Past master
How one man’s ambitious vision ensured the brightest of futures for Panerai. By
In 2002, Panerai’s then-ceo Angelo Bonati uttered the words, “You are the luckiest engineers on earth,” and thus inspired the creators of the company’s first in-house movement. Twenty years on, this decision to turn the brand into a true manufacture has fuelled one of the mechanical watch revival’s greatest – and most unlikely – success stories.
“Mr Bonati was a visionary who laid the foundations for what Panerai has become today,” notes current CEO of the Italian brand Jean-marc Pontroué (pictured inset, below), acknowledging this past, while looking towards the future. “Today, we are able to combine being a manufacture with extraordinary R&D, technical and materials innovation that makes us unique. We’ve never stood still as a brand – and we never will.”
Before Panerai’s initial revival in the early 1990s (it has been producing watches since the 1930s), it was known primarily to collectors of military watches. A retailer in Florence since 1860, the company produced timepieces for the Italian navy and a few select other maritime forces until the 1980s.
Then, with a handful of fast-selling pieces in 1993, Panerai came to the attention of the Vendôme Luxury Group (later Richemont), which acquired it in 1997, and within five years it had produced its first in-house movement, complementing its reputation as a desirable cult object.
Jérôme Cavadini, Panerai’s chief operating officer, recalls it was important to start developing and producing watches because of the speed at which Panerai grew. “During the first two years, [Vendôme stablemate] Cartier provided the space for dedicated Panerai people to build the first series of watches,” he says. “But it couldn’t continue that way, as Vendôme preferred each brand to have its own infrastructure.” Panerai needed its own premises and, in 2002, the doors finally opened at its own manufacture in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Until the early 2000s, the brand continued to use ETA/VALjoux 7750 movements, as well as calibres from La Joux-perret, Girard-perregaux, Minerva, and
Above all, Panerai will remain consistent with the past without neglecting the growth of the brand
others. But if Panerai was to grow in unit sales and value, externally sourced movements would not enable it to pursue this ambition. Manufacture capability would build brand equity, provide independence from suppliers, and justify pricing above the £3,000 mark. As Cavadini says, “Mr Bonati felt he couldn’t use the same base movement you would find in watches selling for £1,500”. “You are lucky because I give you the rarest thing of all in watchmaking: space,” Bonati went on to tell the team of engineers back in 2002. “Because our cases are so big, you have space to create the best movements ever.” He requested an eight-day power reserve, multiple barrels, a linear power reserve display – a complete range of movements. Starting with the P.2002
calibre, named for the year that development started, finished movements arrived in 2005. The P.2002 was conceived to be a platform for later calibres, including the P.2003 automatic 10-days, the P.2004 chronograph and the P.2005 tourbillon.
Manufacture capability achieved Bonati’s goals, ensuring that the brand had the capacity for internal research in high-tech materials as well as other achievements. Among the milestones that Cavadini lists are the Jupeterium’s display of celestial bodies, the first in-house tourbillon, 3D-printed cases and the recent Radiomir Bronzo 47mm with P.3000 calibre that features the biggest balance wheel the brand has ever made. He cites, too, the green credentials of the recycled steel in the esteel Submersible 44mm.
Above all, wherever Panerai’s research takes the company, Cavadini insists it will remain “consistent with the past without neglecting the growth of the brand”.