Jamie Weiss
Panerai is not, for better or worse, a watchmaker who is immediately associated with Haute Horlogerie. In fact, part of Panerai’s appeal is its consistent, robust tool watch design, which has not effectively changed the essential shape of the illuminator and radiomir since the 1940s.
However, Panerai is certainly a brand that can produce high-quality watches, with the Neuchâtel-based research and development department responsible for a huge number of technical watches. Some technical highlights in recent years include last year’s dive Elux Lab-ID, the 2018 luminor Tourbillon Moon Phases of Time GMT, a watch that can emit mechanical light without using dynamos (an epic achievement).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvtjgmhnmhe
With this year’s Geneva watch and wonder, Panerai split his focus on repetition of the Haute Hollogarie and its classics. The headline news is the latest news from the Luminor Marina Range, pushing the already-enabled diving watch to a 500-meter water resistance rating. However, Panerai also announced a very elevated take on the illuminator in the form of the sapphire-covered lighting fixture perpetual calendar GMT Platinum Tech ref. PAM01575. Both were explored by our own Andrew McCutchen alongside Panerai CMO Alessandro Ficarelli at the Italian brand aquatic-themed watch and Wonders booth.
This complex illuminator is a movement of both maximalism and minimalism. Lighting devices cannot be accused of being a subtle clock. It is a thick diver with a walled cushion-shaped shape and its distinctive oversized crown protection device. This particular ref. The PAM01575 measures at 44mm and is made from Panerai’s distinctive Platinumtech alloy, giving serious weight to the wrist. Its sapphire crystal dial is visually appealing, but visually complex. The day and date wheels visible under the blue-covered sapphire are like a school of fish swimming just below the surface of the clock.
However, Panerai is also proud of how he ran this intricate watch. To organize the dial, the display of the Permanent Calendar Motion Month, Year, and Jump Year on P.4100 is on the back and can be seen through the display caseback next to the center micro rotor. Turning it over, you will notice that the GMT hand’s 24-hour indicator, subtly built into the 9 o’clock small second indicator, avoids the need for a 24-hour bezel or chapter ring.
From the dial side, it is not immediately clear that this is a luxury watch, despite this suggesting a high-level surveillance and luxurious case material. Also, there is no external pusher that provides additional functionality. This is a technical achievement in itself. The entire permanent calendar, GMT hand, and regular timekeeping can all be set via the crown. You can adjust it back and forth at any time, until midnight or the end of the year.
Also, the alligator leather strap, a 50-meter water resistance rating, a platinum body, and an array of complications prevent swimming with objects (despite holding the luminor diving watch foam and crown guard), but you can actually do so. You can actually trust that a rating of 62.5m, or rather, this Platinum Tech and shallow swimming won’t ruin it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skwydokws9a
Announcing the fair, which has been slightly advanced under the radar, Panerai’s other major development is Jupiter, Jupiter, a huge planetarium watch that greatly emphasizes Panerai’s increasingly mature watchmaking capabilities. At 75 cm wide, 86 cm high and weighing about 110 kg, this strange clock is an interesting mix of old-fashioned new schools to portray Galileo Galilei’s understanding of the solar system in 1610.
Are you confused? I was like that too. First at the Lab Atrio Dide in Panerai, and again at the Panerai watch and incredible booth in Geneva, I had the opportunity to see Jupiter for myself. Rather than a typical planetarium, the earth is placed in the center of the celestial sphere. Galileo believes that Earth is the center of the universe, not because he believes that Jupiter has a moon that is in orbit accurately to challenge 17th-century geocentricism.
The Earth at the heart of Jupiter (which makes Italy stand out – has a bit of patriotism) has the Sun, Moon and Jupiter, and its four median stars. These trajectories lead to trajectories that lead to the permanent calendar of single-line displays. The fully mechanical movement of Jupiter has eight barrels, giving it a 40-day power reserve.
Like the luminor perpetual Calendar GMT Platinumtech, Jupiter is a contrasting motion. Such an automata is truly old school, and the Galilla astronomical model it portrays is completely unprecedented, but it is really implemented in a modern way. Unlike other automatas presented in clocks and wonders, such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Jupiter is sparsely made primarily from titanium. Rather than gems or gems, the planet is made from Super Luminova balls, with its details and the vaulted ceilings depicted using Joshua Vides or Tom Saxophone-esque doodle aesthetics. It’s a bewildered piece of art of very high watches…but I’m pleased that it exists, and it shows that Panerai is far more than just a (luxurious) tool watch brand.
