1825 - Giovanni Panerai born in Florence, capital city of Tuscany (and briefly capital city of the new Kingdom of Italy).
1850 - Giovanni Panerai opened a small watchmaker’s: G.PANERAI & Co on le Ponte alle Grazie (Pont des Grâces).
1860 Giovanni Panerai (1825-1897), founded the family business and opens the first watchmakers shop in Florence on the Ponte alle Grazie and establishes contact with the most prestigious and longest established Swiss watch manufacturers.
1876 - Settled at 3, Place San Giovanni, in the Palais de l’Archevêché, after several changes of address (Rue Cavour, Rue Cimatori, Cours Volta, Rue Bixo, Rue Aminci, and Place Galiléo Ferraris). Léon Francesco Panerai(1851-1918) succeeded his father, and wed Giustina Toricelli (1853-1916). Their marriage produced four children: Guido, Emma, Dario and Pilade.
1890 - 1900, Guido Panerai (1873-1934), grandson of the founder, expands his grandfather\\\'s business and gives it new impetus, specializing in high precision mechanisms and becoming official supplier to the Royal Italian Navy. At the turn of the century, the shop moves to the Piazza San Giovanni site in Florence, where the Panerai boutique can be found today, and the Orologeria Svizzera name, still visible today, appears on the shop door to underline the close link between the watches and their Swiss origin. In this period, the first deliveries of precision optical and mechanical instruments are made to the Ministry of Defence.
1907 - The family business wasn’t just a watch sales outlet, it was also a large store of spare parts, accessories and tools for precision mechanisms. An adjoining workshop dealt with repairs and the assembly of watch parts that arrived from Switzerland, and was also the first School of Horology in Florence. The 1907 edition of the PANERAI catalogue, with a print run of 50,000 copies, was the biggest watchmaking catalogue in the world. It presented every model the Swiss watch industry produced, from the most modestly priced to the most expensive. PANERAI became a representative of ROLEX, VACHERON & CONSTANTIN, LONGINES, ANGELUS, BUREN, MOVADO and PATEK PHILIPPE.
1910 - The first experiments with luminous materials begin and a system is developed to make instrument dials and sighting and telescopic devices luminous. The luminescence is achieved using a mix of zinc sulphide and radium bromide given later the name Radiomir. Inserted into tiny glass tubes to increase its resistance over time, this mix was the subject of patent applications by Guido Panerai in Italy and other countries.
1914 - Guido Panerai joined forces with Carlo Ronconi, a relative and naval officer, to work on RADIOMIR objectives.
1915 - PANERAI patented this innovation and it enabled them to deliver thousands of rifle, cannon and torpedo objectives.
1917 - Carlo Ronconi ceded his share to Guido Panerai who decided to use the RADIOMIR procedure to produce dials, altimeters, compasses and tachymeters. New patents were taken out in Italy, France, England and the United States. A close collaboration then developed between PANERAI and the Italian Navy.
1918 - The Royal Italian Navy employs the precision instruments supplied by Panerai during the First World War. The products delivered include luminous devices for sighting naval guns at night, timing mechanisms, depth gauges and mechanical calculators to launch torpedoes from MAS, high speed motor torpedo boats. Death of Léon Francesco Panerai. His son Guido (1873-1934) took over and further developed the business created by his grandfather Giovanni; he wed Guglielmina Fracei and they had two children Giuseppe and Maria.
1920 - Guido and Giuseppe Panerai designed a new model of chronograph: le MARE NOSTRUM.
1934 - Guido Panerai children, Giuseppe and Maria, continue developing their fathers business. Maria is mainly concerned with running the Orologeria Svizzera shop, while Giuseppe devotes himself almost entirely to the companys business of supplying underwater instruments, torches, wrist compasses and wrist depth gauges to the Royal Italian Navy. He can take credit for the creation of the famous Radiomir and Luminor watches.
