Panerai Radiomir 1940 Watches

The Officine Panerai is one of the renowned watch brands established in Florence, in the year 1860. The Panerai’s voyage in the watch industry begun with the setting up of a small repair workshop and a sales showroom. The foundations of this celebrated brand were laid down by a talented Italian watchmaker, Giovanni Panerai. Ever since its inception, the brand has been delivering innovation in the world of horology.

Between 1938 and 1970, the Panerai’s Florence-based workshop was exclusively used for producing diving instruments and watches for the Italian Marina Militare. In a bid to expand, in 1993 the brand moved on to launch its products in the civilian market. Earlier to this, Panerai was involved in manufacturing precision instruments and pocket watches for the Italian Navy. And till the beginning of World War I, Panerai kept on manufacturing precision instruments for the same.

A brilliant breakthrough occurred for the brand when it decided to launch Radiomir models. Unfortunately, being unaware of the fact that this luminous material was highly toxic due to its radioactive properties. Although the launch of Panerai Radiomir was a great success for the Panerai due to its distinguishing properties such as high-precision, illuminating timers for detonators, and underwater wrist depth gauges.

By the year 1940’s the Royal Italian Navy’s requirements become even more specific. Therefore, to cater to their demands Panerai released the more advanced versions of Panerai Radiomir models. These Panerai watch models exhibited high water resistivity and robustness to the extreme conditions.

Well to no doubt one can certainly admit that the debut of Panerai Radiomir was the building up of the solid pillar for the next generations of the brand. However, Panerai kept its brand identity intact, rarely straying from the path of oversized, underwater watches that can be spotted across a room and in the dark. And its one such move was to beef up the Radiomir 1940 collection. The Panerai Radiomir 1940 Special Edition models were presented at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie 2012. These Panerai Radiomir 1940 watches took inspiration from the brand's Art Deco pendulum clocks. Encapsulated in a 47mm Radiomir cases, the dials of these newcomers are far different from standard Panerai menage. Whereas the difference between the Panerai Radiomir 1940 and the other Radiomir timepieces from the collection lies in the lugs of the watch. The watch case and lugs for the Panerai Radiomir 1940 models are carved out from the single sheet of metal. That is why the Radiomir 1940 differs from other Radiomir models because its lugs are hooked up directly to the steel case, similar to the original models. The new Panerai Radiomir 1940 timepieces comprise of a cushion-shaped case crafted in a way to make edges more pronounced. And a general reshaping has been provided to individual parts to add modern sophistication. The Panerai watch also features a cylindrical, tubular crown rather than a conical, winding one. Moreover, the presence of shiny case frames, wonderfully nostalgic dial and the domed Plexiglass crystal adds a touch of vintage appeal to the watch. Being more dressier and retro perfect these Panerai watches have quickly progressed to the ranking of modern classic watches.
While in order to have a better insight on its dial and movement let’s read further:

The dial
The Radiomir models are one of the highly favoured among the Panerai's collections. These Panerai watches are typically renowned for the dark coloured dials available in black, brown and blue colours. Featuring the painted large Arabic numerals and faux-patina painted luminous dot indexes, the dial of these Panerai watches are very attractive and legible. Additionally, the presence of date disc beautifully compliments with the tones of the rest of the dial, overall making the dial feel more useful.

The movement
The Panerai Radiomir 1940 models are equipped with a simple yet elegant in-house manufactured movements. The Panerai 3 Days Automatic Acciaio 42mm, a variant from Panerai Radiomir family is equipped with an in-house manufactured P.4000 movement that runs at 4 Hertz/28,800 vph. The P.4000 movement embedded with a micro-rotor is extremely thin. Moreover, the presence of series-coupled barrels provides it with a power reserve of 3 days or 72 hours. This is apparently a new standard for all the Panerai in-house movements. To provide you with a better understanding of the movement, the sapphire crystal case back reveals the movement in a full view.

Though in the opinion of many watch admirers, the Panerai Radiomir 1940 is a sports watch. But its design aesthetics such as high-contrast dial, stainless steel cushion case with straight lugs, and the contrasting flair of vintage strike an interesting balance between sportiness and sophistication. Also when it comes to looking, the Panerai Radiomir series is much dressier as compared to other Panerai collections. Every essential form of design from Panerai with Haute Horlogerie technical specification has been integrated into these enthralling Panerai Historic Collection.

So, what's your favourite Panerai Radiomir? Choose from the various options available. On every special occasion, they strive to remind you that “it has been exclusively crafted for you!”