Yes, watch fans it is true – a thinner, smaller, sleeker Panerai is scheduled to be born in 2010.
As I alluded to in my last post, 2010 may very well be the year of the small watch. And I say “small” in the most relative of senses and as I am silently laughing to myself. Perhaps “not as large” would be a better descriptor - especially when we are talking about a brand such as Panerai. If you did not know, Panerai was perhaps the initiator of the “big watch” trend when CEO Angelo Bonati presented what was at the time a collection of strikingly oversize watches…way back when….at SIHH 1998! And it was just last year that Panerai’s big watch ambitions were running strong as it released the limited edition Panerai Radiomir Egiziano – a watch that clocked in at a whopping 60mm (see it here)!!! But for SIHH 2010 we learn that Panerai – no longer just a “brand” as it was in 1998 but now a “manufacture” – will be moving in the other direction – thinner, smaller, sleeker. And with the help of a new movement, the Panerai Caliber P.999. Believe it!
So is the watch brand that started the big watch craze going to end it? Don’t hold your breath. However, First In Watches believes that this is a masterful move for Panerai. If you thought Panerai was “the” watch to own before, just wait until after this year’s SIHH! So here’s the watch, and some details on the new P.999 movement follow:
Panerai Radiomir P.999 42mm Pink Gold (PAM 336)
Limited Production of 500 pieces
The new Panerai P.999 manufacture movement – thickness of only 3.4 millimeters, individually numbered, a whopping 60-hour power reserve, and a swan neck regulator (a nice touch, I might add!):
Source: Panerai.