1936 - Following disappointing tests carried out on the watches available at that time, the Royal Italian Navy asks Panerai to develop a watch able to withstand the extreme conditions it will be subjected to. A Radiomir prototype is submitted to the Command of the First Submarine Group and the watch passed all the tests with flying colours.
1938 - Production of Radiomir watches begins for the Italian Navy, with a large (47 mm in diameter) cushion-shaped case, wire loop strap attachments welded to the case, screw-down crown, luminous dial easy to read under water in the dark, and a hand-wound mechanical movement supplied by Rolex. The wide strap was made of oiled and punched leather, and with its extra long length it could be worn over the diving suit.
1942 - Appearance of the exclusive winding crown lever system, known as the Déclic, which enabled diving to a depth of 200M, an absolute record for the time.
1943 - Officine Panerai presents the prototype of the first Panerai chronograph, the Mare Nostrum, designed for deck officers. Due to events in the war, the Mare Nostrum never went into production but remained at the prototype stage. The device protecting the winding crown was fitted to the Radiomir watch to keep the crown in position. This device will enable the watches to descend to a depth of 200 meters, a remarkable achievement for the time.
1949 - The patent is granted for Luminor, the luminous substance based on tritium, which replaced the previous Radiomir mix developed between 1910 and 1915. The Radiomir and Luminor watch take their names from these two luminous substances.
1950 - 50 special models supplied to Egyptian navy.
1956 - On the request of the Egyptian Navy, Panerai creates a large Radiomir watch with an Angelus movement with 8-day power reserve and 5-minute intervals to calculate immersion times. For other Mediterranean Navies, Panerai makes limited production runs of approximately thirty pieces each. In the same year the patent is granted in Italy for the device protecting the winding crown, which clamps it in position and ensures the water-resistance of the watch. This device will be patented in the U.S.A. in 1960.
1972 - On the death of Giuseppe Panerai, the running of the Florentine company is handed over to the engineer Dino Zei and the family firm becomes Officine Panerai s.r.l. The close collaboration with the Italian Navy continues in the supply of watches, instruments and sophisticated devices for its men.
1980 - A watch is designed capable of withstanding a pressure equivalent to a depth of 1000 meters. The only prototype built has a titanium case, an automatic mechanical movement, a rubber strap and a luminous dial achieved by using tiny phials of tritium on the dial face and on the hands.
1993 - Officine Panerai creates a numbered series in a limited edition of models aimed at the civilian market: Luminor 44mm, Luminor Marina and an edition of the Mare Nostrum chronograph.
1995 - A special edition of watches called Slytech is created. Sly is the nickname of actor Sylvester Stallone, a great admirer of the watch, who had requested a special edition called Submersible to use during the shooting of the movie Daylight. Subsequently, Stallone requested an edition with a white dial, named Daylight, and a personalized re-edition of the Mare Nostrum. All of these watches bear the actors signature engraved on the back.
1997 - The Vendôme Group, now RICHEMONT, takes over Officine Panerai and the companys range of watches, compasses, torches and depth gauges. New productions are started up, with a significant improvement in quality, and the official watch of Italian Navy commandos takes on an international dimension following a worldwide launch.
1998 - The first Panerai watches with automatic mechanical movements are presented to an international public: the Luminor Submersible professional divers watch; the Luminor GMT with a second time zone indication and the Luminor Power Reserve with a function of high quality watch making which enables the power reserve to be read. LUMINOR Base and LUMINOR Marina introduced at the Geneva Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie.
1999 - At the International Salon of Haute Horologerie in Geneva, Panerai presents a new range of Contemporary watches based on important innovative features: a smaller case, 40 mm in diameter; a Panerai Luminor fitted with a metal bracelet; the use of the chronograph function and an exclusively designed Luminor chronograph case, in which the push-pieces are integrated into the device protecting the crown in total respect of the aesthetic of the historic watch; the use of a titanium-steel combination for the case parts and the links of the bracelet of the Panerai Luminor Chrono.
