In The News Panerai.

[padi56]

Quote: From Media Printing & Publishing, Saudi Arabia.

Panerai celebrates a decade of ideas
The renowned Italian brand announces the launch of the First Panerai Tourbillon

As the home base for Officine Panerai, Tuscan city of Florence in central Italy was the setting of recent lavish, gala celebrations on the occasion of the acclaimed watch brand’s decade of ideas and excellence following its take over by the Richemont Group in March 1997. It may be recalled that Panerai was set up in this cultural and historical city by Giovanni Panerai in 1850.

Arabian Watches & Jewellery (AWJ) Magazine joined the festivities that witnessed the presence of 200 especially selected international media correspondents. The event in the Renaissance city had all the trappings of quintessential Italian hospitality and revellery. A Press Conference was convened on Friday, 9 March 2007, followed by the inauguration of the Exhibition L’Orologio Panerai and finally a Gala Dinner at the exclusive Gipsoteca, part of the Art Institute of Florence located in Porta Romana. There was also a very enthralling tour of the historical districts of Florence.

Panerai took the opportunity to showcase its long voyage and one brimming with ideas, beginning with producing specific, customised watches for the Royal Italian Navy from the 1930s to developing the large Radiomir watch with an Angelus movement with 8-day power reserve for the Egyptian Navy in 1956 to the manufacture of such acclaimed models for the civilian market as Luminor, Luminor Marina and an edition of the Mare Nostrum Chronograph in the 1990s. The speakers at the Press Conference included Signor Angelo Bonati, the Company’s CEO; Mr. Eric Klein, Movements Co-ordinator for the Richemont Group and Dr. Silvano Gori, Commissioner for Economic Development in the city of Florence.

Signor Bonati summarized the accomplishments of Panerai in last ten years of the brand’s history. These included the setting up of a research and development company called Officine Panerai Marketing & Comunicazione, with the aim of promoting the original, all-Italian project, thus giving the brand a long-term international opening that reflects Panerai’s original identity and authenticity. Other developments included the establishment of a distribution network that is highly selective and professional with over 450 points of sales globally and the opening of five boutiques in its native Florence, Portofino (located in the province of Genoa, Italy), Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Shanghai.

The highlight of the well-attended Press Conference was the grand announcement of the first four Panerai Calibres. These are:

The P.2002 8 Days GMT: manual winding, hand wound calibre and 8 days power reserve with 245 components

P.2003 10 Days GMT: automatic mechanical with 281 parts, automatic calibre with 10 days power reserve and linear power reserve indicator

P.2004 8 Days GMT Chrono Monopulsante: manual winding with 333 components, 8 days power reserve and linear power reserve indicator

P.2005 6 Days GMT Tourbillon: manual winding with 243 components, hand-wound calibre with 6 days power reserve and indicator on the back of the movement

It is significant to note that as a feather to its corporate hat, the Panerai Manufactory at Neuchatel in Switzerland has developed and now produces its own indigenous movements.

Signor Bonati also recounted the brand’s skillful personnel that included qualified craftsmen and specialist watchmakers capable of operating at the highest levels. The company’s manufacturing facilities are highly advanced and its technological systems second to none. The Panerai Technical Research Centre for materials and movements uses the most advanced technologies and new techniques in production processes to meet brisk and surging demand.

The brand can also take pride in the creation and production of a range of fine watch movements which already boasts more than 10 exclusive patents. This range of movements implies the presentation of at least one new and innovative calibre each year. The company has also been active in recruitment of a specialised workforce to meet new and growing needs.

A tour of the Panerai Museum chronicles and documents the history of the company and is the repository of some valuable, elite, antique watch collections, many going back to a bygone era when the company supplied exclusive watches to the Italian Navy. The Museum is a rich depository of the finest that Panerai has offered and continues to offer to its adoring clientele worldwide.


But speaking for myself IMHO Panerai like many other brands today are moving away from what first got me fired up and attracted to the brand. But now wonder if they have taken the route now to high priced over the top complications watches.Instead of very simple,tough and good looking watches that was Panerai trademark.Now with the market trend for own in-house movements,and many smaller independents are being forced to go the in-house route.I wonder just how original these movements will really be,it costs quite a bit of cash to design and tool up for any new watch movement.

[djemmtee]

i cant wait to see the torubillon model

[padi56]

Originally Posted by djemmtee

i cant wait to see the torubillon model

Tourbillons serve no real purpose in a wrist watch at all,only the fact the watchmaker skill to make them.And you would be quite surprised how many top watch brands Tourbillons are made now in china..Why is there so much admiration for the tourbillon,perhaps ownership of a very high priced watch ?.Perhaps the unquestioned and deserved prestige of Breguet, the inventor.But the tourbillon works best in one position and in theory the tourbillon is always modifying the slight timing errors in the vertical position.The tourbillon does not correct position variations; it only prevents them being detected in the usual testing conditions. But when placed on say a testing machine, the tourbillon reveals its many weaknesses immediately.IMO the admiration given to the tourbillon is of the same nature as that given to a very clever magician.Who for instance makes a large object disappear its just a optical illusion,and looks good at the time.The tourbillon does not correct anything,in wrist movements, it only prevents the detection of an error that still exists in natural gravity with wrist movement.The tourbillon is in fact an additional mechanism that consumes energy without producing anything except much misinformation.The energy it uses is taken from the reserve destined to the watch regulator. As a result, the balance with less energy will have reduced advantages.Now I agree totally the skill needed to make the cage plus tourbillon etc is a great horological skill.But in reality the watch is no more accurate that several other non tourbillon watches.And even todays modern watches,with or without tourbillons are not so accurate as one produced almost 300 years ago by John Harrison.Gravity is one of the main causes of rate variations in watches. By creating the tourbillon,when Breguet thought he was eliminating its effects,It looks like it was an big error on his part.He only masked them like tourbillons do.Now if someone could come up and counteract the effect on gravity on a wrist watch.Now that would be a big break though but until then tourbillon IMO are just good to look at,and they are very expensive,and they make them because they can.But again looking at the other side of the coin,in Breguets day when he invented the tourbillon and the tools he had then.Now today with modern machines and computers puts a different perspective on the making side of tourbillons today.

[Lol-x]

Originally Posted by padi56

But the tourbillon works best in one position and in theory the tourbillon is always modifying the slight timing errors in the vertical position.The tourbillon does not correct position variations; it only prevents them being detected in the usual testing conditions. But when placed on say a testing machine, the tourbillon reveals its many weaknesses immediately.

I'm struggling to understand, I thought that tourbillon has the effect of canceling out gravity the effects of gravity because the escapement is mounted in a rotating frame which rotates every minute or in the case of the new Panerai Tourbillon every 30 seconds. Thus the watch is not effected by positional error, i.e. you can leave it crown down or crown up at night to gain or loose a few seconds, because the escapement is continually rotating and the positional variation is cancelled? I didn't think this was an illusion, but a clever device to overcome positional errors. Admittedly, today, positional error of a good watch maybe very small, nevertheless the Tourbillion is a movement which does present a solution to positional error.

[ohlins]

an auto movement with 10 day power reserve?....that sounds real good!!........plus a gmt complication.....yummy indeed....:)

especially when it looks so good.......