Luxury watchmaker Officine Panerai announced the creation of two special edition watches for Hong Kong retail partner King Fook Jewellery Group’s 60th anniversary: The Luminor Marina Automatic and the Luminor 1950 10 Days GMT. Fittingly, Panerai is only offering 60 pieces of both models, total.

For the c (PAM00353), in titanium with a brown dial, 40 pieces will be made while for the Luminor 1950 10 Days GMT (PAM00354), in stainless steel with a black dial, just 20 pieces will be made. We note that Panerais with brown dials are highly distinctive from the more traditional black dial versions. However, as you can see below, the brown is very dark.The Automatic features the made-for-Panerai OPIII movement while the 10 Days GMT features the in-house manufacture movement P.2002.

A new in-house calibre represents a further step forward in the evolution of a model that has already become part of Officine Panerai’s history: the Radiomir P.999 42 mm Pink Gold combines the unmistakable design of an icon in high-end, sport watches with the new mechanical movement, the P.999, designed and produced at the Neuchâtel manufacture.

With a diameter of 12 lignes and a thickness of only 3.4 millimetres, the new hand-wound P.999 movement features 19 jewels, a 60-hour power reserve and a balance wheel oscillating at 21,600 alternations/hour. Two sophisticated details enhance the P.999 movement set in the new Radiomir in pink gold. The workings are regulated by a so-called ‘swan’s neck’ device allowing for micrometrical adjustment of the active length of the spring. Furthermore, each single movement is millesimised.

The case in pink gold is 42 mm in diameter, slightly smaller than the historic, first Radiomir watches. The thickness has also been reduced thanks to the development of the new movement. The result is a thinner, lighter watch, perfect for the most elegant of situations while not betraying the watch’s military origins and sporting character. All of this thanks to the pink gold of the case that is satin-finished, a detail that tones down the sparkle of the precious metal making it more understated and refined. The small polished bezel, on the other hand, creates a pleasing contrast effect. The warm feel of the satin- finished gold also emphasizes the dial with its dark brown colour rather than the black of the traditional models, a colour tone enhanced by the anti-scratch and anti-glare sapphire crystal.

The layout of the dial is still the classic one and represents another of the characteristic features of Panerai watches. The exceptional legibility in the dark is in fact achieved through a ‘sandwich’ structure with the luminescent material placed between two metal layers, the top one perforated in correspondence with the numerals and indexes. Also luminescent and plated in pink gold, to complement the case, are the index-shaped hands and perpetually-moving small seconds hand in the auxiliary dial at 9 o’clock. The watch, with wire lugs that are easy to remove when substituting the strap and water-proof up to a depth of 100 metres, features the classic screw-down, truncated-cone crown ensuring maximum water-tightness.

Numbered and produced in an edition of 500 pieces, the Radiomir P.999 42 MM Pink Gold (PAM00336) is part of the Historic Collection and is completed with a dark brown alligator strap with a pink gold pin buckle.

Officine Panerai presents the P.999, a new hand-wound mechanical movement – like the very first Panerai watches – entirely designed, developed and produced at the Neuchatel manufacture.The P.999 is a modern mechanical movement combining reliability, robustness and precision and features the special structure with wide separated bridges that characterises all the other Officine Panerai manufacture calibres.

With a 12 ligne diameter, equal to 27.4 mm, and a thickness of 3.4 mm the P.999 calibre is slightly smaller than the other Officine Panerai calibres making it ideal for models which are smaller, both in diameter and in thickness, than the historical watches. With 19 jewels, a single barrel providing a 60-hour power reserve and small seconds at 9 o’clock, the new calibre is made up of 154 components and beats time at a frequency of 3 Hz: this means that its balance wheel makes 21,600 alternations/ hour. Equipped with adjusting screws, the balance wheel is protected by an Incabloc® anti- shock device while the regulating system has a swan’s neck spring.

Thanks to the P.999 calibre, which will be used in some of the Historic Collection models, Officine Panerai further enriches its range of in-house movements and confirms its role as that Workshop of ideas which, as well as safeguarding its own historical heritage, is able to interpret the present while looking to the future.

I told you that watch companies were going to trying and see if we will take to timepiece shrinkage. The reasons for this, and my rebuttal are located here. Now, one of the last companies that I would expect to “go little,” is going little. Panerai pretty much set the standard for the 44mm wide watch being as popular as it is, and their timepieces range from 44mm to about 47mm wide. Now there is news that next year they will release a 42mm wide Radiomir model which represents their classic shape. I should point out that Panerai has made even smaller movements (such as the 40mm wide Luminor range models). Though I suspect this 42mm is aimed at being something different.

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.

In 2009, for the fifth consecutive year, some of the most prestigious yachting locations on the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean are hosting the international regatta circuit for vintage and classic sailing boats, sponsored by Officine Panerai. A now historic event, as well as an opportunity to see the most beautiful classic boats still seafaring, assembled together and in action, in locations that have marked the history of sailing.

The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge 2009 takes place from April to September, with three regattas in the Mediterranean (Antibes and Cannes on the French Riviera and Porto Rotondo in Sardinia) as well as four regattas overseas (Antigua in the Caribbean, Nantucket and Newport’s double event on the Eastern US Coast).

Following with tradition, this year’s special edition Luminor 1950 Regatta Rattrapante is dedicated to the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge and has been produced in a limited quantity of 500 pieces. With its highly specialized split-second chronograph and chronometer certificate that counts down the five minutes to the start of the regatta, it is a genuine sailor’s instrument.

The watch will be awarded to the overall winner of each regatta. Differing from the 2008 edition, the case, as well as the three buttons, the winding crown and the lever bridge, feature an unusual new design – the steel is blackened with a treatment called DLC (diamond-like-carbon) which allows the metal to be harder and more resistant to corrosion as well as less prone to the scratching and streaking that are commonplace with other metal-burnishing procedure. The Luminor 1950 Regatta Rattrapante has automatic OP XVIII calibre, an automatic movement created exclusively by Officine Panerai.