2013/02/25

*Officine Panerai "New Productions 2013"

Officine Panerai the Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback - 44 mm

 

Officine Panerai presents the Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback, a new chronograph with a flyback function and an automatic movement with a power reserve of three days. Available in a purely sports version in steel or as a more elegant one in red gold, the new chronograph is the first to be made by Officine Panerai using the new P.9100 calibre, developed and produced entirely in the House’s manufacture in Neuchâtel.

The flyback function, controlled by a push-button at eight o’clock, instantly returns the chronograph hands to zero and simultaneously restarts without it being necessary first to stop them and return them to zero by pressing the stop and reset buttons. To make the times clear and easy to read, the chronograph minutes and seconds hands are both positioned centrally on the main dial and distinguished from each other by being different colours: the seconds hand is blue while the minute hand is steel or gold in colour, advancing instantly in one jump every 60 seconds. This choice of colours makes it possible to preserve the quintessential design for the black dial, with simple bar hour markers and numerals at the cardinal points, a date window at three o’clock and a small seconds dial at nine o’clock. The structure of the dial is that designed by Panerai in the late 1930s to ensure high visibility even in very low lighting conditions, and it is formed of two superimposed plates, the upper one being perforated corresponding to the markers on the dial so that the luminescence of the Super-LumiNova® can emerge.

The case of the new Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback is 44mm in diameter and water-resistant to 10 bar (about 100 metres), or 5 bar (about 50 metres) in the gold version. The materials used are of absolute excellence: the steel is AISI 316L stainless steel, extremely resistant to corrosion, and the red gold is 5Npt, an alloy with a high percentage of copper, which gives the colouring greater intensity, and a proportion of platinum, which helps to prevent any oxidation.

Executed in the same case material and with a brushed finish, the characteristic bridge device with its lever for sealing the winding crown helps to ensure the high degree of water-resistance of the watch.

On the back of the case, the 12-sided caseback has at its centre a sapphire window which reveals the manufacture P.9100 movement. This is the first automatic chronograph calibre developed and made by Officine Panerai, and its sophisticated construction is revealed by numerous details. It has a vertical clutch, a column wheel, two spring barrels connected in series which give the watch a power reserve of three days, a rotor which winds the springs of the barrels by moving in both directions, and a variable inertia balance which oscillates at 28,800 alternations/hour. Consisting of 302 components, the movement is 13¾ lignes in diameter and 8.15 mm thick.

The Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback (PAM00524) and the Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Oro Rosso (PAM00525) are part of the Contemporary Collection. The steel model is supplied with a black leather strap and the red gold one with a brown alligator strap. The straps are easily changed by means of the button fitted in the lug of the watch, which is operated by the special tool provided.

Calibre P.9100

The P.9100 calibre is the first automatic movement with chronograph functions developed by Officine Panerai and it is produced entirely in the Officine Panerai manufacture in Neuchâtel, with materials and standards of workmanship at the peak of the sector in terms of technology, quality and reliability.

With a chronograph with a vertical clutch and column wheel, the new calibre is unusual in that the chronograph minutes are displayed by a central hand which jumps forward once every 60 seconds. It also has the useful flyback function. This enables the chronograph hands which are already running to be returned instantaneously to zero and restarted without it being necessary first to stop them and return them to zero, then to restart them. This function is controlled by the push-button at eight o’clock, which is also used to return both hands to zero when the chronograph has already stopped.

The P.9100 calibre is 13¾ lignes (31 mm) in diameter, it is 8.15 mm thick, it has 37 jewels and it is made up of 302 components. The two spring barrels in series give a power reserve of 72 hours, equivalent to three days. The choice of the double spring barrel enables thinner, longer springs to be used, which is beneficial for the duration and evenness of the supply of energy. The automatic winding is carried out by a bidirectional rotor on ball-bearings operating two narrow arms terminating with hooks, which wind the springs of the barrels with every movement of the rotor itself. Supported by a single bridge with a KIF Parechoc® anti shock device, the Glucydur® balance wheel oscillates at 28,800 alternations/hour (equivalent to 4hz) and it is the variable inertia type, with the regulation carried out by adjusting four square-headed screws fitted in the outer perimeter of the balance wheel; the spring is therefore free, without the curb pins which can be a source of irregular timekeeping.