Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”

by on Nov.13, 2010, under General

Caught some details of the “Elettrosegnalatore GPF 1/58”. Fantastic to see the rich details on such a simple tool… many fine engravings all over the case of the signal light, Panerai branded almost everywhere, including matriculation number on the rear plate (covers the batteries).

Stunning functionality of the grip, which can be rotated to move a colored tube over the light bulb, coming up from the front grip into the area infront of the mirror (see detail photo upper and lower left). The signal light can expose white (regular), blue (“A”) and red (“R”) light signals by using the rear grip’s pistol trigger. At the detail photo (lower left), the blue light tube is turned on.

A shoulder extension (stored in the transport box together with a set of spare light bulbs) can be mounted on the rear plate, giving comfort for a straightening use of the signal light in a seesaw situation. For sending accurate signals, an ironsight (low right on the detail photo) is placed on top left of the case, which has an overall dimension of approx. 29 x 22 cm (without shoulder extension).

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A vintage “GPF 1/58” box

by on Nov.09, 2010, under General

Much bigger than the box for the “Luminor Panerai” dial, which I have posted last week, comes this GPF 1/58 light gun in it’s transport box made of calf leather and cardboard core.

It has a very nice engraved plate on top and looks quite “used” – but okay for a tool that is 52 years old…!

Daylight photos of the content will follow soon…
Thanks a lot to the fellow mate who sent it to me!

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Excellent photos of vintage Panerai watches at paneristi.com

by on Oct.30, 2010, under General

Martin Wilmsen, skilled photographer and member of the paneristi community, has shared some excellent photos he took for the paneristi.com 2010 calendar at the public forum. Check this out here and get blown away by his work of art. (Some of the watches are published in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”)

Awesome, Martin – thanks for sharing!

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A vintage “Luminor” dial storage box

by on Oct.30, 2010, under General

Latest addition in my vintage collection, arrived from Italy: a storage box for a “Luminor Panerai” dial – the dial version for watches with Rolex movements (without small second hand).

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An extraordinary watch and great find

by on Oct.25, 2010, under General

Our collector friend Hagen contacted us with his latest entry in his collection: A stunning Ref. 6152 watch!

Not that the Ref. 6152 is one of the rarest references Panerai ever produced – the case number of the watch is a real sensation: 958713! It opens another, yet undiscovered number group in our database. Until today we had a number group with 6 known watches between 956632 and 956643. We hope to find other Ref. 6152 watches in the future, which have a number close to Hagen’s 958713, so that we can estimate the 2nd number group’s size.

Interesting to see the movement: not a surprise to us, it comes with a Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2 movement, similar to the other 6152 watches we have in our database: 15 Rubis without Incabloc shock protection. The area around the crown shows the “gap” which is typical for the 6152 case.

The unpolished case confirms the fact, that also the Ref. 6152 watches have the reference and case number between the lugs. Until april 2009 this was not discovered! I had the chance to take a very close look at the Ref. 6152 watch number 956636 in summer 2010 and to my surprise I found these markings which we did not see before… we knew this watch already for years but nobody noticed it, as the watch was polished, which took away the appearance of these markings.

The reference number “6152” is placed between the lugs at 12’o’clock and the case number “958713” is placed between the lugs at 6’o’clock, both stamped under the case’s slope. The “double pencil” hands with “sharp pins” hold the original luminous material above a “Radiomir Panerai” dial with a wonderful patina.

What a great find!

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“California Dial” – part of the Panerai DNA

by on Oct.23, 2010, under General

It’s simple. It’s clean. It’s perfect. The Panerai DNA is still striking after 60+ years…! The photo shows a Ref. 3646 / Type G watch with Oyster crown and the typical flat bezel (1944).

Read more about the “California Dial” watches – the DNA of Panerai – in both of our books.  [Volker Wiegmann]

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Three Ref. 6152/1 watches in a row

by on Oct.15, 2010, under General

Since January 1st, 2010 we have received more than 40 new entries in our database, spread over all references. Most of the new entries are in the reference 6152/1.

Very interesting for our research is a “group” of three Ref. 6152/1 watches in a row: 124805, 124806 and 124807.

The first two watches have both “Luminor Panerai” dials. Watch 124805 has a crown protecting device signed “10”, while its “brother watch” 124806 has the crown protecting device signed “9”. It will be interesting to compare these two watches with close lower numbers to see if they have crown protecting devices signed with matching numbers (between “1” and “8”) to them.

All three watches come with the –  typical for this reference – Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement (17 Rubis + Incabloc shock protection) which is one of the main features of Ref. 6152/1 watches with Rolex movements.

Both watches with “Luminor Panerai” dials have the “double pencil” hands, but they are not 100% identical: watch 124806 has the “sharp pin” versions, watch 124805 has the “dull pin” versions. Both watches, 124805 and 124806, have no matriculation number engraved on the caseback.

Watch 124807 comes with a “Marina Militare” dial and so it could be part of a different order, in case that the Italian Navy ordered watches with identical dial inscriptions from Panerai. This question can be answered in the future when we have found more watches which have close case numbers to these three here. 

Watch 124807 has the crown protecting device signed “7” and the “BREV. ITAL.” trademark inscriptions. The caseback of this watch bears a matriculation number: “M.M. 005”. It holds also the “double pencil” hands with “sharp pins”.

You can find more information about Ref. 6152/1 watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References” in chapter IV, pages 202-255.

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Omeris, the Gruppo Gamma unit

by on Oct.13, 2010, under General

There exists a rare and valueable friendship with Omeris, member of the “Gruppo Gamma”, 95 years old. Received an old photo taken during his duty as a frogmen, wearing a Panerai watch in his missions, next to an actual photo. Where have all the years been gone, Omeris?

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Library grows: “Time and Space” brochure from Panerai

by on Oct.12, 2010, under General

Today we received the exhibition brochure from Panerai “Time and Space – a Tribute to Galileo Galilei” (92 pages, 21×21 cm). Our friend Piero Lapiana from Club Panerai got us a copy in english language during his visit of the exhibition (september 27th to october 2nd, 2010), as we were not able to come to Firenze to see it by ourself.

Interesting to see the timeline from Panerai (which we respectfully disagree in some points, based on our research which can be read in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”), how they put the different models to production years. Its surely a nice read for all Panerai collectors who like to see pictures of watches from the Archivio Storico Panerai, which carries a huge amount of Panerai DNA.

We apreciate a lot that Panerai has opened their archives for the public and gave the visitors of the exhibition the chance to see these fantastic watches, like in 2007 during the exhibition for the 10th anniversary, “L’orologio Panerai”.

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Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”

by on Oct.04, 2010, under General

Ever asked yourself why dials of Panerai watches don’t have minute markers? Here is probably one reason why: even devices for activating explosives can’t be adjusted to the minute – only full and half hours have been able to set… (see the left disc with 10 hour scale for delay mechanism)

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