Officine Panerai presents the new Iphone Application

If you love Panerai watches, then you’re going to love the new tool you can use to access the world of your favourite watches wherever you are: the new application created by Officine Panerai for iPhone is now available.

This application offers a wide range of images and information about the latest collection of Panerai watches and up-to-the-minute news and it will be regularly updated so customers and fans of the brand can keep up with what’s happening. New content will be available on a monthly basis, with comprehensive focuses on products and initiatives that Officine Panerai is promoting round the world.

The Panerai application for iPhone is a handy tool to easily locate the Panerai boutiques nearest to you and get in touch with them directly; and it even lets you download Wallpapers or have fun with the amusing games to test your knowledge of the Panerai watches.

The application is available in Italian and English and is iOS 4.0 tested. You can download it at no cost from iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panerai/id379888363?mt=8

Officine Panerai opens boutique in Riyadh

Officine Panerai's expansion in the Arabian Peninsula continues. Following the recent openings in Dubai and Doha, the Italian fine watch brand inaugurates its first boutique in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, the country's cultural, financial and institutional centre.

The new Officine Panerai boutique in Riyadh is opened in partnership with Platinum Sands, a company in the Ali Bin Ali Group, the Qatar-based group specializing in the luxury, real estate, travel and hotels sectors.

The Officine Panerai collections of fine watches are housed in a 100-square-metre space where teak wood and steel, porthole-shaped windows and elegant wavy lines recreate an environment evoking the history of the brand, a traditional supplier of highly specialized, precision instruments to the Italian Navy and today sponsor of some of the world's most prestigious regattas for vintage boats, brought together in the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge circuit.

The Officine Panerai boutique in Riyadh is situated inside the C - Center, on the intersection between Olaya and Tahliya Street, the two main shopping streets for luxury goods in the Saudi capital. At the same intersection, directly opposite the C - Center, is the Centria Mall, the shopping centre in the shape of a majestic sailing boat, which houses an exclusive selection of boutiques featuring some of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world.

In Riyadh, the most exclusive shopping experience stands alongside the opportunity to live the fascinating atmospheres of a metropolitan oasis in the heart of the desert, rich in history and with a sophisticated, varied art heritage ranging from the ancient to the ultra-modern, and which has in its two iconic city towers - the Kingdom Tower and the Faisaliah Tower - its symbol.

The Officine Panerai boutique in Riyadh is the first in Saudi Arabia and the sixteenth in the world after Florence and Portofino, Geneva and Madrid, Beirut, Doha and Dubai, Los Angeles, New York and Buenos Aires, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Luminor for Paneristi's Anniversary

Ten years have gone by since the launch of the website www.paneristi.com and in that time, the Panerai watch enthusiasts who exchange information, comments and stories on the site forum have grown from just a few dozen to several thousand from all over the world. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this story of extraordinary passion, Officine Panerai presents a new Special Edition watch dedicated to the “Paneristi” and made at their request - the Luminor for Paneristi’s Anniversary.

The new Luminor for Paneristi’s Anniversary, designed by Officine Panerai and bearing in mind the guidelines and preferences expressed by the community of “Paneristi”, comes with a 44 mm Luminor case, distinguished by the classic crown-protecting bridge device, making the watch water resistant up to 30 atmospheres (approximately 300 m in depth).

The case, bezel, bridge and crown are coated in DLC, as is the buckle that closes the strap in antiqued leather. The watch is personalised by the steel caseback, which bears the engraved inscription Paneristi.com, and Tenth Anniversary.

Standing out on the black dial are the classic numerals and large index markers so typical of Panerai, made in a special ecru SuperLumiNova® - which also coats the hands – adding to the watch’s vintage look. “Luminor Panerai” and the OP logo are engraved in white. The movement of the Luminor Logo DLC - 44mm is the hand-wound OP I calibre.

The Luminor for Paneristi’s Anniversary was launched on the Paneristi forum on 1st July 2010 and the same medium was used to provide instructions for ordering the watch. The 300 pieces produced sold out in the few minutes following the publication of the relative post.

Panerai PAM320 Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days GMT

Another watch introduced by Officine Panerai at the 2009 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) is the Panerai PAM320. The watch shares the looks of the new PAM312, but it is powered by the new Panerai P.9001 in-house (Manifattura) movement. Like the P.9000, this is an automatic movement with a power reserve of three days, but the P.9001 has a power reserve indicator (at the backside) and it has a GMT function built-in.

