How does the Panerai warranty works? What does it cover and how long is the warranty of Panerai watches?
In this complete guide, we will go into detail about everything you need to know about the Panerai warranty.
Continue reading Panerai Warranty: Guide to Panerai Eight-Year Extended Warranty
All watches have serial numbers. The only thing is that different brands use different types of serial numbers, and use different formats to come up with their serial numbers. Serial numbers are not to be confused with reference numbers, which is a way to refer to specific watch models, and similar to serial numbers, reference numbers are created using different formats across different brands.
Want to learn some interesting facts about Panerai?
Officine Panerai, most commonly referred to as just Panerai, is certainly not the largest and most famous luxury watch company in the world, but the watch brand still has a strong reputation and a perhaps even richer history.
Panerai offers a full range of watches, based on various historical models of the brand. Over the years, the brand has expanded its range to offer a bigger array of watches, including precious metals and high horology complications. The watch brand is maybe most known for its iconic case design and oversized watches. Over the years, Panerai has even released watches up to 60mm in diameter. In building the brand to what it is today, loved by many deep watch bassoonists, Panerai has greatly valued its heritage and looked back at it every time it developed a new product.
In the last decade, in particular, the volumes of Panerai timepieces distributed, and the reputation of the watch company has grown significantly.
In this article, we’re looking at the top 15 facts about Panerai.
Panerai is iconically known for using large luminous indexes which are easy to read, and the history stretches back to the fact that the Panerai watches were used by the Italian navy which needed watches that were easily readable underwater. What people didn’t know at the time, however, was the luminous material used in the indexes was made with Radium, one of the most radioactive chemical elements in the world.
When this material was used for the luminous indexes of Panerai watches, no one knew how dangerous was, but today we do.
Radium was, in fact, at the time even considered healthy and a good treatment against cancer, among other illnesses. Even worse was that the luminous material used in the Panerai watches at the time was applied by hand using fine brushes. Some factory workers (most of which were female) painted their fingernails with radium, and many of the workers often licked their brushes.
The watches which were then radioactive still are today. In fact, Radium has a half-life is more than 1600 years, so it will continue to be radioactive for a long time to come. Just because the luminance doesn’t glow in the dark due to the fact that the zinc sulfide in the paint is worn out, the indexes of the watch are still radioactive.
Today, the material used for the luminous indexes of Panerai watches isn’t radioactive. Despite the fact that the old watches are still radioactive, the watches are loved by Panerai collectors due to their exclusivity and limited nature.
Panerai is maybe most famous for being Italian watches, and Panerai has supplied watches to the Italian and German navies.
When Panerai released the Radiomir in the 1930s, plexiglass didn’t have the somewhat negative reputation plexiglass has, at least when it comes to watches. Today, many see plexiglass as cheap and something that shouldn’t be used in a luxury watch, but Panerai didn’t use plexiglass in their Radiomir watches to save money, but rather because it was a new, revolutionary material that came with a great benefit
As opposed to glass crystals in watches, plexiglass didn’t shatter or break as easily. As such, glass crystals were inappropriate for divers because the glass could break during a mission.
While plexiglasses are much less scratch-resistant, it doesn’t break as easily as glass. This is why it made much more sense to use plexiglass for the diver watches that Panerai made for the frogmen.
Unlike most luxury watch brands, Panerai wasn’t founded in Switzerland, but instead in Florence, Italy. Today, however, Panerai makes its watches in Switzerland, and this can be seen on the bottom of the dial where it now says ”Swiss made”.
Giovanni lived between 1825 and 1897.
Panerai is today owned by a subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A.
Why? Check the next fact about Panerai…
The reason why Panerai ceased providing watches to the Marina Military and instead turned to the public market is that they weren’t cost-effective nor met the specifications and tough demands of the navy.
When Richmond acquired Panerai, he positioned it as a luxury watch brand and increased prices. At the same time, they also increased prices.
The shop was open to everyone, situated on Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. It wasn’t just a shop though. In fact, it was also the first watchmaking school in the city of Florence
No, this wasn’t a new model, but rather a luminous radium-based powder that was applied to the dials, more specifically the indexes of the Panerai’s watches to improve readability in dark environments, especially underwater.
Since Panerai watches were originally used by the Italian navy, they met harsh environments and came in contact with a lot of water. Today, the watches may not be used in the same harsh environments, however, many of Panerai’s watches are still dive watches. As such, Panerai has a special machine that they use to put their watches to the test, subjecting the watches to artificial seawater and chemical reactions to see how this affects the watches.
While Panerai isn’t the oldest watch company in the world, nor the most famous luxury watch company in the world, these facts about Panerai show that it has an interesting past.
Which of these facts about Panerai were the most surprising and new to you?
Officine Panerai was founded in Florence in 1860. It was originally a workshop, shop and watchmaking school, but eventually, the family business became a longstanding supplier of precision instruments to the Italian Navy, particularly its underwater corps, therefore the rich marine and diving heritage of Panerai watches.
We strive to offer you an amazing customer service to make your buyer experience as great as it can be. From your initial contact to after you have your new watch on the wrist. Our number one goal is to make you so satisfied with your purchase that we get the honour of helping you with your next watch purchase. We will guide you through your whole experience with us.
Our goal is to make you feel safe throughout the purchase process. Therefore, we carefully check all our timepieces to ensure their authenticity and that everything is in its order. When buying a timepiece from us, you can be confident that it is authentic. We also value your privacy and safety, and this is why we take great measures to keep your information safe at all times.
We strive to have fair prices on all our watches. We want you to feel confident in the thought that you always get great value for your money when buying from us. Through our contacts and network of sourcing luxury watches, we can provide some of the world’s best luxury timepieces at fair and competitive prices. From us, you can buy watches from the comfort of your own home.
