Our first live auction of the fall 2023 season, the PHILLIPS Geneva Watch Auction: XVIII, takes place on November 3 and 4, at La Réserve Genève. The auction includes more than 180 of the world's finest watches – and though we are loath to boast, we truly think it's one of the best catalogs we've ever put together. We'll be highlighting a number of the most interesting lots and stories featured in the sale over the next month, including the one-of-a-kind Radiomir PAM01346 that we developed alongside Panerai and will be auctioning off with all proceeds from the sale going to support the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
– Logan Baker
Panerai has one of the most fascinating histories in all of watchmaking, and yet watches from the company have only been available to the public at large for a short 30 years. It was just September 1993 when the historic Florentine military supplier and retailer began marketing its own creations to the civilian market.
The rest of the story is well-known. Civilian-grade Luminor watches soon ended up on the wrists of various Hollywood leading men of the early ‘90s. Action stars like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis helped result in a massive increase of interest in Panerai. This little-known Italian firm quickly established itself for making watches for those with larger-than-life personalities.
The Vêndome Group, now known as Richemont, ended up acquiring Panerai in its entirety in March 1997. Richemont, astutely aware of Panerai’s boundless potential, invested heavily into the brand’s future. It paid off. Panerai has remained a Hollywood favorite for much of the 21st century, and the Italian-born company has achieved a top 20 annual revenue in the Swiss watch industry for each of the past five years (according to the annual Morgan Stanley Swiss Watch Industry report).
Despite all the growth and celebrity stature, Panerai has never strayed far from the legendary watch designs that captivated people in the first place. The now-iconic Luminor and Radiomir both have their roots in Panerai’s long history as a supplier of timepieces to the Italian Royal Navy throughout the mid 20th century.
Many collectors and Panerai owners know the brand’s modern history, as well as bits and pieces of the company’s military past. But the firm’s history can occasionally be difficult to grasp at the enthusiast level, simply given the lack of authentic vintage military examples. Service-worn Panerai watches were rarely kept, and it’s even rarer for any of the few surviving watches to have been maintained or preserved.
With 2023 marking the 30th anniversary of Panerai’s entrance into the civilian market and the 25th anniversary of its acquisition by Richemont, it’s no surprise the brand is feeling a bit reflective. Yes, Panerai wants to make its history more familiar – so they reached out to us.
After Phillips’ success in bringing to market and selling a series of special authentic vintage Panerai wristwatches (see here, here, and here), we had a unique hands-on perspective on the company’s history.
We worked with Panerai’s leadership, design team, and heritage department to create a one-of-a-kind watch that embraces Panerai’s history to help educate a whole new generation of potential Panerai lovers on what makes the company’s background so different from the rest of the watch world.
The all-new Radiomir PAM01346 is an authentic reproduction of its legendary mid-century transitional ref. 3646 dive watch, complete with an original Angelus SF 240 eight-day movement inside.
The watch – officially named "Guido Panerai & Figlio,” after the name of the company’s historic boutique in Florence – however, isn’t simply meant to serve as a new showpiece for Panerai’s heritage department. They want it to achieve some real, non-horological good in the world, as well.
Panerai has donated the watch to be auctioned off during the upcoming Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: XVIII, on November 3 - 4, 2023, with all proceeds going toward benefiting the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. IOC-UNESCO will use the funds raised from the sale of the watch to develop a new ocean literacy program to expand education and awareness surrounding humanity’s relationship with our oceans.
This project with Panerai combines three of our favorite aspects of the watch world: The chance to study a one-of-a-kind, authentic watchmaking history, the presentation of a unique, never-before-seen timepiece, and the opportunity to raise funds and achieve a tangible good in the world. It’s also the first time in Panerai’s modern timepiece that they’ve created a true unique piece, rather than limited or serial production.
The Panerai History You Need To Know
Panerai first introduced the Radiomir ref. 3646 on request from the Royal Italian Navy, all the way back in 1938. That watch measured 47mm in diameter and featured a luminescent radium dial, a screw-down crown, and wire lugs to attach a strap. Of course, the original Radiomir famously utilized components sourced from Rolex.
Panerai watches made during the early 20th century were mostly comprised of cases designed and manufactured by Rolex SA, with Cortébert, a Swiss manufacturer, supplying many of the movements. The first serially produced Panerai watches that were designed and developed in-house were the GPF 2/56 models created for an Egyptian frogman unit, in 1956.
This Egyptian dive unit named was led by Commander Fawzi Abdel Rahman Fahmy. A year earlier, in 1955, Fawzi was invited to train with the Italian Royal Navy at the Varignano Fortress in La Spezia, Italy. It was there that Fawzi first encountered G. Panerai & Figlio instruments and watches that were exclusive to the Italian Royal Navy at the time.
The Egyptian military needed permission from the Italian Navy to acquire Panerai products. After approval, the Egyptians learned that the watches were subject to an exclusivity agreement between Panerai and Rolex which forbid Panerai to supply watches with Rolex parts to foreign countries.
