This year’s event hosted 70 elegant yachts from 10 different nations, each competing for the ultimate prize. They had to battle through regattas at Antibes, Naples, Imperia, Cannes, Argentario and Mahon in order to rack up a high enough score to be declared this year’s champ! Who was it that walked away with such prestigious awards this year?

The spoils went to none other than the vessel known as Mariquita for the Big Boats category, the Chinook for the Vintage category and the Namib for the Classic category. With each of their hard-won victories now in the record books these ships have earned their right to have their names forever added to the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge Roll of Honour.

Big Boat Mariquita is a 31-meter gaff cutter that was built by Fife in 1911 in Scotland. Of the six International 19-meter class yachts built, it is the only one that is still afloat to this day. She has won a litany of illustrious other regattas hosted by Panerai, but this was the first year she was able to best so many other famous yachts. The ship is owned by four Brits who invested in training the ship’s insanely dedicated crew in the century old art of sailing such a ship.

Chinook, a gaff cutter, is this season’s vintage trophy-taker. This cutter is American and was launched in 1916. She is one of the NY40s commissioned in the decade from 1916 to 1926, one of a number of ships built specifically for a posse of New York Yacht Club members. Of these NY40s there are no more than four still afloat worldwide. It has been 8 years since a gaff-rigged yacht claimed the Vintage trophy for its own, making the victory even sweeter for Chinook’s british owner, Graham Walker, who has won the Vintage trophy three times with his previous yacht, the 1916 Bermudan cutter, Rowdy.

Our final champion, of the Classic category, went to the debuting Italian yacht Namib, which is owned by Pietro Bianchi, a man from Parma. This 12-metre, designed and built in 1966 by the legendary Sangermani yard of Liguria, covered 1,500 miles of sea to reach the various venues in the course of the season. Namib underwent restorations in 2012 and 2014 which contributed to this overall victory

Aside from the season trophies, Cannes also brought the presentation of the luxury Officine Panerai sports watches to the winners of the Big Boats, Vintage, Classic and Spirit of Tradition categories of the Régates Royales.

PAM00569

Since the 1940’s Officine Panerai has produced a type of watch with its winding crown at 9 o’clock and on the left side of its case. Like many of Officine Panerai’s models, the original design of this very watch was initially created for Italian Navy commandos, because left-handers need some love as well when it comes to fine watch collecting. This watch’s original design was also made to wear on a right hand because so many naval commandos had so many other varied instruments they had to keep strapped to their right wrist potentially, such as compasses and depth gauges. This model is still highly regarded by those who prefer a right-hand watch and also those who desire an interesting historical bit of information to come along with their new favorite timepiece.

This model’s special rotating bezel, inspired by a 1950s model built by Panerai for the Egyptian Navy, makes the LUminor Submersible 1950 Left-Handed the ideal piece of equipment for all of the divers out there. The bezel allows for immersion times to be properly calculated and for added safety it only rotates in a reverse clockwise direction. The case back is screw down and boasts an engraved slow torpedo, an underwater vehicle created by the italians to allow commandos to execute their underwater missions with effectiveness and agility as quickly as possible. Water resistance on this watch is guaranteed for up to 30 ATM.

The dial of this watch is black features Clous de Parisdecoration and as usual applied dot or line markers that are coated with ecru Super-LumiNova, so any divers can clearly see their timepiece at even the darkest level of darkness. Excellent visibility and a vintage look? This watch is a very welcome re-addition to the Panerai line. It’s date window is at 9 o’clock and its second hand (which is inside of a small counter) rotates at 3 o’clock.

This watch has a mechanical, automatic P.9000 calibre movement and 3-days power reserve. The oscillating weight rotates in both directions for more efficient winding of the two barrels when wearing the watch. The system used to adjust the time through the winding crown is designed to make time adjustment as quick and easy as possible: the hour hand can be moved by one hour intervals, without interfering with the movement of the minute hand; the date is correspondingly updated without specific intervention but can also be independently adjusted backwards and forwards.

