Preparing for the 10th Club Panerai Meeting
by autor on May.12, 2010, under General
Packing my bags today to travel to Viareggio for the long weekend, meeting Panerai collectors from Italy, Europe and Overseas. Radiomirs and Luminors at its best! It will be exciting to see especially one yet surfaced 3646 watch again, which have been auctioned recently and took a long way to his new owner.
Read some travel reports of the last Club Panerai Meetings published at paneristi.com here.
Wishing all attendees safe travels and a great time – a presto! [Volker Wiegmann]
Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”
by autor on May.04, 2010, under General
A collection of various Officine Panerai torches.
Top left and and base left: GPF Mod. Dep. 3002, lenght 16 cm. Waterproof 50 meters. Panerai patent 563039 / november 14th 1956.
Top right: “Elux” torch (blue light). GPF Mod. Dep. 3002, lenght 17 cm. Waterproof 50 meters. Panerai patent 563039 / november 14th 1956.
Base right: “VIDOR” torch (made in Britain), equipped with Panerai patented mechanism, signed “Brevet IT 563039”. Lenght 25 cm.
Club Panerai celebrating the 10th anniversary
by Volker on May.02, 2010, under General
Club Panerai is celebrating the 10th anniversary on may 1st, 2010.
The Club Panerai is dedicated to the owners of some of the Luminor and Radiomir models, manufactured by the Officine Panerai of Florence, overall for the Commandos and the Scuba-Divers of the Italian Navy.
The annual Club Panerai Meeting has become an important date for Panerai collectors around the world. Thanks to the organizers Piero Lapiana, Marco Mancini and Ricciardo Canova, the guests have been able to visit historical places, which are related to the history of Panerai watches and operators, which have used the instruments from our favourite brand during their missions. By their efforts and good relationship to the italian navy, guests have been able to get access to military places which usually are not open for the public. Also some italian veterans have joined the meetings, which will remain as unforgettable moments for those who were able to meet them in person.
Highlights of the past meetings have been: The visit of the “Arsenale” (Naval Museum in La Spezia), the visit of Bocca di Serchio (a secret training site of SLC pilots during WW2) together with Emilio Bianchi (M.O.V.M.), several visits at the Commando of the italian scuba divers Com.Sub.In. (Le Grazie), the visit of the training ship “Palinuro”, the visit of the Naval Academy in Livorno, the visit of the Panerai Boutique in Portofino – just to mention a few…
The hotel “Club I Pini” with its special atmosphere has given the meetings a special family atmosphere. We like to thank the organizers from Club Panerai for their efforts in the past ten years and a successful future for their club!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]
Introducing “The Luminor Base”
by Volker on Apr.28, 2010, under General
Today’s extract out of our database is a 6152/1 watch. It holds the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement (typical for 6152/1 watches), which has 17 Jewels (bridge engraved “17 Rubis”) and Incabloc shock protection. The crown protection device bears an engraved “1” on its backside.
Panerai collectors call this kind of watches “The Luminor Base” because of the typo on the dial, the missing second hand (only 2 hands) and the crown protecting device, which is one of the main design elements that makes a Panerai watch “different” to many other watches.
Powered with the Rolex movement, this type of vintage Panerai stands for the “Base” version without small second (modern Panerai watches of ref. PAM2, PAM112 and PAM176).
The title “Luminor Marina” (modern Panerai watches of ref. PAM1, PAM111, PAM177) has its root in the vintage 6152/1 watches (see the 6152/1 on the left), which are powered by Angelus movements (Cal. 240) with the typical small second function. They symbolize “The Luminor Marina” as version with 3 hands, that is hours, minutes and small second.
Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”
by Volker on Apr.26, 2010, under General
Officine Panerai underwater torches produced for the egyptian navy in the 1950’s.
The plexi tube was changeable for two functions: clear part on top for floodlight use (large photo), black part on top for spotlight / signal use (small photo). The plexi tube has windings on both ends and can be changed by the unit while operating underwater.
The torch can be switched on/off by turning the knurled wheel.
Frogmen’s combat knifes
by autor on Apr.22, 2010, under General
Two rare combat knifes used by italian and german units in the 2nd world war, placed on an original newspaper dated november 1944.
The photo shows a group of german “Kampfschwimmer” units winding their Panerai watches. This type of knife is visible on the right unit’s belt, fixed by a carabiner.
You can read more about combat swimmer’s equipment in our first book “Vintage Panerai – Watches with History”, chapter III.
Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”
by autor on Apr.19, 2010, under General
“Inclinometro Elux Panerai” – Inclinometer for tanks, measuring degrees (+/- 30) by an enclosed black ball infront of an electroluminescent panel (case size 14,5 x 5,5 cm). See small detail images: daylight (zero level), nightview (1 degree left).
A 3 digit matriculation number is placed on the backside of the power unit. Produced in 1971. Brevetto 846567 (october 1968).
3646 / Type C watch on auction
by autor on Apr.17, 2010, under Watch Point
A very interesting 3646 / Type C watch will be auctioned soon at Auktionen Dr. H. Crott (LOT 379). It’s matching in all details with our database, where it is listed since august 2009. In this condition, such Panerai watches are quite rare to find in these days. It comes even with an original leather strap, which is absolutely hard to find, as most of the original straps were cut off after long time of use, because the lugs on 3646 watches are welded to the case (which caused the straps to be sewn onto the lugs / not interchangeable like on Ref. 615X watches ).
Our database entry (click above) shows the following detials: Inner caseback signed 1010288. Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement. Dial signed “Radiomir Panerai” with redish aged numbers and markers. Steel hands. Onion shaped “Brevet+” crown.
We hope it will find a good new home!
Photo series “Vintage Panerai instrument of the week”
by autor on Apr.13, 2010, under General
Backside view of a Panerai Elettrosegnalatore GPF 2/52 Brevetto IT. N° 1738/53.
Beside other versions (some with remote control), this type can be controlled by the operator with both hands. A turning wheel to fade light in and out (inserire / disinserire) is placed in the center of the backside. A crosshair sight is placed on the top.
This instrument was stored and transported in a wooden box (visible in the background).
Photo credits to Assaf Burstein from Israel
“Connections”
by autor on Apr.09, 2010, under General
Regarding the Panerai “Trittico” (a set of diving tools for the wrist: watch, compass and depth gauge) – the diver didn’t necessarily wear all three instruments at once when working as a team.
The actual diving was done in pairs where the divers swam one above the other. The top diver had a watch and a compass and was the “navigator”, while the bottom one had a watch and a depth gauge and was the “controller”.
These divers were connected by a cord in order to maintain a close distance. Also this was important to stay together during night missions in darkness or because of a strong stream.
These cords were connected to the divers by means of a leather strap. In the pics are 2 types of cords, the short one is about 2.5 meters long and the long one is 5.0 meters.
Photo credits to Assaf Burstein from Israel
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