The History of Panerai Watches

The Panerai Company was established in Florence, Italy in the 1860s. In the late 1930s the brand gained more popularity due to the fact that it was commissioned by the Italian Navy to produce huge diverРІР‚в„ўs watches for a group of its submarine commandos. The brandРІР‚в„ўs designers enlarged the timepieceРІР‚в„ўs cases to make Panerai watches more legible to be used while plunged in the gloomy waters of the Mediterranean Sea. These watches featured pure, bold lines with black dials and large white numerals.

Panerai launched just 300 timepieces in the period of 1938-1993. Then it started selling its oversized timepieces produced in limited numbers for the general public in Italy. The big break for the company came when Franco Cologni, an executive with the Vendome Group, presently known as the Richemont group, was really impressed by Panerai watches. His deep interest in the brand and its products led to the acquisition of Panerai by the Richemont group in 1997. As the result, the horology world witnessed the appearance of the unique timepieces.

Strengthened by Richemont solid support, Panerai timepieces became instantly popular. Nowadays, Panerai enjoys a well-deserved status of a brand producing cult timepieces. The number of the produced watches increased tremendously from just 1,000 in 1997 to 30,000 annually launched timepieces today.

Since 1997 the brand has been ruled by Angelo Bonati. Panerai CEO faced the major decision whether to continue assembling timepieces from ETA movements and further increase the production or take the challenge and develop Panerai in-house caliber while remaining a limited-production brand. Finally, Mr. Bonati chose the second alternative. He wanted Panerai timepieces to be equipped with elaborated movements with very specific characteristics, which would be easily recognized as a signature caliber for Panerai. As the result in March, 2005 there appeared a large hand-wound 8-day movement, the P.2002, which took two years to be developed. The first timepiece to feature the innovative movement became the Radiomir 8 days GMT limited to only 50 pieces.

The appearance of Panerai in-house caliber marked a new era in the brandРІР‚в„ўs history. Panerai joined the exclusive list of very few watch manufacturers, which produce their in-house caliber and this will no doubt bring the brand even more success and appreciation worldwide.

Panerai replica watches reflect all the long way the brand has passed to the firm position it presently occupies in the world of watch-making. Choose your faithful companion among fine Panerai replica watches available at very affordable price range.