The new Luminor Submersible 1950 Left-handed(PAM00569) is a Special Edition limited to just 1,000 watches. Each watch features a natural leather brown strap with ecru stitching and is sold in a luxury pear wood box, which also contains a rubber replacement strap, a strap replacement tool and a steel screwdriver.

Whether you’re one of the daring divers we’ve been talking about, or just an avid watch collecting fan, be sure and visit our shop page to see how we here at DaLuca can help accessorize your newest prized timepiece.

Florence, Italy

Throughout last week we here at the DaLuca blog have been taking a gradual historical journey through the existence of Officine Panerai’s hometown, Florence, Italy. We’ve learned about everything from it’s creation up to today and that’s what today is all about, what the modern day city of of Florence is all about.

During the 19th century, the population of Florence exploded in quantity, and doubled over the course of it. Then, in the 20th century it tripled. Tourism, trade and various financial services all helped the city to move down this bustling, prosperous path quite easily. This led to an even greater outburst of creative outpouring from a number of artists resulting in the establishment of even more museums.

During the greatest conflict in history (WWII), Florence had the unfortunate privilege of experiencing German (aka: Nazi bastard) occupation from 1943-1944. To add to the misfortune of the times, on September 25th, 1943, at the height of the German occupation, Allied bombers targeted the center of the city leveling many historic structures and tragically killing 215 civilians.

As the war turned on Germany, her troops began to pull themselves from the embattled city of Florence. Florence was declared an “open city” which prevented it from receiving further wartime damages, but it wasn’t her only problem with the German’s still within her walls. Right before they departed in retreat the Germans meticulously murdered anyone left in the city who they continued to be opposition to their beliefs and goals. They also detonated explosives under a number of bridges along the Arno which had been linking the district of Oltrarno to the main hub of the city. This made it much more difficult for the incoming British troops to cross into the city. Interestingly, Adolf Hitler specifically demanded that the Ponte Vecchio NOT be blown to bits due to the fact that it was too beautiful… But that didn’t stop the nazis from using mines to cripple many other equally historic pieces of the city on their way out. The war ended and the people of Florence rebuilt. Not even the greatest war in history could keep this now not-so-little city down.

Ever since then the city has been in a constant state of construction, with projects handling both reconstruction, upkeep and the creation of various new public wonders. in 2002 the city played host to the European Social Forum and in 2011 the city celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification.

It’s no surprise that Officine Panerai was born out of all of this historical turmoil and defiant struggling, as the hardest diamonds are only created under the highest pressure. Officine Panerai is renowned worldwide and for damn good reason. Is it any wonder why such a stalwart and proven company is revered by so many?

More on Florence:

http://blog.dalucastraps.com/history-of-florence-home-of-panerai/

http://blog.dalucastraps.com/the-history-of-florence-cont/

Florence, Italy

For the past few weeks here on the DaLuca blog we have been spending weeks at a time not only investigating the history of the watchmaking world, but this week we have been looking at the history of the city of Florence, the birthplace of Officine Panerai. 

We left off in the city of Florence shortly before the renaissance, and that is where we will pick back up.

Before the onset of the dreaded Black Death (or, “the plague” for us common folk) Florence was a city that consisted of around 80,000 residents. What is interesting about this is the fact that more than a fourth of said population relied on the city’s wool industry to scrounge out a living.

In the year 1378 these wool workers rose up in rebellion against the city’s oligarchic rule during the Revolt of the Ciompi. Eventually however, they were put down and effectively suppressed in their attempt.

