“For me it was simple; Panerai couldn’t be a watch company in the high end if we were not able to produce our own movements,” Bonati says. “If you don’t have movements, what are you?”

 “In my thinking, if Panerai was to do a tourbillon, we needed to use it as a function to aid precision, and the best position is on the backside of the movement,” Bonati says. “Even today we have skeletonized tourbillons, but westill keep it on the backside. We want to do it the right way.”

Inside the new building a large space houses what the company calls its “Workshop of Ideas,” an area for all research and development activities. This setup will let Panerai continue to explore fresh materials, new movements and advances in quality while stretching the limits of creativity and innovation.

To comply with Swiss environmental regulations, the new Officine Panerai facility is designed to have no environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide emissions: It taps technology for the recovery and recycling of resources. Employees are encouraged to use ecologically sustainable methods of transportation. Capping off the campus is a fine Italian restaurant for employees and visitors, the Ponte Vecchio, overlooking Lake Neuchâtel.

FORWARD MOMENTUM

At the end of last year Panerai introduced the P.4000 movement in two models first shown at Hong Kong’s Watches & Wonders fair. This base movement relies on a distinctive off-center micro rotor. Two additional GMT timepieces incorporating this movement debuted in January at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. Unlike most base movements, which have a 48- to 60-hour power reserve, the P.4000 has a full three days’ worth, in keeping with a new company mandate. (Many of Panerai’s watches have longer power reserves, with eight-day power reserves commonplace among the company’s collection.)

A power reserve that lasts a longer span of time can help someone better manage the watch, Bonati explains. “If you change your watch because today you need a gold watch for a nice evening, you need to put your other watch on the table. And when you pick it up again, it should be in perfect time.”

That’s a modern approach to timepieces since today many people own more than one, Bonati says. “Fifty percent of our assortment is hand wound, and with a hand-wound movement, you need to provide extended power reserve.”

The new Radiomir 1940 3 Days GMT Automatic Acciaio (P.4001) and Radiomir 1940 3 Days GMT Power Reserve Automatic Acciaio (P.4002) enable someone to simultaneously read local and home time. They offer a quick adjustment system so the hour hand can jump forward an hour at a time. These two variations of the P.4000 movement have two barrels in series that store three days of power reserve. The P.4001 has the power reserve indication on the watch’s back, while the P.4002 has the indicator on the dial side.

Both movements use the new off-centered mini rotor, so that the movement can be much thinner. Built into the movement is a stop balance system, making it easy for someone to set the time to a reference signal. All versions are in 45-millimeter stainless steel cases and available in two dial treatments: black with a Clou de Paris finish or black with vertical stripes in relief.

 

THE HIGH LIFE

Bonati says his company wants to cater to customers at three “moments” of their lives. “Officine Panerai has entry-level timepieces, our core collection and high complications at the top end of the line,” he explains.

“We introduce them to Panerai at the entry level and they love the brand. Then when they want something more sophisticated, they go to the core collection, and then they can move up to our complicated watches.”

This year Panerai is introducing a new tourbillon in its high-end watchmaking collection, the Lo Scienziato Luminor 1950 Tourbillon GMT Titanio. Crafted in titanium, the new tourbillon is completely skeletonized so that the in-house tourbillon mechanism is on full display, but it could be stated that the main innovation is in the choice of case materials. For the first time ever in watchmaking, the use of direct metal laser sintering technology (DMLS) was employed to create the Lo Scienziato Titanio’s case design, rendering this complicated timepiece up to 35 percent lighter than other tourbillons.

Developed in Panerai’s “Laboratorio di Idee,” this watch is dedicated to Galileo Galilei, whose discoveries laid the foundation for the development of mechanical timepieces. The Lo Scienziato whose name means “the Scientist” in English, “celebrates the collaboration we have with the Galileo museum in Florence,” Bonati says, referring to his company’s sponsorship of a permanent exhibition there, “Galileo and the Measurement of Time.”

With its production limited to 150 pieces, the Lo Scienziato tourbillon offers six days of power reserve and is water resistant to a depth of 100 meters. The 47-mm titanium case is crafted with the DMLS process, which builds the case layer by layer using a fiber optic laser and powdered titanium.

This year’s offerings, the P.4000-based movements and Lo Scienziato Tourbillon, fall across both ends of the product spectrum. Panerai now offers a complete, well-rounded collection, one that spans from simple-display time-only watches all the way to high complications, limited editions and specialty products.

“The new manufacture is for the future,” Bonati says. “We continue to study, to look for something new, something technological, ways to improve what we do and our quality.”—Keith W. Strandberg