THE HISTORY OF THE REPLICA PANERAI LUMINOR, THE LUMINESCENT DIVER
Invariably, legendary watches are distinguished by a unique design, recognizable at first glance. And in this little game, one model undoubtedly stands out more than the others: the Replica Panerai Luminor. A watch with a design that has become iconic, but which also has a very interesting history. Italian Navy, luminescent substance, and Hollywood career…let’s take a look at the history of the Panerai Luminor.
Radiomir, the big sister
To better understand the history of the Luminor, we need to go back a little further. At the very origins of the brand. Officine Panerai was founded in Italy in 1860, when Giovanni Panerai opened his first boutique in Florence, Tuscany. And from the beginning of the 20th century, Panerai became the partner of the Regia Marina, the Italian royal navy. The beginning of a collaboration which would last several decades and which would be the main driving force of the brand until the 1990s. In 1916, Panerai filed a patent for a luminescent material based on Radium, called Radiomir.
Without forgetting the element that gave its name to the watch: Radiomir, a luminescent material allowing divers to read their watch even in the dark. This material is applied to a disc located under the dial, itself openworked with indexes and Arabic numerals: this is the famous sandwich construction, which we will subsequently find on modern Panerai.
1949, from Radium to Tritium
The only downside is that the lifespan of tritium is only a dozen years, which means that materials covered with tritium will lose their luminescent capacity over the years (while radium has a lifespan of 1600 years). For the record, Rolex waited until the early 1960s to switch from radium to tritium, for its luminescent indexes and hands.
1950, the beginnings of the Luminor
This very special piece, patented in Italy in 1955 by Guiseppe Panerai and his sister Maria themselves, also guarantees water resistance of 200 meters, a real performance for the time. The Luminor also introduces handles that are thicker than wire handles, and forged from the same block of steel as the case. Finally, the bezel is flatter and wider than on the Radiomir.
A diver apart
A surprising specificity, when you know the importance of knowing your immersion time well. To find a rotating bezel, you must then turn to the Luminor Submersible, released from the 1990s and inspired by the Egiziano model from 1956 (in photo above), developed for the Egyptian navy and which also gave birth to the famous bridge crown guard.
1993, Panerai emerges from the shadows
Until 1993, Panerai production was reserved for the Italian military, with the added bonus of a few batches shipped to the Egyptian army. So much so that Panerai watches from before 1993 are surrounded by a real aura of mystery, a mixture of military secrecy and incomplete archives. But all that changed in 1993. In September that year, Officine Panerai presented three series of limited edition watches: the Luminor, the Luminor Marina and the Mare Nostrum. Three models directly inspired by their military counterparts of the last fifty years.