Shortly after the woolworkers’ failed revolution a number of individuals took over running the city from behind the scenes. Warring families (notably the Albizzi and Medici families) played hot potato with the city’s rule with control bouncing between them on a regular basis. The Medici family was made up of bankers who worked for the pope, hence their undeniable influence. They as a family were great patrons of the arts of the time and commissioned works from everyone from Da Vinci to Michelangelo. Eventually the Medici family was ousted by Charles VIII of France, who conquered the city and re-established republican rule.  The political structure of the city was in a constant state of flux at this period just as much as its rule was, and it made for a very hard and trying time within the city walls.

Things got quite grim for the average person during the Florentine renaissance. Angry and violent mobs were a common sight during these years and their influence over day to day life was not something to be scoffed at.  Moreso, like the powerful families ruling the city, the commoners were at each other’s throats in a constant struggle for power and influence.  Things were cutthroat to put it lightly. Political double-crossings and blatant back stabbings were regular occurrences and oftentimes they were occurring within families. Brother was turning on brother and so on.

Despite the chaotic whirling of political spite and deception. Despite the bubbling violence. Despite the factionalism and blatant corruption citywide Florence did experiment with many different varieties of citizen government and power sharing arrangements during this time period.

Stay tuned throughout the weekend where we will wrap up our historical wanderings through the beautiful and rich city that Panerai calls home. Until the rest of those articles come to fruition, why not go back and read some of our archived articles or take a look at our quality goods in our shop?

PAM00446

It’s Thursday here at DaLuca, and everywhere else for that matter. Which means that we only have another day to go until Friday! And also that, like every Tuesday and Thursday here on the blog, today we’re looking at a certain Panerai model in depth!

Earlier in the week we posted an article about a new kind of pocket watch that Officine Panerai had unleashed into the world, and if you haven’t had a chance to look at that thing up close go and do it now ( PAM00447 Review ).

Interestingly after I posted that review someone informed me that this wasn’t Officine Panerai’s first swing at the modern production of a pocket watch, and the individual with that information directed me to a 2013 model called the Pocket Watch Tourbillon GMT Ceramica.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Panerai is producing these throwback designs. If there’s one thing Panerai is huge on it’s legacy, with every watch that they release showing signs and influence from those watches that have come before it. Pocket watches had long been a staple of Panerai’s market before they fell out of fashion, and in the window of the Orologeria Panerai there hung an inscription reading “Pocket watches by the main Swiss makers” for many many years.

Panerai itself describes this model as “exclusive, and combining the technical content of contemporary haute horlogerie with echoes of the history of the Florentine brand”. I couldn’t have said it any better myself, so I won’t even try to. Instead, let’s get into tech specs.

This watch consists of a Radiomir case at 59mm in diameter and is made from zirconium oxide ceramic. The movement is the P.2005/S and has the tourbillon regulator which has been enhanced to allow the sophisticated skeletal structure to be properly seen through. As you can tell by the picture posted, the body of this thing is transparent and you can see much of the movement’s actions through the front dial of the watch.

That P.2005/S movement has a power reserve of six days and has one neat quirk going for it. This sophisticated piece of miniature machinery (which has been entirely developed by the Officine Panerai of Neuchatel) has its tourbillon cage rotate twice per minute on an axis perpendicular to that of the balance in order to compensate for potential running errors that would be contributed to pesky ol’ gravity.

The watch also has a small ecru disc that reflects the rotation of the tourbillon by making (you guessed it) two rotations per minute within the small seconds dial placed at 9 o’clock on the dial.

The watch ships with a chain also made of black ceramic and its individual links are inspired by that of a nautical chain and linked together by universal joints allowing it to be both flexible and tough. As with other Panerai’s it is also good for use underwater.

Have any other neat Panerai’s you want us to review here on the DaLuca blog? Drop us a line and let us know which are your favorites that we haven’t touched on yet. The weekend is almost here, friends, and what do you know? It’s already October. Time flies.

Be sure to visit our shop for all of your Panerai accessory needs! The holidays will be here soon and don’t be caught in the cold when looking for that perfect leather watch strap for the watch fanatic in your life!

