Panerai has built its reputation on several pillars: great distinctive designs, historical legitimacy, quality watchmaking and the difficulty for customers to get its watches – production is limited and supply is always lower than demand. Angelo Bonati, CEO Panerai, when asked what his short term plan for Panerai was, heading into the SIHH, replied: “to say ‘no’ to clients who want more watches”.
The watch they will make sure to have at the SIHH, but certainly not in abundance, is the new Radiomir P.999 42mm - Pink Gold, featuring another new in-house Panerai calibre.
With a diameter of 12 lines and a thickness of only 3.4mm, the new hand-wound P.999 movement features 19 jewels, a 60-hour power reserve and a balance wheel oscillating at 21,600 alternations/hour. The movement is regulated by a ‘swan’s neck’ device, allowing for micrometrical adjustment of the active length of the spring.
The pink gold case is 42mm in diameter, slightly smaller than historic Radiomir watches. The thickness has also been reduced thanks to the development of the new movement, resulting in a thinner, lighter watch.
The dial recalls classic Radiomir watches and achieves exceptional legibility in the dark via a ‘sandwich’ structure with the SupeLuminova placed between two metal layers, the top one perforated. The index-shaped hands and perpetually-moving small seconds hand in the auxiliary dial at 9 o’clock are also luminescent and plated in pink gold. The watch, with wire lugs that are easy to remove when substituting the strap and water resistant down to a depth of 100 metres, features the classic screw-down, truncated-cone Radiomir crown, ensuring maximum water-tightness.
Numbered and produced in a limited edition of 500 pieces, the Radiomir P.999 42 MM Pink Gold (PAM00336) is part of the Historic Collection and is completed with a dark brown alligator strap with a pink gold pin buckle.
Certainly there will be more offerings at the upcoming SIHH, but Panerai is remaining tightlipped about anything other than the new Radiomir. “I'm happy to have the opportunity to show all the work that has been realized by the Panerai team in terms of products,” Bonati concluded.
Source: Europa Star December-January 2010 Magazine Issue
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