Panerai

Giovanni Panerai opened a watchmaker's shop on the Ponte alle Grazie in Florence in 1860, which also served as the city's first watchmaking school. For its first seventy years the business was a retailer and instrument maker, not a watch brand.

Everything that defines Panerai came from a military contract. The Royal Italian Navy needed watches its frogmen could read in dark water, and in 1936 Panerai delivered the Radiomir: an enormous cushion case, wire lugs, and a sandwich dial with luminous material packed between two layers so the numerals glowed rather than being painted on. The radium-based compound gave the watch its name. Movements and cases came from Rolex.

The Luminor followed in 1950, replacing radium with the safer tritium-based Luminor compound and adding the crown-protecting bridge — a lever-locked steel guard clamping the crown against the case — which is now the single most recognisable Panerai feature.

These were classified military instruments, not consumer goods. They were never sold publicly until 1993, when the company released its first civilian collection. Sylvester Stallone wore one in a 1996 film and demand followed; Richemont acquired the brand in 1997.

Modern Panerai builds its own movements at Neuchâtel and works extensively in titanium, ceramic, and proprietary composites, but the shapes remain those of the frogmen's watches.

Panerai holds 2 models, from £13,100 to £13,900. Half cost less than £13,500, and a quarter less than £13,300. 2 of 2 are automatic. 2 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 5 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1860

Giovanni Panerai opens his Florence shop and watchmaking school.

1936

The Radiomir is developed for Italian navy frogmen.

1950

The Luminor introduces the crown-protecting bridge.

1993

The first civilian collection is released.

1997

Acquired by Richemont.