PAM00447 3 Days Oro Rosso

As they have for the past 20+ decades Officine Panerai has continued to shower us loyal fans with all sorts of new toys on a constant and regular basis. Today we examine a model just recently released in only 50 pieces to the drooling masses earlier this very year (2014).

Panerai is a champion of the wristbound timepiece BUT have you ever seen an official Panerai pocketwatch? Now you have, and not only that, but it’s made of gold. This old school bad boy is known as the Pocket Watch 3 Days Oro Rosso.

Pocket watches have always been a token of recognized class and are one of the manliest accessories a guy can carry around in his pocket. Up until WWI, when wristwatches struck it big worldwide, pocket watches had been THE most acclaimed and elegant pieces of personal time keeping equipment.  After the wristwatch had come and conquered as the timekeeping king, pocket watches fell by the wayside as a sort of eccentric novelty, with only connoisseurs and collectors continuing to purchase them.

As time has gone on this has only proven more and more true and most kids these days probably wouldn’t know what a pocket watch was even if you dropped one in front of them.  Luckily for us timekeeping buffs, however, Panerai has gone out of their way to rekindle and reimagine a timepiece that was very important at a very important time.

The Panerai pocket watch has the perfect cushioned shaped of the ever popular Radiomir, whose original prototypes date back to around 1936. Available in red gold, the polished case 50 mm in diameter has a beautiful, single gold bow surrounding the ever present winding crown at the 12 o’clock, instead of the usual and classic wire strap attachments.

The dial of this particular watch is in the always classic Panerai style, with its huge baton hour markers and its numerals at the regular cardinal points. It also has an elegant brown sun-brushed finish which endows the red gold model in particular with a sophisticated appearance of much depth.

As is often the case with such a precious object of understated elegance, it’s on the back of the watch that hides the most fascinating surprise. The large round cover concealing the movement can easily be opened in order to admire the finish of the P.3001/10 calibre, completely developed and made in the Officine Panerai manufacture at Neuchâtel.

This is (in my humble opinion) one of the most beautiful and unique offerings Officine Panerai has given to us in some time, and possibly even a decade. I can’t imagine how many are left out there of the original 50, but something tells me it’s not much.

Stay tuned to DaLuca for our continued reviews, quality handmade products and (for tomorrow) our continued look at the history of Florence, the home place of Panerai itself.

Florence, Italy

We’ve covered many different aspects of the Officine Panerai legacy on this blog, but one thing we’ve never gotten to really touch on is the city that the brand originated in. Today we change that and explore the history of Italy’s finest city, and the birthplace of Officine Panerai.

Florence is known worldwide as an outstanding economic, cultural, political and artistic center with a legacy of remarkable advancements for mankind to back it up.

Florence was initially founded in 59 BC as a settlement for soldiers who had been granted land by the great Julius Caesar. The small settlement was located in the valley, Arno, and was highly prized for its rich farmland. Originally the settlement was known as Florentia and was style in the way of a militaristic camp. The place exploded as a commercial center shortly after its inception due to its close location to that of Rome.

By the time the 4th century rolled around, Florence found itself under alternating control. One week the Byzantines were running the show, and the next week the Ostrogoths had the city under their commands. This duo battled with one another constantly for control of the city and it was only when the Lombards seized control in the 6th century that peace returned to Florentia.

And peace did reign up until 774 when Charlemagne arrived on the scene and capture the city as his own, adding the prized city to his March of Tuscany. Once again commerce blossomed and the city’s population began to increase.
The middle ages arrived in Florentia and due to a few famous residents the city ushered in its Golden Age of Art. Basilicas emerged all over the city and were crafted with unparalleled artistry and concentration. It’s not shocking when you realize what kind of quality and creative hotbed Officine Panerai eventually emerged from.

Political conflict eventually emerged from amongst the beautiful artwork and prosperity and unfortunately it embroiled the city in all sorts of messy machinations. Political warfare ruled the following centuries but this didn’t hamper all of the positive things going on outside of the realm of conflict.

