Nice detail view of a Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement, working accurate in a 6152/1 “Luminor Panerai” watch.

The characteristic features of the Type 4 movement are:
17 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection
(balance cock engraved with a “plus-minus scale”)
16 Lines, power reserve approx. 36 hours.
18.000 half-oscillations per hour.

You can read and see more about the different versions of Rolex Cal. 618 movements in Panerai watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

Used in the minority of Ref. 6152/1 watches, the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 3 movement comes with 15 jewels and the Incabloc shock protection. It was another development to improve the quality of the movements, after earlier Ref. 6152 watches held 15 jewel movements without the Incabloc feature. The escapement bridge is similar like on Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 2 movements, typical for movements powered with 15 jewels.

Compared to the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement, which is used in most of the 6152/1 watches, the engravings on the movement bridges show clear differences. The “ROLEX” and “FAB. SUISSE” engravings changed their positions. The “SWISS MADE” engraving and the engravings of the jewels used (“15 RUBIS” on Type 3 / “17 RUBIS” on Type 4) changed positions as well.

You can read and see more about the different versions of Rolex Cal. 618 movements in Panerai watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

Used in Ref. 3646 watches from Type A to Type G, the Rolex Cal. 618 movement comes without Incabloc shock protection. Typical for the non-incabloc version is the serif font for the letters A-R (French) and F-S (English) engraved on the regulation device (later versions show “+/-” symbols – see also Type 4).

The central bridge shows the “ROLEX 17 RUBIS” engraving on the left side. This engraving is used only in Ref. 3646 watches from Type A to Type D, as the Ref. 3646 watches from Type E to Type G bear “17 RUBIS FAB. SUISSE”.

You can read and see more about the different versions of Rolex Cal. 618 movements in Panerai watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

Interesting detail of the Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 and Type 3 movements: the small Cortebert symbol, engraved on the movement base under the balance cock. Both types of Rolex movements were used in Ref. 6152/1 watches (Type 3 = 15 Rubis version, Type 4 = 17 Rubis version).

The illustration left shows a Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 where the position of the “Cort” engraving can be found.

You can read and see more about the different versions of Rolex Cal. 618 movements in Panerai watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

Movement view of two Ref. 6152/1 watches: Rolex Cal. 618 / Type 4 movement (17 Rubis and Incabloc shock protection) and the Angelus Cal. 240 SF (15 Rubis and Incabloc shock protection, signed “JUIN .61”) on the right.

Both watches have the legendary crown protecting device. The device of the watch with Rolex movement (124806) is signed “BREV. ITAL” and “9”, while the watch with Angelus movement (124784) is signed only with “3”.

Interesting to see, that the watch with Rolex movement has different hands (double pencil shape) compared to the watch with Angelus movement, which usually comes with single pencil shaped hands. Note also, that the size of the “Luminor Panerai” is different (smaller on dials with Angelus movement).

You can read and see more about the watch 124784 in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”, chapter VI.III (page 312-329).

One of the unreleased photos from our 2nd shooting in 2009, showing two Luminor Trittico sets. Similar photos have been used for the first and last inside pages of our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References” in darkness and daylight conditions. 

Two Luminor compasses, two Luminor depth gauges (15 and 16 meters), a 6152/1 “Luminor Panerai” watch with Rolex Type 4 movement (cal. 618 Cortebert, 17 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection) and a 6152/1 “Luminor Panerai” watch with Angelus 240 SF movement (signed june 1961, 15 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection).

Movement view of two vintage Panerai watches: Rolex inside…! 
The differences in decoration and engraving of the bridges are clearly visible on Rolex Cal. 618 Type 1 and Type 4 movements.

During our research work we created for a better understanding a subdivision of 4 movement types, which is an important feature of our database of today’s existing vintage Panerai watches. Basically they are all Cal. 618, but they show differences in many details.

Beside the engravings and different decoration, the main identifying features are:
Type 1 = 17 Rubis, no Incabloc (used in Ref. 3646 Type A – G and in Ref. 6154)
Type 2 = 15 Rubis, no Incabloc (used in Ref. 6152)
Type 3 = 15 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection (used in Ref. 6152/1)
Type 4 = 17 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection (used in Ref. 6152/1)

Left watch: Ref. 3646 / Type D
Rolex Calibre 618 Cortebert Type 1.
16 Lines, power reserve approx. 36 hours, 18.000 half-oscillations per hour.
17 Rubis, no Incabloc.

Right watch: Ref. 6152/1
Rolex Calibre 618 Cortebert Type 4.
16 Lines, power reserve approx. 36 hours, 18.000 half-oscillations per hour.
17 Rubis, Incabloc shock protection.

You can read and see more about the different versions of Rolex Cal. 618 movements in Panerai watches in our 2nd book “Vintage Panerai – The References”.

It happens rarely, and probably only in Italy, that you can spot a Vintage Panerai on a wrist “in the wild”. So it was when we visited the Museo Technico Navale (“Arsenale”) in La Spezia during the X Meeting Club Panerai.

Our museum guide was wearing a stunning Ref. 6152/1 with “Marina Militare” dial, Rolex movement, double pencil hands (sharp heads). The caseback bears a rare S.M.Z M.M. matriculation number. Fantastic piece – one more for our database!

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.