The silver second time zone hand rotates once every 12 hours. The GMT function of the PAM233 works the same way, but the PAM320 lacks an AM/PM indicator. Although you cannot tell if it is day or night in the second time zone, one will know that the 2nd time zone is ahead or not anyway - and in my opinion such an indicator is not a must-have. The absence of the AM/PM indicator certainly does make for a cleaner looking dial. The fact that the second time zone hands moves along with the hour hand makes it very easy and natural to tell the time in the other time zone. This GMT function is much better than the 24 hour GMT function of for instance the PAM88. It's also nice that you can hide the second time zone hand behind the hour hand when you don't need it. E.g. when you're not traveling. And there's no need for 24 hour markers on the dial either which again results in a much cleaner looking dial.

The PAM320 - like all wrist watches in the Manifattura line - has a 1950's style case and it comes with a beautiful brown crocodile strap.

Officine Panerai Opens New Hong Kong Boutique

Officine Panerai has opened a new Hong Kong boutique on Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Their second Hong Kong home, inside you’ll find a big wall clock which is a large-scale version of one of the distinguishing features of Panerai watches: the “sandwich” dial.

Spanning 30 square metres, the space is classically designed and features various materials associated with the sea (a reference to the brand's naval history) such as teak and steel.

A Panerai Customer Service Centre has also been established on the 1/F of the same building to provide after sales service.

Panerai Radiomir 1936 PAM00249 Special Edition

An absolute legend for enthusiasts of Officine Panerai is back again. After 70 years, the model created in 1936 for the 1st Submersible Group has become one of the most fascinating and historically influential of the current Panerai collection.

It is a watch which celebrates the birth of wristwatch manufacture under the Panerai name, faithfully recapturing the aesthetic lines of the prototype developed in response to the request made by the Royal Italian Navy in September 1935 for a luminous underwater watch for divers.

These were instruments which had to be of the very highest quality, in that they had to provide maximum reliability and accuracy during missions. The same constructional principles were applied to the watches. The prototype of March 1936 was followed by ten further examples, used in various exercises to test the effectiveness of its water-resistance and the perfect legibility of its time indication under all conditions of use. The most prominent of the innovations introduced by this 1936 model, which brilliantly passed all the tests it underwent, was the use of Radiomir, a special luminous paint consisting of zinc sulphide, radium bromide (the source of the name ‘Radiomir’) and mesothorium. The distinctive feature of the case, cushion-shaped in keeping with the style in vogue in the 1930s, is its large size, the diameter being 47 mm, while the black dial displayed an interesting combination of baton hour markers and Arabic and Roman numerals.

These unusual aesthetic details are repeated in the Radoimir 1936, a watch created in a limited series in steel (1936 units) and in platinum (99 units). Beneath the crystal made of Plexiglas, a material very similar to the Perspex plastic originally used by Panerai which has excellent transparency combined with great resistance to atmospheric agents and acids, the dial maintains the air of mystery of its famous predecessor; it carries no inscription, being anonymous as was the custom with products being tested by the special services. This avoided the risk of the manufacturer being identified and thus becoming vulnerable to possible actions of sabotage or spying if a watch should fall into enemy hands during wartime missions. The hour and minute hands of the Radiomir 1936 are turned by the Panerai calibre OP X, a hand-wound movement which operates at 21,600 vibrations/hour.

It’s impossible to go unnoticed, but then again, that’s hardly the object of the exercise, when you’re wearing such a timeless piece on your wrist. The most important thing to remember is that Radiomir 1936 generates nothing but positive and rather pleasant reactions. So what’s the point of depriving yourself when you know that the price of success is just 4,800€.

Panerai Ferrari Scuderia FER00002

The Ferrari Scuderia watch features the case is square with rounded corners is crafted from steel, the crown with square-grid pattern, the Prancing Horse on the yellow shield with the Italian tricolor on the black dial, small date window at 3:00, small second at 9 o'clock, with white numeral hour markers, under a sapphire crystal. Fitted with a black leather strap.

Details:

Ref: FER00002

Series: Ferrari Scuderia

Style: Mens

Case: Stainless Steel

Dial Color: Black with Ferrari shield at 12, yellow accents

Strap: Leather - Black Calfskin (second strap in rubber)

Watch Clasp: Personalized buckle, brushed and polished

Movement: Self-winding (Automatic) C.O.S.C.

Engine: Panerai OP III (13¼ ''', 21 jewels, 28,800vph, Incabloc shock system, Glucydur)

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Crystal: Sapphire - Anti Reflective (1.9mm thick)

Case Diameter: 45.0 mm

Case Thickness: 16.3 mm

Caseback: Steel screw-in back with Prancing Horse engraving and geometric pattern

Water Resistance: 100m / 330ft (suitable for swimming and shallow snorkeling; unsuitable for diving)

Crown: Stainless Steel, with Ferrari Logo

Calendar: Date at 3

Power Reserve: 42-hour