This is how the idea for the GPF 2/56 was born. The GPF 2/56 was the first watch to feature the crown-protecting device that has now become a signature feature of modern Panerai watches. It was also equipped with the Angelus SF 240 8-days caliber that previously had only been used in various table and travel clocks. The Angelus 240 was one of the smallest 8-days movements but had never been used for wristwatches. Stolz Frères in Le Locle, the owner of the Angelus brand at the time, custom-built these movements specifically for the Panerai GPF 2/56 wristwatches.
In 1964, the Swiss government banned the use of highly radioactive radium-226 in the Swiss watch industry. Tritium-based compounds quickly became the new standard. For Panerai, replacing hundreds of Radiomir instruments and watches in use with the Italian Royal Navy created an excellent new business opportunity.
To promote the new tritium-based Luminor watch, Giuseppe Panerai came up with the brilliant idea of modifying 30 leftover ref. 3646 watches from World War II and gifting them to various high-ranking Navy officers as well as the families of war heroes.
The modifications were extensive. The wire lugs were removed and, in their stead, new solid horn-shaped lugs with screw-down bars were welded to the case. The original Cortébert calibers were replaced with the same Angelus 240 8-days movements that Panerai had already used for the GPF 2/56.
Other important innovations found on this new ref. 3646 included the use of a transparent plexiglass crystal that highlighted the movement’s lengthy power reserve and was marked on the exterior with the watch’s serial number and its luminosity index.
Although it’s considered a “transitional” reference by most Panerai lovers and historians, the 1960s-era ref. 3646 is the specific model that many cite as cementing Panerai’s iconic aesthetic. It’s also the exact reference that Panerai used for inspiration when creating the new PAM01346.
All About The Angelus SF 240
Angelus, a Swiss watchmaker still in business to this day, had a lengthy history in Italy before Panerai ever came calling. The Le Locle company won the Grand Diplôme d’Honneur for one of its pocket watches during the 1906 Milan International World’s Fair.
Panerai had even initially connected with Angelus in 1943 with a request to use Angelus’ caliber SF215 inside the original Radiomir Mare Nostrum chronograph. (The example with an Angelus movement never left the prototype stage.)
Angelus introduced the SF 240 caliber into the world in 1936. It was the smallest eight-day alarm movement available at the time, but Angelus did offer the same movement with the alarm functionality removed.
Now, if you’re a Panerai fan, you might remember that the modern form of the company already created and marketed a few modern wristwatches with the SF 240 caliber. There’s a difference between what Panerai did on those series – the PAM203, from 2005, and PAM267, from 2008 – and what they’ve done today on the one-of-a-kind PAM01346.
The basis of those earlier historic SF 240 movements, according to Panerai, was that they were travel clock movements that were then adapted by Panerai’s watchmakers to be inserted into a wristwatch case with three o’clock winding. As part of the necessary adaptation process, the final version of those wristwatch movements had only 15 jewels.
The historic Angelus SF 240 movement used in the new PAM01346, however, comes from the original series of 17-jewel wristwatch SF 240 movements that were built by Angelus decades ago for Panerai to use in the GPF 2/56 watches. These movements were the first and only time Angelus adapted the SF 240 caliber to fit inside a wristwatch case.
Panerai took from its heritage department one of the few original wristwatch-specific Angelus SF 240 movements, dated 1961, to use inside the new Radiomir PAM01346, sharing one of the few true examples of the caliber with the world.
Get Ready To Bid
The Panerai Radiomir “Guido Panerai & Figlio” PAM01346 is the closest thing to a brand-new vintage ref. 3646 as there ever could possibly be. The dial and movement are authentic in every way possible.
Even the strap was produced by Panerai’s same historic Florentine supplier. It features a white gold trapezoidal pin buckle, hand-stitched to the strap, a perfect reproduction of the original clasp used by the Italian Royal Navy at the time. The watch also comes with a secondary extra-long strap that was hand-sewn in Tuscany by the legendary Cuoierie Brelli strap maker, a reproduction of Panerai’s lengthy mid-century straps, designed to be worn by divers on their diving suits.
Other notable aesthetic features of the new PAM01346 include solid welded lugs, a sandwich dial, Panerai's Marina Militare logo, the Officine Panerai wordmark, gold-tone hands, and a domed sapphire crystal. Every choice was influenced by the transitional model ref. 3646.
Well, except for one major update. The PAM01346’s case material is actually a proprietary platinum alloy developed by Panerai called Platinumtech that retains the deep luster of the precious white metal while being significantly more scratch-resistant than standard platinum.
Panerai also notes that the specific case profile of the PAM01346 is strongly influenced by the case of the PAM21 Radiomir from 1997, considered to be the brand’s first modern-era “special edition” release. It featured a platinum case as well as a historic 1930s movement.
It’s also worth mentioning that the watch will come with two different transparent casebacks. There’s a contemporary sapphire crystal version, which is scratch resistant and enables greater resistance to water ingress, and then there’s a plexiglass crystal alternative, which is faithful to the original 1960s design.
The watch is delivered inside a box inspired by historic Panerai packaging, featuring a Radica wood exterior and an internal tray lined with black Alcantara.
You can learn more, place a bid, and view the entire Geneva Watch Auction: XVIII catalog here.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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