Italian Watchmaker Gets Coffee Table Book Treatment With Hardcover ‘Panerai’ Volume
The hardcover tome traces the company’s Italian DNA and heritage in visually striking fashion.
A handsome Panerai watch is eye-catching enough on the wrist, and makes perfect sense as the centerpiece of a lavish new volume from Flammarion, aptly and simply titled Panerai.
Billed as “the most complete and certified account of the Maison’s evolution to date,” the 192-page volume features both archival imagery from the world of Panerai, plus modern photography. The latest tome (available via Rizzoli for $135) updates the original and authoritative 2008 edition with an exploration of never-before-seen horology insights and covetable Panerai models, with a particular focus on watches worn by the likes of the Italian Navy, including the iconic Panerai Luminor Marina.
The lavish volume, a fitting addition to the coffee table of any Panerai enthusiast or watch collector, goes deep in tracing the company’s history back to its 1860 founding by watchmaker Giovanni Panerai. The book places a special emphasis on the horologist and its commitment to “a distinctive language of functional design” in producing watches for use on land and in water by operators including the Italian Navy.
More than just a photographic ode to one of the world’s most recognizable watch companies, the book “consistently underscores how these timepieces served as genuine instruments of action” when used by the Italian Navy. Panerai also examines the watchmaker’s relationships with explorer Mike Horn and the Luna Rossa sailing outfit in the modern era, again delivered in visually appealing fashion in high-quality coffee-table format.
Panerai spans four chapters breaking down two unique areas, one focused on heritage and one related to modernity in Panerai’s watchmaking practices, including a laser-focused period of “military secrecy” before debuting to the public in 1993. Its earliest attempts at dive watches, including the 1940s Radiomir dial (ref. 3646) and its mid-1950s ref. 6152/1 prototype are also examined in detail sure to please the most discerning dive watch collector. Chapters on Panerai in modern times (including copy focused on its 1997 acquisition by Richemont) focus on the company’s nimble efforts at its own laboratory and maison.
Panerai was authored by watch expert and former Il Giornale editor-in-chief Giampiero Negretti. Negretti is a fitting partner in the endeavor: His other Panerai-focused volumes (among other watch industry book credits) include Legendary Watches and Panerai Historia: From the Depths of the Sea. As with other volumes focused on the heritage of legendary watchmakers, it’s at times difficult to find your dream Panerai timepiece, but this handsome read might be a worthy ‘vision board’ addition in the meantime. Find Panerai online now.