Panerai - Yet Another Manufacture Caliber
WORLDTEMPUS - October 4, 2010
Panerai has come a long way: from the preferred timepiece of Italian military divers during World War II to a luxury watch brand with several in-house mechanisms ticking inside the oversized cases. The latest in this line is the P'3000, a Panerai manufacture caliber.
Last week, Panerai's CEO Angelo Bonati welcomed loyal friends of the successful brand to the city of its birth: Florence. After talking about astronomy and the impressive Jupiterium, Bonati offered his guests a rare look at the Panerai collection starting with the very first prototype from 1936 and ending with the latest offerings—one of which was the remake of the 1942 Mare Nostrum introduced at the 2010 S.I.H.H. in Geneva.
During Panerai's early years, the brand used only Rolex/Cortebert and Angelus movements in the first watches issuing from the Florentine family. Unitas mechanisms were introduced in many a historically inspired model when Panerai resurfaced in 1993. The Unitas mechanisms have been the solid tractors giving many a Paneristi great timekeeping pleasure throughout the years.
It would now seem that the use of the Unitas 6497 manually wound caliber could well soon be a thing of the past, as Bonati introduced brand new Caliber P'3000 during the Time & Space exhibition in Florence.
P'3000
The P'3000 movement family begins with the 16 ½ line time-only base caliber that is 5.3 mm high. P'3000-1 contains small seconds; P'3000-2 has small seconds and a date; P'3000-3 adds a GMT function to the seconds and date. Ticking at 21,600 vph and containing 21 jewels, the P'3000 offers a three-day power reserve with twin serially operating spring barrels: The ticking sound originates in a wonderfully old-fashioned and rather large balance wheel that measures a whopping 13.2 mm.
The P'3000 is a simple movement, indeed—simple as in solid and undoubtedly easily able to pass C.O.S.C., though this will not be a future option for the Panerai movements. "We will no longer put any of our movements through C.O.S.C.," Bonati confirmed during the presentation, instead opting for thorough in-house quality checks and "homemade" criteria suitable to modern watchmaking.
Competing calibers
With the introduction of Caliber P'3000, Panerai now boasts seven in-house movements. Early in 2010, Panerai had already introduced the manually wound P'999 in a 42 mm Radiomir. However, this mechanism was designed for the Asian market and meets demands of smaller watches—practically making the 42 mm Radiomir a ladies model.
"Caliber P'999 does not fit into the larger Luminor cases," Bonati said in answer to the question concerning the P'3000 competing with the P'999.
Not cheap
The bridges are brushed and beveled, providing a wonderful view through a transparent case back—though it is not yet known what the actual watches will look like. The new models sporting the P'3000 movements will be shown at the 2011 S.I.H.H. in January, and will be offered through Panerai dealers just after the show at prices starting from € 5,000 to about 7,000. Not an inexpensive manually wound watch, even in terms of Panerai, but undoubtedly a smart step toward total autonomy, particularly once the Swatch Group tightens its distribution of external ebauche sales.
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