Panerai

Table Clock Watches

In the world of watchmaking, Italian design and Swiss innovation are unparalleled. So, when you combine the two, it naturally leads to some truly exceptional creations. This has been the case for renowned watchmakers Officine Panerai – a brand that stands tall in the segment of luxury watches that has way more to offer than only luxury.

Since the brand’s inception back in the 1860s, it has successfully tackled the dynamic challenges in the watchmaking world. From serving the Italian navy to crafting delightful timepieces for civilians – the brand has come a long way, and it still has a long way to go.

While the majority of Panerai’s fame comes from its wristwatches, the brand also offers a table clock that is representative of all that the brand stands for. The table clock features the brand’s iconic Radiomir dial design. At the same time, it also houses Panerai’s movement, which is manufactured in-house.

So, if you already own one or more Panerai wristwatches, it’s time to add the brand’s spherical table clock to your collection. Its mineral glass sphere is a sheer joy to behold, and it’s a fitting addition to any watch collector’s desk.

Panerai first made its name as a maker of military-grade watches during World War II. During this period, the brand exclusively served the Italian navy. However, once it saw that its watches were being received extremely well by members of the Italian navy and military, it started offering its watches to the general public.

The name Panerai burst onto the scene for the first time in 1860, when talented Giovanni Panerai started a watchmaking school and workshop in a small town in Florence, Italy. The school nurtured the talents of many young watchmakers at the time, and Panerai’s name began to make some noise. The school had the motto “Where ideas come to life”, and this motto couldn’t be a truer reflection of Pandera's beliefs – which were all about invention and innovation.

The brand of Panieri cemented itself in 1916 when it came up with a luminous substance that would forever change the course of the watchmaking industry. At the time, other luminous substances used for watchmaking were below par, but Panerai’s invention, which went on to be patented, proved to be a game-changer.

The luminous substance was radium-based was named ‘Radiomir’, and it soon started to make appearances across all of Panerai’s creations. Panerai’s watches were noticed in next to no time by the Italian military, which saw the potential of the watches in deep-diving situations.

It catered to the demands of the Italian navy during the days of the first and second World Wars, and things pretty much stayed the same until the 1990s. In 1993, the company aimed to build on all its successes by offering its products to civilians for the first time.

Panerai also developed a Radiomir prototype in 1936, which offer a high degree of luminosity. It also offered water resistance and was easy to read as well, be it above water or under it. The marine watch also featured a water-resistant caseback along with a screw-down crown. After Panerai’s watches went public, a lot of big-name collectors quickly snapped up later editions of this watch. As far as military watches go, this one will forever be considered iconic.

As mentioned before, much of Panerai’s fame and fortune is down to its military-grade watches. However, in 2014, the company launched its signature table clock, which featured the iconic Panerai wristwatch design. It stayed true to Panerai’s innovative ways and made collectors around the world curious. Let’s take you through all the features of this table clock.

Case and Base

The Panerai table clock is an 8-day table clock that features a mechanical development and design. The product with the reference number PAM000581 has a 65mm case as an encasing. Both sides of the case feature domed mineral glass. Above 12 o’clock, there’s a large twisting crown, which has the appearance of a pocket watch inside a sphere. The round clock has a round base made from brushed steel. There’s also the “Officine Panerai” engraving on the front.

The dial appears on one side of the case, while the other side displays the clock’s remarkable movement. Both the movement and the dial feature intricate details that are spectacular to behold. The glass also has a magnifying effect, which makes the details look much larger than they really are.

Dial

Since Panerai’s first offerings, the brand has been using Radiomir for marker illumination, and this feature stays the same on the table clock. The dial is extremely easy to read, even when the lighting conditions are at their poorest.

The dial’s design features some of the components that have made Panerai such a mammoth brand in the world of mechanical watchmaking. The dial has the “Radomir Panerai” engraving along with “8 Days”, which stands for its extraordinary power reserve.

Movement

A hand-wound P.5000 movement is one of the clock’s highlights. The movement’s development is a throwback to the brand’s watches that were popular in the Italian military during the 1940s. At the time, the movement was known as the Angelus movement.

Panerai’s 2014 table clock was a success story, as collectors lapped it up without second thought. That’s why the brand decided to follow up on its success with two new table clocks in 2015. While one of them, the PAM641, features a dot-and-dash S.L.C dial, the other, the PAM651, features a “California” dial.

Both these clocks retain most of the design elements that made the first table clock such a success. The clocks feature a diameter of 65mm, and both the front and the back sides feature the domed mineral glass.

Unlike the original’s classic dial featuring Arabic numerals and baton markers, the PAM641 offers an S.L.C dial. Named after human torpedoes used by the frogmen of the Italian navy during the days of World War II, the Siluri a Lenta Corsa (S.L.C.) might seem strange at first. Its unique and unusual look is only featured on prototype wristwatches manufactured by the brand.

The PAM651 offers the “California” dial, which was designed in the 1980s by Kirk Rich Dial Corporation. At the bottom, the dial displays Arabic numbers. However, at the top, it displays Roman numerals.