Florentia slowly rose to prominence as a superpower in Europe. The city’s own gold currency, known as the florin, quickly became the most widely circulated coin in the western hemisphere. The florin replaced the silver dollar easily.

Since Florence is such a historically rich city in its own right, there’s no chance of us being able to get into its history to any great depth in one day, so look foreward to Wednesday when we’ll return to the topic and follow the city’s prosperity into the renaissance. Look forward to tomorrow’s new Panerai review and always be sure to check back at our shop page at Daluca for only the latest and greatest leather products and watch accessories.

2010 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

Panerai’s yachting experiences this year have been nothing short of remarkable, with over 80 yachts flying across some of the world’s most amazing seas. September 21st through the 28th is in fact the 11th and climactic stage of the circuit for this event’s tenth year race.

All 80 of the yachts in this race have been built between the end of the 19th century and the present decade and they will gather in the city of Cote d’Azur to begin battle for the competitions ultimate rewards;  a set of exclusive Panerai watches for the winners of various main categories, and also a trophy that will act as spoil to the winner of the entire season.

Cannes (where the finale is launching from) is expecting tens of thousands of spectators to swarm the Regates Royales in attempt to see some of the most elegant sailing yachts ever built. These ships have been penned by some of the world’s most renowned architects including the Americans Olin Stephens, Nathanael G. Herreshoff, the Scottish Fife di Fairlie, Brits Camper & Nicholson and the Italian duo of Cesare Sangermani and Carlo Sciarrelli. Five races are scheduled through this Saturday (the 27th) and will bring closure to this year’s competition.

All the yachts in the competition are being divided into one of three categories for their competitions. There are 42 “Vintage” yachts, 13 “Classic” yachts and 12 “Spirit of Tradition” yachts. The categories will also take into account the meter class of each vessel – they are either 6 meters, 8 meters or 12 meters. The 12 meter yachts in particular have put up some remarkable records in the history of the American Cup.

As happens each year, there will also be a series of competitions and other side events on the dockside for the crews. These range from mast climbing to tug of war, a painting competition, music concerts, and breakfasts and cocktails every day before and after the racing in the Officine Panerai Lounge.

Our favorite Florentine luxury sports watch-maker Officine Panerai still remains the world’s leading organizer of classic worldwide yachting events, and they had a whopping  11 races planned for 2014 alone. Panerai has also acknowledged its deep connection with classic sailing by creating watches with race-specific functions, most recently the Luminor 1950 Regatta 3 Days Chrono Flyback Titanio, a chronograph that brings a revolutionary simplicity to calculating race start times. Take a look at their website for more detailed information about it and some breathtaking images of it…

And as always keep an eye on DaLuca’s shop and of course the blog (which you are currently reading) for all sorts of Panerai news and of course only the most quality, handmade Panerai accessories.

Torneau Time Dome in Las Vegas

The weekend is here, and hopefully you’re still with us. It was a long weekend and we as a species deserve a well-timed break.  September’s wrapping up on us here real quick-like, and so is something we started looking into about a week ago… And that is, the timeline of watch history!!!  Looking back in the archive you’ll see parts 1-4 and here today is part 5 which will be the final part until some more crazy advances are made in the realm of watchmaking.  We pick right back up in the…

Year: 1979- The Delirium is introduced as the thinnest watch in the world, measuring 1.98 mm. If you’ve never seen this shining example of innovation do yourself a favor and click open a new tab and take a gander at it. Impressive, indeed.

Year: 1983 – Watch collecting can be an expensive hobby… But even us regular folk can afford something that can at least pass as fashionable. In 1983, Swatch introduced the world to the first plastic Swiss quartz watch, marketing their creation as a wholly affordable fashion statement for your wrist.

Year: 1989 – The most complex watch in the world is born. That’s right, 33 complications are stuck on one timepiece by Patek Phillipe. The watch is known as the Calibre 89.

