Italy · since 1860

Panerai

Panerai began as a Florence watch shop and workshop opened by Giovanni Panerai in 1860. In the twentieth century it supplied precision instruments and luminous dive watches to the Italian Navy, which kept its designs little known to the public for decades. After Richemont's purchase in 1997 the brand was launched commercially, and its watchmaking is now carried out in Neuchâtel while the company keeps its Florentine identity. Its watches are large cushion-shaped pieces with sandwich dials, Arabic numerals and, on the Luminor, a lever-operated crown guard.