SIHH 2012: Officine Panerai Radiomir California 3 Days PAM00424

Officine Panerai Radiomir California 3 Days PAM00424. Where do we start with Panerai's 2012 line-up. We already took a quick look at the Panerai Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days 47mm PAM00422 a few days ago. So lets start with a Radiomir. One of the new watches introduced by Panerai at SIHH 2012 is the Radiomir California 3 Days PAM00424.

The PAM 424 is 47 mm watch built on a Radiomir case with the basic time and date functionality. The 47 mm case is made from stainless steel. A sapphire crystal glass protects the dial. Inside is a Officine Panerai's P.3000 calibre. This is an in-house movement entirely designed by Officine Panerai and manufactured in Neuchâtel facility. The P.3000 calibre has a three day power reserve and produces 21,600 vibrations per hour. It is visible through a sapphire crystal case back.

This watch is similar to Officine Panerai Radiomir 3 Days Platino PAM00376 introduced at SIHH 2011 in the sense that both feature the California dial. The PAM 424 differs from the PAM 376 in that the former has a date display and is made from stainless steel. The PAM 376 was a limited production watch with a platinum case.

California Dial. The PAM 424 has the so-called "California Dial" which has a rather odd looking combination of Roman numerals, Arabic numbers and stick and triangle markers on its face. The California Dial was used by some Panerai and Rolex watches manufactured in the 1930's. It should be recalled that back than, Panerai watches used Rolex movements, so a certain degree of sharing in design did occur between the two companies. In the 1980's a company based in California, USA, refurbish the dials of several vintage Rolex watches with the combination Roman numerals and Arabic number dials, and the dial got the name, "California Dial." As near as I can surmise, these dial was the result of Panerai experiments at perfecting the high visibility dial.

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.