49 watches from the private collection of Prof. F. A. Porsche of the famed sports car marque and his sons will be auctioned by Bonhams on Dec. 2 in London during its Fine Watches and Timepieces sale. Included are timepieces by Eterna, Porsche Design, Rolex, Panerai, Jaeger LeCoultre, Breitling, Chronoswiss, Omega and more. Of particular note are prototypes and unique examples of Eterna and Porsche Design watches custom made for the Porsche family. The latter includes a fine 18 carat gold chronograph (above) made especially by Eterna (now owned by Porsche) and presented to Dr. Ferdinand Oliver Porsche for his 40th birthday, estimated at £4,000 - £6,000. Also included in the collection is a very rare Rolex Explorer with ivory dial (£,5000 -£7,000), a selection of Panerai watches including a Luminor Flyback (£3,000 - £5,000), and an original Jaeger LeCoultre Polaris from 1960 (£5,000 - £7,000).

[via JamesList]

Diehard enthusiasts and collectors of famed Italian watch brand Panerai, known as the Paneristi, came together recently to raise money for those less fortunate. The global members of enthusiast site Paneristi.com celebrated the online forum's 10th anniversary with an event at artist and Panerai collector Eng Tay's Tribeca studio. Tay (above) created a special series of images showing an outstanding collection of vintage and classic Panerai timepieces along with his artwork for a calendar celebrating Paneristi.com's 10th anniversary. All profits from the limited edition $300 calendar are being donated to The Mulliganeers, a children's charity created by Paneristi.com moderator and founder Paddy Conway. Most copies of the collector's item sold out within two weeks but there a few left; you can contact Paddy@CotswoldGardens.com for info. on ordering.

It is true that in the scope of things 42mm wide is still considered big for some people. 42mm wide would even seem totally ordinary on any other watch - but for a Panerai it stands out. I knew Richemont (who owns Panerai) would try to get us into smaller watches, and what a shock it is now coming from Panerai. I've even seen plenty of 44mm wide Panerai watches on women that look great. So why all of a sudden the shrinkage?

To make the watch even more enticing, Panerai is placing in it a new in-house made movement, the quite thin manually wound P'999 caliber. This allows the entire watch to be much thinner than we expect in a Panerai. The case is classic looking and in 18 rose gold - with handsome brown accents.

If you recall, I just mentioned that Panerai has made smaller watches in the past. I don't think that these sold too well, and I have a feeling they were meant for the Asian markets where much of the time a 40mm wide and under watch model is preferred. So while Panerai has made smaller watches in the past, I suspect that instead of doing so to pacify select important markets, it is part of a larger effort to get smaller watches in again. I think that the 42mm wide 2010 Panerai Radiomir looks nice enough that many people will get it, I don't see their standard 44mm watch losing popularity any time soon - and they would be foolish to abandon it.

Via World Tempus.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Panerai will release a new pink gold limited edition Luminor 1950 watch (ref. PAM00319) with manually wound movement with 8 days of power reserve as well as a split second (rattrapante) chronograph. An all gold Panerai like this is pretty rare, and it uses the Panerai manufacture made P.2006/3 movement. The movement is manually wound with an 8 day power reserve (shown on the linear power reserve indicator scale). You also get the split second 30 minute chronograph that Panerai always knows how to cleanly integrate. In order to keep the case looking simple, the chronograph pushers are on the left side of the case.

The watch case is 47mm wide in pink gold done in a brushed finish. The bezel however is nicely done with a polished finish to show off that Panerai dazzle. It is certainly blingy for the Italian brand but still goes along with the character they seek to preserve. The rich brown colored alligator strap has a pink gold buckle. You can see the interestingly made movement through the sapphire caseback, and the watch is still a Panerai being water resistant to 100 meters. Only 300 of the watches will be made and the price will likely above $20,000. A nice looker, certainly a Panerai in all respects, and likely to be a hit with collectors.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Rapper, producer, designer, and tastemaker Kanye West could obviously have any watch in the world. The one he chose is a customized all-black Rolex Submariner by Swiss firm Black-Out Concept (above), on a black nylon NATO spec strap. Kanye made a decision a while back that Rolex would be his signature watch brand, but he wanted to add his own twist; Black-Out's version was perfect. "It looks hard, it looks really cool," he explained in naming the watch one of his 10 style essentials. "It's a new take on a classic watch." He also likes the fact that they take a Rolex and literally "paint it black" (coat it, actually).

