SIHH 2012: What to expect from Panerai this year

Careful evolution. What should you expect from Panerai in 2012? In brief, more of the same, and a bit different at the same time. Officine Panerai already released details on one of the watches it will be showing at SIHH 2012, the Luminor Marina 1950 3 Days 47mm PAM00422.

"According to Panerai, the PAM 422 is inspired by a rare model of the 1940s that represents an intermediate stage in the transformation from the Radiomir to the Luminor case" (Source: Perpetuelle). I do not know about that,  but it does look like an evolution of the Officine Panerai Luminor 1950 3 Days 47mm PAM00372 from 2011. 

Familiar but different.

Plexiglass. Panerai has always linked its designs with its past, but last year this trend started to create a line of more historically authentic watches. Last year the  PAM 372 came with a surprising component, a Plexiglas crystal. Plexiglass or acrylic glass used to be common in watchmaking until the 1980's, after which mineral glass and sapphire crystal glass was used instead. The use of Plexiglass is to give the watch a more authentic historical design. Like the PAM 372, the PAM 422 also use a Plexiglass crystal.

In 2011 the PAM 372 came with a new in-house P.3000 hand-wound. The PAM 422 comes a modified version of this movement the P.3001 hand-wound movement. It basically incorporates small seconds, displayed at the 9 o’clock position, a power-reserve indicator on the back and a seconds reset function to the P.3000 movement.

But this is a good way to go. Why mess with success. People do now want to see watch designs morphing every year. The PAM 422 can be clearly identified as a Panerai, even without a label. For a watch design to be a success, I think that it the way it should be.

What I would like to see is Panerai's entry level watches, like the PAM 000 get in-house movement treatment. No, I do not want to see all that many changes too.

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.