SIHH 2012: The Officine Panerai Radiomir 1940 PAM00398 and Radiomir 1940 PAM00399

Classics. One thing which Office Panerai has done in the past two years in manufacture "classic" watches using materials which it used historically. This year, it released two limited edition Radiomir, the  Radiomir 1940 PAM 398 and Radiomir 1940 PAM 399 is the same fashion.

The most notable things about these design are the use of Plexiglass crystals instead of the contemporary sapphire crystal. In keeping with the classic design, both the PAM 398 and the PAM 399 are time only watches, displaying only the hours, minutes and seconds. The movement, in keeping with the theme are hand wound movements,the  OPXVII hand-wound mechanical movement. Both watches are 47 mm in diameter.

The only difference between the PAM 398 and PAM 399 is the material used to manufacture the case. The PAM 398 is made of 18 carat gold, with a Red Gold color. The PAM 399 case, is made from stainless steel.

PAM 398

PAM 399

Radiomir 1940 case. The Radiomir we are familiar with, had steel wires welded to the case to attach the watch to the strap. The PAM 398 and PAM 399 present a new Radiomir case, dubbed the Radiomir 1949.  The Radiomir 1940 case has solid steel lugs formed out of the same block of steel as the case itself like those found on the Luminor case. This feature makes the PAM 398 and PAM 399 probably the most significant watches released by Officine Panerai this year. I suspect, we will be seeing more Radiomir 1940 watches in the future.

PAM 399 - Back

Limited Edition. The PAM 398 and PAM 399 are of very limited production. Only 100 each will be produced. Of those 50 will be sold as pairs. The Red Gold PAM 398 will be sold with a matching stainless steal PAM 399, in a two watch presentation box.

About Panerai. Officine Panerai was founded in 1860 in Florence, Italy by Giovani Panerai. Panerai was acquired over by Swiss watchmaker Richemont S. A. in 1997.