PANERAI: History And Legend Exhibition (Post Event Release) Part 1

The Florentine luxury watchmaker Officine Panerai inaugurated the “History and Legend” exhibition yesterday, which will be open until 6 September 2015. The exhibition is located at ION Orchard, the exclusive shopping mall where the only Officine Panerai boutique in Singapore is based. It is a rare opportunity for watch enthusiasts to discover the brand’s rich heritage and to admire a selection o  Panerai’s iconic timepieces representing the brand in different eras. 

Visitors will be able to travel through time, discovering the origins of the design of Panerai watches in the 1930s , 1940s and 1950s with a display that unfolds around a full-size prototype (7.5 metres long, 0.53 in diameter) of a "slowspeed torpedo”, a human torpedo also known as Siluro a Lenta Corsa (S.L.C.). The first S.L.C. was designed in 1938 by Teseo Tesei and Elio Toschi, two captains of the Genio Navale (Naval Engineer) of the Italian Navy, and it was created to carry the brave commandos during their heroic underwater missions. The commandos of the Italian Navy used to wear heavy rubber suits, known as “Belloni suits”, with rubber masks, self-contained pure oxygen breathing apparatuses and emergency respirators containing soda lime, which absorbed carbon dioxide and
prevented air bubbles that could have easily given their presence away. The commandos wore their diving suits with Panerai watches and instruments specially created for them, such as compasses and depth gauges.

The exhibition is also a unique experience to discover the master Panerai collection, which combines the pureness and authenticity of Italian design with the Swiss know how of the Panerai manufacture based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The collection classification takes after the names of the watch cases developed by Panerai starting from 1936, the year of the first Radiomir model, up to today, and includes a selection of Radiomir 1940, Luminor 1950 and Luminor models. Visitors can discover Panerai’s collection through the display at the exhibition, which demonstrates the sophisticated function of Long Power Reserve, High Complications, Chronographs and GMT.

In 1956, Officine Panerai also developed the Radiomir Egiziano, exceptional for its robustness and unusually large size, as well as for its special rotating bezel that enabled the time of immersion to be calculated. This model inspired the Submersibles range, and the exhibition has a specific area dedicated to this range, including exemplary pieces like the Luminor Submersible 1950 3 days Automatic Bronzo (PAM00382) and the Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Ceramica (PAM00508).

Two extraordinary vintage models with the engraving Marina Militare on the dial are also presented at the exhibition. They are perfect examples of the Radiomir’s evolution towards the Luminor, which is characterised by its bridge-shaped device protecting the crown, and by solid strap attachments made from the same block of steel, replacing the wire lugs that were welded onto the case in the early models. In addition to watches, Officine Panerai produced and supplied other precision instruments to equip commandos and their self-propelled torpedoes. These included Compasses, Torches and Depth Gauges (all with “Radiomir” dials), which were either attached to the torpedoes or strapped onto the wrists of the commandoes. Some of these instruments are also displayed for the appreciation of visitors.

Lastly, the exhibition encompasses timepieces from the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) 2015 collection. The new Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio (PAM00615) reunites features that were the common context of Panerai’s military origins, and appears today as a contemporary watch with a strong sporting character and the purest Panerai identity.

Exhibition: History and Legend Exhibition
Venue: ION2
Address: ION Orchard Level 1, 2
Orchard Turn, Singapore 238801
Period: 26 August – 6 September 2015
Time: 11.00am – 9.00pm
Guided Tour: 27 August – 6 September 2015
Guided Tour Time: 3.00pm – 3.30pm / 5.00pm – 5.30pm
Guided Tour Registration: ion.singapore@panerai.com
Admission: Free
.............PART 2: Media Preview coming up