Black-Out Concept was founded in 2007 by Fabrice Letellier in Geneva. An avid watch collector, racecar driver and all-round exotic car enthusiast with the means to indulge his passions, the idea was born when Letellier had some of his supercar collection given a matte black treatment, i.e. blacked-out. Next he decided to do the same with his Rolex, and soon some of his fellow car and watch aficionados followed suit. Obviously there was a market for it. Letellier contracted with one of Geneva's best watchmakers to perfect the black out process for timepieces, which is done using two low-friction, scratch-proof finishes used by the military, PVD and DLC (diamond-like carbon).

Black-Out also creates customized blacked-out cars, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Aston Martin; the Black-Out package on the latter (see the gallery) costs about $40,000. They do customized matte black motorcycles as well built on a Harley-Davidson base, blacked-out Vertu Ascent cell phones - basically anything you can think of that would look better in all black. In addition to the Submariner they also black out several other Rolex models, including the GMT II, Daytona, Milgaus, and Deepsea, as well as other brands like Panerai, Bell & Ross and Audemars Piguet. Letellier has his own high-end watch brand in the works as well.



Of course, Black-Out aren't the only ones to offer blacked-out Rolexes; we've written before about Bamford & Sons' $30,000 PVD Daytona and other models, as well as Jacques Picard's $18,000 DLC Deepsea. (No, we don't know who thought of it first.) Black-Out doesn't actually sell watches, however, they customize yours at a cost of €5,000, or about $7,000, which includes Fed-Ex'ing to and from Geneva, and a set of three different straps including the NATO. So you can in fact get the look of the far more expensive models for much less - if you pick up a used Submariner in the $5,000 range - yet still have a watch that's every bit as exclusive, not to mention Kanye-approved. You can contact Black-Out's U.S. representative Christian Ginet at blackoutconcept@mac.com for more info.

As The Classicist noted in a column on Officine Panerai, the watchmaker founded in Florence in 1860, the firm got its start by supplying timepieces (and other instrumentation) to the Royal Italian Navy or Marina Militare. However they also produced special commissions for the elite branches of other countries' armed forces. One highly collectible example of such is a model made for the Egyptian Navy in 1956, limited to only 50 examples. Panerai has now ressurected the watch, dubbed the Radiomir Egiziano (above), for a new limited run. Only 300 pieces will be available at about $30,000 each. The watch features features a large lightweight brushed titanium case, a hand-wound movement with an 8-day power reserve, and a bi-directional rotating bezel. It comes on a thick tan leather strap fitted with a titanium buckle.

In case the obviousness of the case shape didn't arouse your suspicions, the modern Ferrari branded watches are produced by none other than Panerai. I've always felt that the Panerai branding was conspicuously absent from the face, but you'll find it on the back of the watch. This newest model based on the partnership is particularly svelte by my standards and is the Ref. FER000038.

The new feature for Ferrari (and Panerai for that matter) in this watch is the application of DLC (diamond like carbon) coating. The powerful diamond hard compound makes for a black sheen and virtually scratch-proof surface on the watch case as it is placed over the substrate metal - take that steel! In a manner that is particularly cool looking for the line, this 45mm wide cased watch is just beautifully simple and well made. The bicompax chronograph layout and revolving number design bathe the dial in a rich red that is accented by the F1 race car outline.

Inside is an automatic Panerai OPXII certified Chronometer movement. This exactly the type of watch I want to be seeing with a Ferrari logo on it. It is legible, dead-easy to use, and sure as hell stands out (but without screaming). The prancing horse logo on the crown and yellow emblem on the face round everything out. Well done Ferrari... I mean Panerai. Price is likely to be between $10,000 - $15,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

In our regular coverage of the world's top watch auctions we usually concentrate on the highest-priced timepieces, which are almost without exception made by Patek Philippe.

On the occasion of Christie's Important Watches sale in New York on Dec. 12 however, we thought we'd focus instead on the unusually high number of beautiful examples by Officine Panerai, the storied Italian brand that's opening a stylish new Manhattan boutique, as we mentioned the other day.

The Panerais on offer at the Dec. 12 auction range from a limited edition 1950 model Luminor (right) est. at $10,000 - $15,000, to an "eccentric seconds" Marina model, est. at $2,500 - $3,500. See the gallery for pix.

In December, luxury Italian watch brand Officine Panerai will open a new boutique in New York City, its second stand-alone U.S. store (the other is in Los Angeles). Panerai has been on an expansion binge of late, with recently opened shops in Florence, Portofino, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In addition to the NYC store, openings are planned for Buenos Aires, Madrid, Qatar and Dubai. The furnishings in the Panerai Boutiques are inspired by the sea, as Panerai started out supplying instruments to the Royal Italian Navy. Teak and steel are the predominant materials employed in the shops' nautical design, while furnishing details evoke diving suits and equipment, with porthole-shaped display panels recalling yacht fittings.

