Another Vintage Panerai instrument is up for sale at Artcurial’s “Panerai only” auction in Paris. LOT 54 presents a “Luminor Panerai” depth gauge, aimed to 40 meters. The dial of this depht gauge, made in the same “sandwich style” as dials for watches, shows markers of 2.5 meter steps up to 40 meters (maximum depth). The meter hand is made of transparent Plexiglas, which has a chamber in its tip, holding the luminous material to point out the actual depth. 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 (using Radiomir or Luminor luminous material) can be found here.

Click on the link to see the video of a pressure test on a “Luminor Panerai” 16 meter depth gauge: Vintage_Panerai_Depth_Gauge. Click on the link to see the pressure release – “the surfacing” in this video: Vintage_Panerai_depth_gauge_surfacing

[Photo with kindly permission / courtesy of www.artcurial.com]

Beside watches from the Vintage, Pre-Vendome and Richemont era, some historical tools and instruments from Officine Panerai will be auctioned by Artcurial in Paris on monday, december 8th. A rare example of a Vintage Panerai depth gauge, aimed to 50 meters, with Radiomir dial and the typical white hand (depht gauges with Luminor come with a transparent hand), is listed as LOT 18 at “Panerai only” (Artcurial sale #2527).

The stainless steel case is matte grey coated, sized 70 x 90 mm. Historical Panerai instruments (screwed lugs) use the same 26 mm leather straps as those who were mounted on watches, treated for seawater use. The length of the strap was long enough to wear the depth gauge over the diving suit. The underside of the instrument is ergonomically shaped and has a brushed surface. It is fixed with 6 screws onto the upper part of the case, same as compasses are constructed. The huge dome (different versions between 24 mm and 27 mm exists) is made of Plexiglas.

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. The dial of this depht gauge has markers of 2.5 meter steps from surface to 20 meters, and 5 meter steps from 20 to 50 meters (maximum depth).

An overview of seven different aimed depth gauges (using Radiomir or Luminor luminous material) can be found here.

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

Still working… a vintage “Luminor Panerai” depht gauge, calibrated for 16 meters, has been tested successfully for its functionality inside a pressure chamber. Due to the limited space, the GPF strap has been removed before the instrument was placed in the center of the pressure chamber.

The membrane on the bottom of the 70 x 90 mm case worked instantly after pressure was added. Interesting to note that the Panerai instrument is working properly since it was used for the last time underwater decades ago.

Click on the link to see the video of the pressure test: Vintage_Panerai_Depth_Gauge.

Click on the link to see the pressure release – “the surfacing” in this video: Vintage_Panerai_depth_gauge_surfacing

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.

A local Panerai AD in Hesse state’s capital city Wiesbaden, Juwelier Stoess (www.stoess.eu), is having a special Panerai exhibition for two weeks (february 25th to march 10th) with a completely “Panerai corporate designed shop window” which is getting a lot attraction in Wiesbaden’s famous shopping area Wilhelmsstrasse – close to the well known Kurhaus / Casino.

There are special and rare Panerai models in the display, also some Vintage Panerai instruments are placed. Beside a battery powered light gun, a so called Elettrosegnalatore GPF 1/58, two parts of Arillo’s “Trittico” in their wooden storage box are in the spot: a Luminor depth gauge (16 meters) and a Luminor compass.

A late version of a 16 meter depth gauge made by Panerai. The diameter of the case is 70 mm with a height of 45 mm. The lower part of the case is made of black plastic, the upper part is made of black rubber.

Tried to catch some interesting details and design elements of the case of a Luminor depth gauge, which is aimed to 16 meters. On the backside of the depth gauge is a matriculation number engraved (“Matr. No 189”). The membrane (diameter: 23 mm) is placed in the center of the case, surrounded by the company signatures “Officine Panerai · Firenze”. Some types of instruments bear a Panerai reference number (e.g. “Mod. GPF 4/55”, as engraved on a compass caseback) instead of a matriculation number. Other types are totally unsigned without any engravings on their casebacks – a variety of different decorations exists. Some of these unsigned cases bear a matriculation number on the leather strap (hand written).

The stainless steel case is matte grey coated, sized 70 x 90 mm. The instruments use the same 26 mm leather straps as those who were mounted on watches (screwed lugs), specially treated for seawater use. The length of the strap meant that the swimmer was able to wear the gauge over his diving suit. The underside of the instrument is ergonomically shaped and has a brushed surface. It is fixed with 6 screws onto the upper part of the case, same as compasses are constructed. The huge dome (26,5 mm) is made of Plexiglas. The depth gauge has a total height of 43 mm with a weight of nearly 400 gramms.

The meter hand 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. You can see a group of  Radiomir and Luminor depth gauges 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.

More informations about this Panerai instrument can be found in chapter III of our 1st book “Vintage Panerai – Watches with History”.

An interesting “Trittico” (= wristwatch, compass and depth gauge) is up for auction at Christies in their november sale 1383 (LOT 27). 

A rare GPF 2/56 “Big Egiziano” with “Radiomir Panerai” dial, a compass and a depth gauge will hopefully find a good new home on november 14th in Geneva/Switzerland.

Features of the watch:
Reference: GPF 2/56
Dial: “Radiomir Panerai” (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 018
Movement: Angelus Cal. 240 SF (8 days)

The watch is a close “brother” of the “Big Egiziano” with the case number 012, published in our book “Vintage Panerai – The References” and shows identical features, especially the signed date “12.55” on the movement plate. The balance cock bears the “SF 240” sign (Stolz Frères Cal. 240), which can be found on the earlier versions of the Angelus movement (1955 – signed “12.55”), while the movements dated in the 1960’s (e.g. “MAI.61” or “JUIN.61”) have a “+/-” on the balance cock in the majority, from what we were able to find out by comparing with our database.

All three items of the “Trittico” are signed “OFFICINE PANERAI FIRENZE” on their casebacks. Each item has the complete number of original screws (6 each). All of them appear with their original leather strap and buckle.

The depth gauge is aimed 60 meters and bears the “Radiomir Panerai” sign on the lower part of the dial. All items show signs of use, the dial of the GPF 2/56 has faded into brown “tropic” color.

You can read more about the Ref. GPF 2/56 in our book “Vintage Panerai – The References”, chapter V, pages 256-283.

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

A load of Vintage Panerai instruments with “Luminor” and “Radiomir” substance; 10 depth gauges aimed for various depths and 13 compasses produced from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Especially rare are the two small compasses, which have been used in World War 2 (left corner of the photo) by german and italian frogmen. Further details about these two rare instruments can be found here [Italian frogmen’s compass] and [German frogmen’s compass].

[photo by Ralf Ehlers]

A set of vintage “Luminor Panerai” instruments – the so called “Trittico”: compass, Ref. 6152/1 wrist watch and 16 m depth gauge. The depth gauge is calibrated to 16 meters. There exist other versions for various depths, depending on their use (attack or defense; calibrations from 7 to 60 meters are known today). Both instruments, the compass and the depth gauge, have a case size of 70 x 90 mm. The compass rose is divided into 22.5° sections, commonly used in seafaring circles.