Year: 1996 – A ship (named the Mata-Rangi) and her crew are on an expedition off of the coast of Chile when their reed raft goes to bits on them in the throes of some awful maelstrom. Sounds tragic, BUT! Thanks to a Breitling Emergency watch the crew manages to signal for help. How? The watch is actually equipped with a transmitter that broadcasts a distress signal to any would-be rescuers.

Year: 1997 – For the first time, the Guinness World Records announces that the Tourneau Time Machine on 57th street at Madison Avenue in NYC is THE largest watch store in the world. It won’t last for too long, though…

Year: 1999 – Titanium, carbon fiber and other space-age materials become commonplace in the world of watch building. TAG Heuer in particular releases the world’s very first watch grafted in grade 5 titanium, the Kirium T15.

Year: 2000 – Into the millennium we go, and the materials used by the watchmaking titans worldwide get even more advanced. Ulysse Mardin and Patek Phillipe begin using such high-tech materials in their creations as silicon and ceramic.

Year: 2005 – The Torneau Time Machine had a good run as the world’s largest watch store, but the company behind it decides to trump their previous record with the opening of a new store in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new Torneau Time Dome takes over as the world’s new largest watch store…

There you have it. A few hundred years worth of bullet points noting some of the biggest moments in the history of our collective passion. Check back for a new article tomorrow and as always, like us on Facebook at (link) and be sure to browse our online shop at Daluca for all of your latest watchstrap needs.

Neil Armstrong

All week we’ve been tracing a timeline of the history of the watch. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we travelled up to where we are now (1929) and only a century or so out from today we investigate other huge moments in the history of watchmaking!

Year: 1929 – A man known as Antoine LeCoultre unveils his newest invention, a movement known as the Caliber 101. It is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest mechanical watch movement in history.

Year: 1930 – Just a year later the Breitling Watch Company makes their mark on history after the company patents the world’s very first stopwatch. Track runners and PE coaches everywhere rejoice.

Year: 1955 Dr. Essen (if you didn’t know of him, you do now) of the National Physical Laboratory is the genius who is the first to invent another first; the atomic clock. Basically it’s capable of keeping accurate time within a few seconds of every 100,000 years. Impressive, Doctor.

Year: 1957 – So many new inventions, so little time. This year America’s own Hamilton Watch Company comes up with the first working electric watch. Not necessarily stylish, but very versatile.

Year: 1960- Here’s so unusual stuff, don’t be shocked if you’ve never heard of this invention. Bulova Watch Company comes up with the Accutron tuning fork watch in 1960. What in the heck is that exactly? In basic terms the Accutron used an inch-long tuning fork instead of an escapement to power its oscillating circuit. Quite the anomaly if you ever see one.

Year: 1962 – The Rado Diastar is manufactured and becomes known as the original scratch-proof timepiece. It is made entirely from hard metal and serves as a touchstone in the history of quality and luxury watchmaking.

Year: 1963- Sweet and simple, Seiko develops the first of their kind quartz-crystal/battery powered chronometers.

Year: 1969 – Our first non-invention in a while here. This is the year that the USA conquered the moon! Astronaut Neil Armstrong needed to tell time just the same as anyone else, and on his space flight he wore an Omega Speedmaster. Yes, there are certain timepieces out there that have been to places 99.999% of us never will.

Also in this year, Seiko introduced their very first quartz-crystal analog wristwatch

Year: 1970 – The dawn of a new decade and the watch innovation is in full swing. The Hamilton Watch Company hits hard and fast by unleashing the world’s first solid-state digital quartz-crystal wristwatch into the marketplace. The watch succeeds as a prototype and is named Pulsar.

That’s all for today… But the weekend’s here! Or it will be soon. Until the next piece of our timeline is unveiled take a glance around the site, visit the blog archive and make sure to take a good look at our timeless watch straps at Daluca!