2000 - Panerai creates the Luminor Submersible 1000 meters; a professional diver's instrument designed according to the NIHS (Normes de lIndustrie Horlogère Suisse) specifications relating to divers watches and able to withstand a depth of 1000 meters. Equipped with a helium valve necessary for decompression, the sapphire crystal has a thickness of 5.1 mm and the steel back is 3 mm thick.
2001 - The Panerai Boutique is inaugurated, following restyling, at the historical site in Piazza San Giovanni in Florence, following the purchase of the family boutique by Officine Panerai. This Bottega dArte represents a meeting point for enthusiasts and collectors of the brand who can find here, in addition to the current collection, special editions and production runs which Panerai reserves exclusively for its boutiques. The shop also plays host to the Panerai Historical Archive, a selection of historical items created by the Florentine company: watches, compasses, depth gauges, torches and horology instruments.
2002 - The first Panerai boutique in Asia opens in the Princes Building in Hong Kong. Officine Panerai opens the Manufacture in Neuchâtel, where all activities relating to the development and production of watches are based. At Neuchâtel in Switzerland, the firm inaugurated the MANUFACTURE PANERAI and launched the Luminor automatic 44mm.
2003 - The Panerai Boutique in Portofino is opened in the charming Piazzetta in this well-known Italian seaside resort. New ideas come to life. Launch of the 1950 (a limited edition of 1,950 examples), a replica of the original 47mm LUMINOR model; the TANTALIUM (limited edition of 300), with 44mm case produced in tantalum, a metal that is extremely resistant difficult to work with; the LUMINOR MARINA PVD 195 (limited edition of 200); and the 44mm CHRONO LUMINOR.
2004 - The Radiomir collection is enhanced by the 8 Days model. This is a return to the past, with the re-presentation in a modern key of a mechanism, which Officine Panerai has already experimented with, the hand-wound 8-day movement. The calibre used in the 1940s was the Angelus, while the new model has a Jaeger-LeCoultre base. The case is 45 millimetres in diameter and is fitted with the patented slim wire loop strap attachments and a round caseband, while the screwed back and crown ensure water-resistance to 100 meters.
2005 -Presented the first Panerai in-house movement: the calibre P.2002 This is a hand-wound mechanical movement of the latest technical conception with 8 days power reserve. It consists of 245 components (191 of them different) and the massive power reserve has been incorporated into a device of completely new design consisting of three spring barrels and a free balance spring oscillating at the frequency of 4 Hz, corresponding to 28,800 alternations/hour. The horizontal power reserve indicator is located at 6 o clock. The P. 2002 calibre also features the GMT home time function with local time indicator over 12 hours and a.m. - p.m. indicator, hours, minutes, seconds and date. The system for setting the time uses the second reset device, which stops the balance and aligns the second hand automatically in the zero position when the crown is pulled out, providing an extremely accurate way of synchronising the watch with the reference time signal. The development of this movement took four years due to its technical complexity.
2006 - Presented at the SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) in Geneva the new 2006 Panerai and Ferrari collections.The manufacturing future of Panerai, inaugurated in 2005 with the Calibre P.2002 and the Radiomir 8 Days GMT is confirmed with the introduction of the Manifattura Collection, a family of watches which exclusively uses 100% made in Panerai movements. This collection respects the Panerai standards: robustness, high technical quality and a unique, distinctive aesthetic impact. Presented as well the new watch collection engineered for Ferrari. The appearance of the Ferrari watches is strongly influenced by the aesthetic lines of the cars, in a continuous cross-reference between the watch and the details of the engine and bodywork. There are two collections: Granturismo and Scuderia.
2007 - Exactly ten years after the successful launch of the brand, and following the P.2002 calibre of 2005, Panerai is proud to announce three more calibres (P.2003, P.2004, P.2005) completely designed, engineered and produced by the Panerai Manufacture, which are destined to power the brand’s creations of the future.
2008 - The importance of the Manifattura Collection grows and new models with movements produced entirely by Panerai are introduced. Openings of new Panerai Boutiques in Asia, Japan, USA and Europe.
2009 - Launch of the new P.9000 movements within the Manifattura Collection.
