Being an owner of a nice watch is a luxury in itself. But having something like Panerai is beyond what anyone can dream of. The Italian elegance paired with Swiss quality and precision makes Panerai watches desirable for every man and woman.
It must be an amazing experience to enter a room and have everyone stare at you, as you represent all they want and value – class, quality, style, and belonging.
Let’s dig a bit deeper into the phenomenon that is Panerai replica watches and understand why people are so fascinated with them.
How It All Began – The History of Panerai Watches
Everything started in Florence, Italy, in 1860 with Giovanni Panerai opening his first watch store. Later his grandson expanded the business, working together with Rolex and Cortebert, to create exclusive watches and other technical accessories for the Royal Italian Navy, when he created the radium-based luminous mixture that he put on the watches in sealed, very small containers.
Panerai started making diving instruments to wear on the wrist and provided over 1600 watches to the Italian Military. Most of the watches were provided by Rolex, and Panerai only made the dials, except for the GPF 2/56. All the Panerai dials had the radium-based luminous compound, which was actually highly radioactive, which was later changed to a harmless compound that illuminated thanks to tritium.
In around 1993 the Paneri was acquired by Richmond, they rolled the watches to the civil market, and ceased to provide them to the Italian Military Navy. Richmond then remarketed the brand, positioning it as a luxury watch, and considerably increased its prices.
Panerai watches can also be of great value to collectors, as one of the rarest pieces is their Second World War Military Diver watch. It has a rich history, as it was obtained by a British soldier named George H. Ronson during WWII, in September of 1944 to be exact. He got it from a German soldier when Germans attempted to destroy a bridge in the Netherlands.
Just How Popular is Panerai?
There are many other luxury brand watches that you have heard of like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and many others. They are making a lot of fuss and are on everyone’s radar.
But what about Panerai luminor replica watches? Have you ever heard of them?
The reason could be that despite the fact that they were around for a while now, as the company was founded in the late 19th century, it wasn’t available for the general public.
As we have already mentioned, they were providing Navys – Italian and Egyptian with diver watches and other precision equipment, thus weren’t for sale to civilians.
The rumor has it, that they got discovered after Silvester Stalone, a popular action star saw their shop in Rome and approached them with an idea of making a limited edition watches for him.
They jumped at the opportunity, and even named the series Slytech, after the actor’s nickname.
The watches always had amazing quality, as the collaboration with Rolex and another Swiss watchmaker provided the mechanism, and the Panerai provided simply the design and the dial.
And surely no one is going to doubt the quality of Rolex, which they are famous for, and position themselves as such.
Just to give you a bit more information, and maybe bring you closer to the Panerai watches replica, below are some facts you might not have known about them.
Facts to Know About Panerai Watches
- Panerai created Radiomir
Radiomir was the radium-based luminous compound that was used to mark the dials on the watch, so they are visible to the divers in the dark of the deal oceans and seas. This was a revolutionary creation, as no other company at the time was using luminous dials.
- First used plaxiglass
No one before Panerai used plexiglass in theri watches. Today we see it as a cheap and unworthy material to be placed on the luxury watch.
However, at the time, it was a new, innovative, and revolutionary technology that brought plexiglass to life, and Paneri used it as a great and useful material of the time, and in no way to save money.
- Navy exclusive
Panerai used to be a provider of watches and precise technology to both the Italian and the German Navy. For a while, they only focused on that, and even after they discontinued this line of work in 1970, Panerai did not turn to the public, as watches were not in high demand, and weren’t cost-effective.
- Panerai used to be toxic
The old fake Panerai watches were very toxic, radioactive to be more specific, as they used the radium-based compound to provide the luminous indexes on their dials. That’s what they were known for, and that’s one of the reasons they became popular with the navy.
However, Panerai had no idea that the radium was radioactive, which is strange, as it’s one of the most radioactive elements around the globe. They eventually changed the radium to luminor in 1949, and today the watches are completely safe, while still have the luminescent feature.
In fact, the vintage watches of Panerai are still very toxic, and the radioactive properties of the radium wear off in about 1600 years. They might not glow in the dark anymore as they used to, but don’t be fulled by that! That’s only due to the wearing off of the zinc sulfate in the paint. The old fake Panerai watches will be very toxic for the years to come!
- Rigorous testing
Originally, all Panerai watches were meant for divers and the Italian Navy, which meant they had to withstand the worst conditions, and naturally be waterproof. Till today, the best Panerai replica watches are still meant for divers, and salty water is a huge part of that deal. Interestingly enough, they even created a machine, that can test each and every watch to make sure all of them are up to the test! Panerai exposed the watches to salty, artificial seawater and several chemical reactions, to see how the watches will behave and make sure they were still precise and accurate under the deep sea.
What Makes Panerai So Desirable
These watches are amazing in their quality and design, which are the top two tokens, that make them so attractive and popular among not only luxury lifestyle lovers, but also collectors and watch enthusiasts.
Materials
The materials of these watches have always been revolutionary, and they are still keeping up with the trend of making high-class watches with the best performing, innovative materials.
Here are a few of them, that revolutionize the world of luxury sports watches.
- Composite
A synthetic ceramic, which you can get by caramelization of the aluminum with electro-chemicals. The new material is very durable yet light, which is one of the main features of any sports equipment, including watches.
- BMG-TECH™
This is a new and revolutionary technology made by the Lab of Panerai, which is metallic glass, making the material very durable and prolongs its longevity. It has a specific atomic structure, that accounts for some of the best characteristics of a waterproof watch – durability, and lightness. It also has a very dark color but looks very similar to titanium.
- Ceramica
This material is specially made for Panerai replica watches, and it’s a ceramic, based on the powder of Zirconium Oxide. After all the fine-tuning and handling, makes ceramica five times more durable than stainless steel, and gives the material a very nice matt finish.
- CARBOTECH™
This is a material that provides a unique look to every single watch, as its appearance depends on the cut of the material. It’s a new kind of material based on carbon fiber, which also includes other elements. It looks black and matt and uneven, as we have already mentioned above, however, it also has outstanding tech specs.
Design
The two most famous and original designs include the Radiomir and Luminor. As Panerai was never designing to sell, but rather to create a reliable piece of technology for extreme conditions for the Navy, the esthetic part of the design was never a priority.
Rather the design that they had was dedicated by the need of the Navy – robust, easy to read, and high-quality equipment.
That’s why the signature oversized shape, the luminescent markers on the dial, and the use of new technologies to provide strength, longevity at the same time reducing the weight, became their signature design marks.
However, if we look at the designs of today, they did go very far beyond what was originally presented to the Navy, and became very modernized, keeping the signature touches, like the large size and the luminescent markers.
A big part of the Panerai replica watches is the materials they are using, as they provide the watches with very unique and interesting looks. The BMG exotic alloy, for instance, was designed by the Panerai lab in Switzerland and provides the depth and the complex structure of the esthetically pleasing look.
This brand is very technical in both material and application, thus the design is always smart and interesting, and never loses its simplicity and convenience of operation.