A few months back The Classicist wrote about the illustrious history of Officine Panerai, the watchmaker founded in Florence in 1860 and former supplier to the Royal Italian Navy. That history lives on in the form of Panerai's 1950 models, based on vintage designs but incorporating modern technological advancements. For the first time, Panerai is now offering one of the most elegant models, its Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT (above), in titanium, making it an extremely precious timepiece indeed. The watch features a six day power reserve; vertically rotating tourbillon; crystal window on the reverse revealing the movement; and an alligator strap with a titanium clasp. Only 150 of these watches are being produced at a price of $122,000.

Luxury Italian watchmaker Panerai is debuting four new models in its Ferrari branded collection in London at the British International Motor Show (BIMS) this week. Panerai began producing the collection for Ferrari in 2006; the entire range is on display to the public for the first time at the show, which began Wednesday and runs through Aug. 3rd.

The four new models are: the Ferrari 10 Days GMT, approx. $18,000, from the Scuderia Collection; the Ferrari 8 Days Chrono Monopulsante GMT Classic, approx. $21,000, from the Granturismo collection; the Ferrari 1/8th Second, approx. $21,000, a Special Edition; and the Ferrari Chronograph, approx. $57,000, a Special Edition. The entire collection now comprises 19 models.

[via Automotoportal]

On July 16, Sotheby's in London is staging a stunning sale of Important Watches. The top lots are all of course Patek Philippes, but there are some prime timepieces from the likes of Rolex, Panerai and Cartier as well. Leading things off pricewise is an exceptional platinum minute repeating perpetual calendar tourbillon Patek with retrograde date, phases of the moon and a black dial, est. $700,000 - $900,000.

From there prices drop dramatically and there are some deals to be found. We're particularly fond of this 1945 steel Patek chronograph with register and tachometer, est. only $50,000 - $80,000. On the Rolex front there's a rare 1972 stainless steel Submariner made for the British Royal Navy, est. $50,000 - $70,000, and a stainless 1983 Daytona cosmograph, est. $28,000 - $36,000. Also worth noting: an oversized Panerai limited edition white gold dual time zone Radiomir, est. $11,000 - $17,000. See the gallery for pix.

On June 19 in New York, Bonhams will auction off a selection of Fine Watches including this beautiful platinum Cartier pocket watch, estimated at $7,000 - $9,000. While overall the timepieces featured are of less importance than in some of the mega-auctions we told you about recently, there are still plenty of valuable and beautiful pieces to be had here. Also on the pocket watch front, there's a rare 18k gold open face minute repeating perpetual calendar version with phases of the moon by Patek Philippe, est. $80,000 - $120,000.

Also included in the sale: A Patek 18k gold self-winding perpetual calendar wristwatch with moon phases and leap year indicator, est. $25,000 - $35,000; several examples of the coveted "Straight Hand Steve McQueen" Rolex Explorer and a rare 1960 stainless steel anti-magentic Oyster chronograph, est. $40,000 - $60,000; and a limited edition titanium Panerai Luminor, est. $10,000 - $15,000.

Photo by Éric Sauvage and Nils Herrmann

Officine Panerai, founded in Florence in 1860, makes some of the most coveted wristwatches in the world. They only produce a limited number of timepieces every year, and there's usually a long waiting list for new models costing several thousands of dollars. The company is credited with perfecting the world's first underwater watches in the thirties; many have imitated its oversized style and the numerous devoted Panerai collectors around the globe are known as "Paneristi." Since 1996 the company has also produced a line of watches for Ferrari and serves as the marque's official timekeeper. An impressive new slipcased volume, called simply Panerai, about to be published by Flammarion, details the fascinating history of these beautiful watches.

Early on the company became the official supplier to the Marina Militare (the Royal Italian Navy), initially providing optical and mechanical instruments. In 1910 they began experimenting with luminous materials to make the instrument dials visible in the dark. In 1936 the Marina Militare asked Panerai to develop a wristwatch suitable for use by commandos under extreme conditions. Thus was born the oversized, water-resistant, luminous dial Radiomir, production of which began in 1938, cementing a place for Panerai in the pantheon of the world's great watchmakers.

Mike Disher of Time Zone is at the SIHH show and is covering some of the new releases. Today we are looking at Panerai watches. I'm pretty immune to the charms of this brand but these are some lovely and simple watches.

My favorite is the Radiomir 10 Days GMT in pink gold, PAM00273. It uses the Panerai calibre P.2003 movement and has a 45 mm diameter pink gold case with a "sandwich" dial and pink gold hands. The central hand with the arrow displays the second time zone. The edition of 250 pieces that will be available starting in August.