Your Guide to Panerai Watches

Delve into this guide and figure out which Panerai watch is for you.

Panerai is one of the newest members of our Jura Watches family. By exploring this brand’s rich tapestry of elegant military-inspired dive watches, you can truly get a feel for what drew us towards wanting this watchmaker to join our online portfolio of prestigious luxury watch brands this year. The Italian company has been specialising in wristwatches that embody values of robustness, legibility and practicality for many, many years and it is this esteemed history that brings us to creating this ultimate guide to Panerai watches for you.

We’ve covered the history of Panerai watches and the latest innovations to have come of the Italian brand over the past 12 months, but what our editorial was lacking was a detailed guide to current Panerai watch collections. So, we’ve devised this comprehensive list of the best Panerai watches to help you figure out which watch to add to your collection this year. It covers everything from the classic Radiomir watch to the water-ready Submersible and, of course, the brand’s flagship collection – the popular Luminor watch, So, without further ado, let’s get stuck in.

A Brief History of Panerai watches

You can date the story of Panerai watches back to the year 1860 when Giovani Panerai opened up his first watch shop in Florence. The horology training centre grew in popularity and by the 20th century, Panerai had taken on a contract with the Royal Italian Navy. The first patent for the Radiomir watch followed in 1916. Although Panerai developed watches for the wrong side during WWII (as did many brands), it reached some milestones that propelled it into worldwide success much later on in its story. Some of these include the Perspex crystal (1936), the luminous sandwich dial (1938), integrated lugs with spring bars (1940) and a movement with an 8-day power reserve (1949). One of the most noticeable, however, has to be the signature lever-activated crown lock (1950).

It wasn’t until 1993 that Panerai opened its watches up to the public, where its watches soon found their way onto Sylvester Stallone’s wrist. The watchmaker was soon acquired by the Vendome Group, which later became the Richemont Group, where its production facilities moved to Switzerland. Today, Panerai creates some of the world’s most covetable luxury sports watches. The company is synonymous with bold, oversized and wholly masculine designs, each one carrying the military-inspired DNA that the brand became so well-known for in the late 1930s-1970s.

Choosing a Panerai Watch

Panera has around 20 in-house movements under its wing, not to mention several third-party movements. It also holds around 200 models in its catalogue, made available in a choice of materials including steel, Carbotech, titanium and Panera’s own composite material. Many watches look the same and upon first glance, the catalogue may appear difficult to navigate, however, the models can be grouped into four collections; the Radiomir, the Luminor, the Submersible and the Luminor Due.

The Panerai Luminor Watch Collection

The Panerai Luminor watch collection marks a chapter in the brand’s history that saw Panerai move away from the harmful Radiomir luminous treatment that it had been using for its Radiomir watches. Instead, it created a newer and safer material - Luminor. Luminor was a tritium-based material. The Luminor watches were also identifiable by their crown lock feature, which Panerai had patented in the 1950s. The Panerai Luminor watch collection holds the Italian watchmaker’s most popular designs. It is distinguishable by its crown lock, cushion-shaped case, and integrated lugs. The watch was modernised for civilian use in 1993, which still makes it a relatively young design in the grand scheme of things, especially with you consider the brand has been around since 1860. The Luminor Base Logo is the brand’s simplest and most basic design from this collection. Even for an affordable price, you can bag an in-house movement and several design codes that embody the true, authentic Panerai design codes.

The Panerai Luminor Due Watch Collection

If the large and imposing style of the Luminor is too much, you may prefer the Panerai Luminor Due. The watches from this collection are smaller and thinner and have a slightly more refined feel to them. In essence, this is the sub-collection of the Panerai Luminor line. It features the same familiar case shape and crown locking feature, but separating it from the Luminor is its 30-meter water-resistant capability. Suffice it to say, this is a dressier timepiece that is best saved for special occasions rather than for water exploration.

The Panerai Radiomir Watch Collection

Panerai Radiomir watches are the brand’s earlier military watches. These models stand out from the other collections for a few key reasons. To start with, this watch was the iconic model to feature the harmful Radiomir substance back in the earlier days, which was later found to be radioactive and dangerous to wear. Today, the watches are all treated with Super-LumiNova, glowing in an intense green or blue hue at night to aid legibility when tracking the time. Radiomir watches from Panerai don’t feature a prominent crown guard or the locking mechanism. These watches boast the wire lugs that give them an undeniably retro charm. Although these watches look relatively classic, they still bear a large presence on the wrist, with some models measuring a diameter of 45mm or 47mm.

The Panerai Submersible Watch Collection

Interestingly, the Submersible watch used to belong to the Luminor collection. But in 2019, it acquired its very own collection. This was indeed part of the brand’s attempt to vastly simplify its catalogue for its devoted fans. Although many Panerai watches are classified as dive watches, no Panerai watch deserves the title more than the Submersible. These watches promise a water-resistant rating of 300 meters and feature unidirectional rotating bezels that enable you to track elapsed time underwater. When diving, all the wearer needs do is align the zero point on the bezel with the minute hand and allow for time to tick by whilst he is underwater. The mechanism enables a diver to track his time underwater and monitor how long he has left before he needs to return to the surface of the water. Of course, aiding their functionality, these watches feature strong cases, screw-down crowns, robust sapphire glass tops and rugged straps, not to mention skeletonised hands that give these watches a distinctive look.

If you’d like more information on any of the key Panerai watch collections we’ve featured in this guide, call and speak to a member of our Jura Watches sales team on 01335 453453 or email us at help@jurawatches.co.uk