Christie’s New York has a Ref. 3646 / Type C “Radiomir Panerai” in their Important Watches auction (LOT 343) on december 17th, 2013. The watch is recorded in our database since 2006.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type C
Dial: “Radiomir Panerai”  (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 1010091

Inside the watch works the typical Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement. The inner caseback engravings, in combination with the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement, are matching our database criteria.

The outer caseback of the watch is engraved with a matriculation number of the italian Decima Flottiglia MAS – short “Xa FLOTMAS No. 048”. A similar 3646 / Type C watch (“Xa FLOTMAS No. 040”) has been published here.

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]

[Photos with kindly permission / courtesy of www.christies.com]

Additional photos reached us “just in time” before the auction at Christie’s Geneva is about to start (November 11th).

As we published info and an excerpt of our database earlier, we can provide here a couple of interesting photos, showing the condition of this Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” with two engraved initials on its caseback.

The watch comes with original strap and buckle, both case and plexi appear to be unpolished with heaps of patina “built” over the past decades. The movement shows the typical features of a Rolex Cal.618 / Type 1 movement. A tubular crown (“Oyster Patent” inscription / Type 13) is screwed down on the neck of the 47 mm cushion shaped case.

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]

[Photos with kindly permission / courtesy of www.christies.com]

We recently received a few more photos of the Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” watch, which will be auctioned next week in Geneva.

In Addition to the previously published info on this watch, we can see on these photos interesting details: the “volcano dome” plexi (top left), the non-engraved caseback (top right), the typical 3646 / Type D cushion shaped case with short looped lugs (low left) and a close look at the sewn-in buckle (low right).

For further info on the different shape of soldered lugs on Ref. 3646 watches, you can see comparing photos on page 769 in chapter VIII.I of our book “History2”.

[Photos with kindly permission / courtesy of www.sothebys.com]

Christie’s has a Ref. 3646 / Type E “California Dial” in their next auction (LOT 219) in Geneva, november 11th. Great to see another surfaced watch matching the criteria of our database work.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type E
Dial: “California Dial”
Case number: 261078
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 mod.

Typical features of Ref. 3646 / Type E watches are the removed / not existing Rolex stamp in the inner caseback and the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 mod. movement. You can compare the different inner caseback engravings in Ref. 3646 watches here. Also the “California Dial” is corresponding with the flat bezel of the watch – a typical combination of dial version and bezel. A Panerai dial with its sandwich construction would need a higher bezel due to its height. You can read more about 3646 / Type E watches in our book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

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]

[Photos with kindly permission / courtesy of www.christies.com]

Christie’s has a Ref. 6152/1 “Marina Militare” in their next auction (LOT 290) in Geneva, november 11th. With ist case number 124516 it is one of the low case numbers in our records of todays existing 89 watches of this reference, reaching from 124495 to 124986.

The watch comes with 8 mm Rolex crown / without crown protecting device and typical “double pencil” shaped hands with “dull pins”. Inside the watch is working a Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 3 movement (15 Rubis + Incabloc shock protection). The inner caseback of the watch bears the typical Rolex marking of the refence 6152/1, on the outside of the caseback is the letter “D” engraved / stamped in the center.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 6152/1
Dial: “Marina Militare”  (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 124516
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 3

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]

[Photos with kindly permission / courtesy of www.christies.com]

Christie’s has a Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” in their next auction (LOT 337) in Geneva, november 11th. The watch was auctioned in 2011 at Christie’s and was introduced back then in our blog with an excerpt of our database.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type D
Dial: “Kampfschwimmer”  (sandwich, anonymous)
Case number: 260628
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1

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 2nd weekend of may will be interesting to follow the auction at Frankfurt’s Hotel Sheraton (saturday, may 11th). German auctioneer Dr. Crott will have their 87th auction with more than 600 lots. Earlier this year it was possible for us to see the Panerai lots in advance for our review. A Ref. 3646 / Type B, a Ref. 3646 / Type D, a GPF lathe and a very rare Ref. 6152 watch will be up for sale. You can find the reviews in this blog by using the tag function for “Dr. Crott”. Detailled information can also be found at the auctioneers website.

We hope that the watches and the lathe find good new homes and that they remain surfaced in the Vintage Panerai collectors world.

A very rare Vintage Panerai watch will be up for auction at Christie’s on december, 14th in New York, Rockefeller Plaza: LOT 268, a very rare Ref. 6154 “Small Egiziano” aka “Egiziano Piccolo”. The watch is part of Sale 2610 Important Watches. 

Since our book “The Reference” was published in 2009, only a few more pieces of this famous reference surfaced and were added into our database, which makes it one of the rarest Vintage Panerai models today. It appears as one of the Ref. 6154 watches which have been supplied with a Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2 movement, aside the other half of the today existing watches of this reference is supplied with Cal. 618 / Type 1 / Type 1 mod. movements.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 6154
Dial: “Radiomir Panerai”  (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 997603
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2

We hope that this watch will find a good new home and remains surfaced in the Vintage Panerai collectors world.

[Photos with kindly permission of Christie’s · courtesy of E. Catenazzi / www.christies.com]

Fortunately I was able to follow Dr. Crott’s 86th auction in the “Skyloft” at the Sheraton hotel in Frankfurt. Both “Kampfschwimmer” watches, LOT 16 (Ref. 3646 / Type C) and LOT 17 (Ref. 3646 / Type D) have been successfully auctioned and found new owners.

The bidder (and new owner) of  the Ref. 3646 / Type C watch was present in the audience, the new owner of the Ref. 3646 / Type D watch was a telephone bidder from Asia. After the auction of both Vintage Panerai watches I was able to meet a german paneristi which I knew before only from his nickname in the public forum at paneristi.com. It’s always nice to put a face behind a nickname…!

It will be interesting to follow the traces of both watches in the future… congratulations to the new owners! [Volker Wiegmann]

November will be interesting to follow the auction at Frankfurt’s Hotel Sheraton (saturday, november 10th), where two Ref. 3646 watches will be up for sale. German auctioneer Dr. Crott will have their 86th auction with more than 500 lots, including a Ref. 3646 / Type C watch and a Ref. 3646 / Type D watch. 

We hope they find a good new home and that they remain surfaced in the Vintage Panerai collectors world. The Ref. 3646 / Type C watch and it’s history will be featured in one of the chapters of our new book “History2” (available in 2013).