2013/02/25
Officine Panerai the New Productions 2013
Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Power Reserve Automatic Bronzo - 47mm (Watch)
Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Ceramica - 47mm (Watch)
Luminor Submersible 1950 2500m 3 Days Automatic Titanio - 47mm (Watch)
Luminor 1950 Regatta 3 Days Chrono Flyback Titanio - 47mm (Watch)
Luminor 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback - 44mm
RADIOMIR 1940
In about 1940, the Panerai workshops in Florence perfected a new case, designed to meet the increasing demands of the commandos of the Italian Navy. The case had evolved from the one presented in 1936 which is known today as the Radiomir – a term which originally referred to theluminous material patented by Panerai to make the dial readable in the dark – but it presented some innovations designed to make its construction even more solid and hardwearing.
In the new case the strap attachments were no longer formed from a strong piece of steel wire bent and welded to the case, as they had been previously. This design might expose the watch to the risk of the strap coming off in the course of the extreme operations which commandos were
called upon to undertake when on board their underwater assault craft. In the 1940s version, however, the lugs were larger and much more solid, being milled from the same block of steel as the case, of which it was an integral part.
As well as the strap attachments, the system of attaching the strap was also changed, becoming much simpler and more secure. While previously it had been necessary to sew the leather round the wire strap attachments, the new construction had small holes in the lugs themselves in which little tubes could be fitted, having been inserted through the loops at the ends of the strap. This was a more modern solution, which also meant that the leather strap could easily be replaced.
As well as the modification to the strap attachments, other changes altered the Radiomir case in a definitive way, presaging the subsequent development of the shape of the Luminor case which came out a few years later. The cushion-shaped outlines were now less accentuated. The winding crown was slightly larger and cylindrical rather than troncoidal. The overall thickness of the watch increased from about 15 mm to almost 17 mm.
So was born the Radiomir 1940 case, which Officine Panerai is presenting again today – with the same forms but in a thinner version - in new models of the collection, watches endowed with the strength and fascination that only being a part of history can convey.
