This respected company was established in Florence in 1860, by Giovanni Panerai and his family. Their initial area of expertise was to produce precision instruments for the Italian Navy. Therefore, it was the next logical step that Panerai were to develop a keen interest in watchmaking for the commandos. As early as 1930, Panerai had an exclusive contract with the military and provided watches, torches, and aiming sites for torpedoes. Panerai's loyal dedication to equipping the Italian Navy marine commandoes led to many extraordinary creations and patents. However, it wasn't until 1993 that these creations were obtainable by the public. During WWII, Panerai developed the Radiomir, which used radium, and the Luminor, which used tritium. These were state of the art pieces at the time and have been enhanced over the years.

A clever blend of Italian styling and Swiss technology, Panerai has been a market leader in the world of professional timing instruments for more than 140 years.

Guido Panerai’s  early work led to many patents in the timekeeping and optics fields. In the early 1930s, Panerai established a close connection with the Royal Italian Navy and began supplying the soldiers with precision pocket watches and aiming sights for torpedoes.

During World War II, Panerai supplied Radiomir watches to the Royal Italian Navy—firmly cementing itself as a market leader in precision timing. In 1993, after 50 years of creating watches exclusively for the commandos of the Royal Italian Navy, Panerai offered its timepieces to the rest of the world with limited editions of the Luminor.

These watches were renowned for their performances under extreme situations and were impatiently sought by collectors. In 1997, the Richemont Group purchased Panerai and evolved the brand, adding new products upholding Panerai’s tradition and escalating its worldwide presence.

Panerai’s successful oversized timepieces are based on the Luminor and Radiomir, and each exists in the three key Panerai collections: Historical, Contemporary and Special Editions.

In the Historical Collection, Panerai has unveiled the Luminor 44mm watch with its own new hand-wound mechanical movement. Guaranteed water resistant to 300 meters but tested to 400 meters, this exceptional watch is cased in either steel or titanium and has a transparent caseback to allow viewing of the engraved movement.