Panerai Shows Haute Time its Spectacular New Pocket Watch, and other New Launches at SIHH
I was very excited to check out the Panerai presentation for SIHH this year. They had one of the most talked about watches of SIHH, the Panerai Watch Tourbillon GMT Cermaica. “Wow” is all I can say—as this is one of the most beautiful pocket watches we have ever seen, and was the highlight of the pieces presented by Panerai at SIHH. Everyone was talking about this watch, which put it up in my opinion as top 5 watches of SIHH. The watch is limited to only 50 pieces, and I love how the watch is black ceramic with the back see-through sapphire crystal.
The next piece I loved was the Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Power Reserve Automatic Bronzo. This watch is another unique edition, limited to only 1000 pieces. As we know, two years ago Panerai launched its first watch with a bronze case, as this watch was produced in the same material, with a three-day power reserve. The watch is classic size of Panerai, 47mm in diameter, and is produced entirely by Panerai at its manufacture facilities.
The next watch was the Panerai Radiomir 1940 Oro Rosso, which has a case 42 mm in diameter with the P.999 hand-wound movement, the smallest and thinnest in the wide range of calibres produced by Panerai. The P.999 movement, visible through the sapphire crystal window set in the back, has a power reserve of 60 hours and is supplied with a brown alligator strap, and it is part of the Historic Collection.
The next watch is Panerai’s Radiomir 1940—a watch first created in that year but being presented again now with the same design but in a thinner version. The Radiomir 1940 in steel has a case 42 mm in diameter with the P.999 hand-wound movement, the smallest and thinnest in the wide range of calibres produced by the Officine Panerai manufacture in Neuchâtel. The P.999 movement, visible through the sapphire crystal window set in the back, has a power reserve of 60 hours and a balance which oscillates at 21,600 vibrations/hour (equivalent to 3 Hz). It is supplied with a black alligator strap, and it is part of the Historic Collection.
Another theme of Panerai was there Flyback editions. They had three, as I was a huge fan of all three, but personally my favorite of the group was Panerai’s Luminor 1950 Regatta 3 days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio. I love this watch, and the face of the piece, as the colors were very cool. This is a chronograph with an automatic movement and a three-day power reserve, fitted with the Regatta countdown function, specifically created for yacht racing starts. An orange push-button at four o’clock moves the central orange chronograph minute hand back one minute at a time, until it is at the correct position in relation to the length of the countdown. On starting the chronograph, by pushing the chronograph stop/start button at ten o’clock, the relative hands begin to move, indicating first the minutes and seconds remaining until the start, and then, when the countdown has finished, the time elapsed since the start of the race. The Luminor 1950 case has the characteristic Panerai lever device for protecting the winding crown and is 47 mm in diameter. It is made of brushed titanium, contrasting with the polished bezel.
Another piece in the Flyback series is the the new Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback, which is 44mm in diameter and water-resistant to 10 meters. On the back of the case, the 12-sided caseback has at its centre a large sapphire crystal window which reveals the manufacture P.9100 movement. The Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback is part of the Contemporary Collection and it is supplied with a black leather strap which is easily replaced by means of the Panerai interchangeability device fitted in the lug of the watch.
The last of this series is the the new Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Oro Rosso is 44mm in diameter and water-resistant to 50 meters. The flyback function, controlled by a push-button at eight o’clock, instantly returns the chronograph hands to zero and simultaneously restarts without it being necessary first to stop them and return them to zero by pressing the stop and reset buttons. To make it clear and easy to read, the chronograph minutes and seconds hands are both positioned centrally on the main dial and distinguished by being different colours: the seconds hand is blue while the minute hand is gold in colour, advancing instantly in one jump every sixty seconds.
Haute Time is a huge fan of Panerai, and we thought the pocket watch was one of the top 5 most innovative pieces of SIHH. Plus, we are huge fans of the flyback edition, as we think that will be a huge hit in 2013 for Panerai watch collectors and new Panerai clients.
