Another visit at auctioneer Dr. Crott brought us another new database entry for the Reference 3646 / Type D. The yet unknown watch with the case number 260753 will be up for auction in may, bearing the typical features of the number group 260408 – 260838, representing the Reference 3646 / Type D.

Until today we have recorded sixty existing specimen of this type of 3646 watches in our database, which is one of the larger groups inbetween known watches of Type A to Type G. Only a few number of watches comes with a flat brass dial, easy to identify by the closed “6” and “9” which are not cut thru the upper disk (like the sandwich dial construction is done) but embossed from top onto the brass dial, painted black and filled up with luminous material. Both, blued steel hands and brass dial have still the complete luminous material today (see earlier posting on this watch).

The Rolex SA 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 flat version of the bezel, typical on watches with brass dials or the “California Dial” versions. The bezel carries the original Plexiglas, which is today still in good condition. The “neck” of the cushion shaped stainless steel 47 mm case is still existing, on which an onion shaped “Brevet +” crown (Type 11) is screwed down.

The case has not been polished over the last decades and appears today – after 70 years – with a nice patina on case, bezel and caseback.

Especially the individual engraving on the caseback makes it a remarkable watch to us. Done in the typical tatooing machine style, which can be found occasionally on similar 3646 watches used by german frogmen, the surrounding text Marine Kampfschwimmer (navy frogmen), the first owners’ initials (HV) and the year of service (1944) are giving this watch the grade of being a real tool watch in the 2nd world war.

Also the watch comes with the old leather strap, hand stitched and sewn onto the lugs of the case with the rare cromed brass buckle, which has been bent down for comfortable wear, which we have seen on some other Ref. 3646 watches before. The strap has two fixed (sewn on) keepers.

A similar watch is featured in our book “History1”.

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 Vintage Panerai watches keep on surfacing. Just in these days, another Ref. 3646 / Type D “Kampfschwimmer” with rare brass dial and engraved caseback bearing the initials of the first owner and the year of his service as frogmen (1944), came to our attention. We received an invitation for a “first look” from auctioneer Dr. Crott, who received this watch for their upcoming 89th auction on may, 10th 2014, from the family of the former german frogmen veteran.

Great to see another yet unknown Vintage Panerai watch is matching our database criteria in all its details.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type D
Dial: “Kampfschwimmer”  (painted brass, anonymous)
Case number: 260753
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1

A detailled report on the details of the watch, such as movement, engraved caseback and historic strap and buckle will be follow up here soon. Stay tuned!
[Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

Almost nine months after we introduced here in our blog the Ref. 3646 / Type D watch when it surfaced in former Yugoslavia by the family of the 2nd owner, the new owner who auctioned the watch in may 2013 at Dr. Crott, contacted us to give us an update about its actual conditions.

The conditions of the watch before the auction and Information provided by the previous owner have been published earlier and can be compared here. Especially the untypical replacement dial from a VDO cockpit clock caught our attention earlier this year.

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 the 2nd world war in northern Italy. Just as some of the Panerai watches changed ownership with west allied forces (where they keep surfacing rarely in these days as well, see our introduction of another 3646 / Type D watch here) it has happened in eastern Europe too. In chapter VI of our book “History2” (page 630) a surviving veteran confirmed by his very own story, where the route of his long march into captivity ended: in a POW camp in Yugoslavia.

It is great to see that the new owners’ trusted watchmaker has been able to bring back shine and functionality to the movement, which is now again working with a power reserve of around 36 hours. The new owner named his watch “The Red Star” to reflect its long term use by a Senior Officer in the Yugoslavian Army after the 2nd world war.

The result of the watchmaker’s restoration work shows that it is possible to inhail life in a nearly 70 year old watch which surely did not caught all neccessary services in the past decades. Also it is nice that the patina on the case still exist and the case appears not polished by demand of the new owner to keep the age of the watch visible. The restoration work included the replacing of the VDO dial with a flat dial reconstruction (with closed “6” and “9” digits) matching with the flat bezel, the cleaning of the hands and installing of a new seal and crown tube.

Thanks to the new owner for the update on his Ref. 3646 / Type D aka “The Red Star”
[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.

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]

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.

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).

In the upcoming 86th auction at Dr. Crott (november 10th, 2012) another Ref. 3646 watch will probably find a new owner. The other Vintage Panerai of the same auction, a Ref. 3646 / Type C watch has been introduced here already in june.

The watch is in our database since 2008. It bears the typical features of a Ref. 3646 / Type D: case number 260641, Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1 movement and the anonymous “Kampfschwimmer” sandwich dial. Case, caseback and plexi are not polished and have a lot patina. The watch comes with the original onion shaped crown. Due to the strong corrosion of the steel hands (visible on the original minute hand), the hour hand must have been replaced with another type of hands (squelette), probably from a cockpit watch or desktop / alarm clock.

The new owner will have the choice to keep the watch as it is now or try to find a NOS steel hand, which is hard to find in these days – but not impossible… Interesting detail is also the old leather strap, which is sewn onto the wired loops: the buckle end is mounted at 6’o’clock – not as usually at 12’o’clock. Reason could be that the user / owner of this watch was a lefty.

Features of the watch:
Reference: 3646 / Type D
Dial: “Kampfschwimmer”  (sandwich, engraved)
Case number: 260641
Movement: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 1

A good and careful service is recommended to bring back the power into the watch. The movement shows dust and aged surfaces on bridges and wheels, which is typical for a watch that hasn’t been used for a long time. We know that this watch was on display in a german museum at the baltic sea (Rügen island).