Although Panerai watch becomes the dominant feature and the highly distinctive style

Rare and beautiful steel diving watch. Cushion case, screw back. Crown guard. Black sandwich dial with luminous index and Arabic numerals. Mechanical movement signed Panerai. Leather strap with steel pin buckle. Diam. 47 mm. With a Panerai compass in its case. The original case and excellent contition of this vintage model make this an extremely rare Panerai piece. It is a perfect example of the Radiomir’s evolution towards the Luminor, characterised by its bridge with crown guard, and the strap attachments made from the same block of steel, replacing the wire lugs that were welded onto the case. Moreover the bezel had evolved towards a flatter, {http://www.gavinwatch.com/panerai-luminor-replica-uk.html} that was stronger. In the last ten years, less than fifteen such pieces reference 6152 have sold at auction.

Although Panerai began life as a company which created functional timepieces, they have gone on to become style icons, symbolic of Italian flair for design. The luminosity of early models meant that they were the perfect requisite timepiece for use in extreme conditions and were used by Italy’s elite frogmen for covert missions. Traditionally presented in out-size cases, some with huge crown guards, Panerai models have a highly recognisable face-on plainness, with uncluttered dials topped with broad convex crystals – and if you own a Panerai, no doubt these are the features which got you hooked in the first place. The company have experimented with composites, ceramic and even bronze, but really – polished and satin-brushed steel is still the perfect metal with which to showcase their aesthetics.

The piece is powered by the Swiss manual-wind Panerai in-house P.5000 movement whose twin barrels provide a generous power reserve of 8 days. The almost clinical beauty of the large unadorned movement is visible through rear sapphire. A large winding crown at 12 o’clock with a stirrup-shaped enclosure becomes the dominant feature and the highly distinctive curled numerals and decisive hour markers are entirely at home in their new broader environment.

Inside the Panerai Luminor Submersible Left-Handed Titanio PAM569 is Panerai's in-house made P.9000 automatic movement. What I like about this movement is that in addition to it having 72 hours (three days) of power reserve, it still operates at a frequency of 28,800 bph (4Hz). Some more simple Panerai in-house made movements operate at 3Hz, and I prefer the 4Hz calibers given their propensity to be more accurate. The PAM569 does have a solid titanium caseback so you can't view the movement - which makes sense, as it is a dive watch.

In-house movements are still very much "in" (pardon the pun), and one of the latest additions to the ever-growing array of proprietary Swiss calibers is one that was designed and is manufactured by Panerai. Today, we will be discussing the more interesting details of the P.4000 movement and also one of the models in which it made its debut, the Panerai Radiomir 1940 3 Days Automatic PAM572. We will begin with a closer look at the P.4000 movement, and then go hands-on with this old-new Radiomir, which was given the privilege of first accommodating it..