearing it?
“Yes we have pictures of the owner wearing the watch in different decades. Actually a picture from the year 1954 then in the sixties and late seventies. In the 50s and 60s the original dial is seen as also the leather strap. Then in the late 70s we can see the metal bracelet, at that time also the dial has been changed with the VDO. After the death of the owner in 1982 the watch was more or less left on side at one of the sons of the owner.”

Watches with a history like this show us the way which some of them took during or after WW2. The lack of original spare parts caused many untypical appearances like – in this case – an untypical dial taken from a VDO cockpit clock… If we can take a close look at the watch and see its details, together with information available from previous owner(s), it can help to find answers on the questions which arise when such a watch surface today. The fact that the watch changed ownership in former Yugoslavia confirmed our knowledge about italian and german frogmen units which were captured at the end of WW2 in this area. Just as some of the watches changed ownership with west allied forces (where they surfaced as well) it has happened in eastern europe too.
[Volker Wiegmann]