Panerai's rarefied Mare Nostrum—Latin: Our Sea, Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea— chronograph wristwatch was originally designed to be used by deck officers of the Italian Navy. Only very few of these watches were made in 1943 but due to the turmoil during the war, the model never went into production and remained at the prototype stage. Only one vintage Mare Nostrum prototype has surfaced in the market since 2005, and now resides at the Richemont Museo Panerai Collection. It was not until 50 years later that Officine Panerai revived the Mare Nostrum Pre-Vendôme ref. 5218-301/A taking blue print from its archival photographic plate created in tribute to the original model.

In 2017, Panerai added the last member of the Mare Nostrum family with the ref. PAM00716. Produced in a limited edition of 1,000 pieces with high resemblance to its sibling ref. 5218-301A but cased in a 42mm stainless steel. Fitted with a handsome ocean blue dial and robust appearance, the watch certainly wears with comfort compared to the 52mm prototype. Housed inside is the cal. OP XXXIII based on the ETA 2801 movement with a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module with 42 hours of power reserve.

Offered by the original owner, the present timepiece numbered 213 is preserved in excellent overall condition and is fresh-to-the-market. Highly collectible and rare, it is furthermore accompanied by its full accessories including the model of the Luigi Durand de la Panne Destroyer—Italian Navy Naval Diver in the Decima MAS during WWII.