SIHH 2015: Panerai PAM 604 Radiomir Firenze 3 Days

Officine Panerai has released a special edition Radiomir, that is hand engraved by Italian craftsmen.  The impossibility of exactly repeating an action means that each example of the Radiomir Firenze is unique and different.

The brushed steel case 47 mm in diameter has the same dimensions as the first watch created by Officine Panerai in 1936, and it is entirely decorated with engraving carried out by hand by expert Italian craftsmen, the designs being inspired by motifs which recur in Florentine iconography.

Each case requires more than a week of work on the partof one engraver, work that is made particularly demanding by the hardness of the AISI 316L stainless steel. The geometric and floral motifs are first drawn as a temporaryoutline – using powdered chalk or magnesium powder – and then engraved with a burin. The engraved surfaces are formed of very thin parallel lines which give depth to the design, accentuating the contrasts between light and dark. Any error that the engraver might make as he works  with his burin on the case, which is already completed and finished, would irrevocably damage the work already carried out, just as a poorly-aimed blow by a sculptor on a block of marble would mean that the artist had to start his patient work all over again from scratch.

The name of Florence, the city of Officine Panerai’s birth and the inspiration of this unique model, is inscribed on the black dial in characters that are typical of vintage Panerai watches. The dial itself is enhanced by a satiné soleil finish which catches the light and diffuses it, creating fascinating,surprising effects. Like all Panerai models, the luminosity of the dial is increased by its sandwich structure: the light from the luminous material which enables the time to be read at night emerges through holes corresponding to the figures in the upper of the two superimposed discs which form the dial.

The movement of the new Radiomir Firenze is the handwound P.3000 calibre, designed and made in the Panerai manufacture in Neuchâtel, and it can be admired through the sapphire glass porthole which is positioned in the centre of the back.  The two spring barrels connected in series provide a power reserve of three days and the balance, which is unusually large (13.2 mm in diameter), oscillates at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz). The movement is also fitted with the device which enables the hour hand to be moved when setting the watch without interfering with the running of the minute hand.

Only 99 examples of this new Special Edition are being made and they are sold exclusively in Officine Panerai’s historic Florence boutique in Piazza San Giovanni.

Specifications from Press Release

PAM 604- Special Edition of 99 Units

MOVEMENT:

• Hand-wound mechanical, P.3000 calibre, executed entirely by Panerai.
• FUNCTIONS: Hours, minutes.
• POWER RESERVE: 72 Hours.
• WATER-RESISTANCE: 10 bar (~ 100 metres).

CASE

• 47 mm, AISI 316L brushed steel.

DIAL

• Black with luminous Arabic numerals and hour markers.