At Sotheby’s auction of “Important Watches”, held in Geneva on 14th May 2014, the alltime record for sale of a Panerai watch was set. An extremely rare example of a stainless steel Luminor from 1955 was acquired by a Panerai enthusiast who bid the record sum of CHF 425,000 (equivalent to approximately €348,000 or $478,000), from an estimate of CHF 180,000/360,000.

Vintage Panerai watches regularly feature in thrilling auctions where the most passionate collectors and connoisseurs bid for models which are often unique pieces, by virtue of the rarity of the timepieces produced during the history of the Florentine watchmaker. Panerai watches were, in fact, never produced for sale to the public until 1993, when the first collection intended for the civilian market was presented.
All the rare historic Panerai pieces were produced to military order between 1936, the year of the first Radiomir watch prototype created to equip the underwater missions of commandos of the Royal Italian Navy, and the 1950s. This rarity, combined with the timeless and still extraordinarily up-to-date design of the watches is the main factor driving the continual rise in the value of Panerai models, not just the vintage ones but also many of those being produced now in limited editions faithfully inspired by models from the past.