Panerai MARE NOSTRUM TITANIO Handbuch Seite 10

HISTORY
Since 1860, Guido Panerai & Figlio in Florence had been producing precision
instruments with a high level of technical content, becoming a supplier to the
Royal Italian Navy. These instruments have indissolubly associated the name
Panerai with marine exploration, time measurement and the development of a
particular standard of quality and safety, a fundamental requirement for
supplying the armed forces.
Officine Panerai began producing watches in March 1938 with the Radiomir, a
model which played a part in the exploits of the commandos of the Italian
Navy who wore it on their wrists.
The Panerai Luminor has been recognised as a historically important watch by
virtue of the robustness and originality of its design; the small number of
examples produced, together with the first Radiomir watches, are some of the
rarities most sought-after by collectors in the field.
Since 1993, Officine Panerai has offered updated Luminor and Radiomir
models on the international market, thus becoming one of the undisputed
leaders in the haute horlogerie sports sector.
Making excellent use of the resources of the Panerai Manufacture, highly
reliable, technologically avant-garde watches are being created; these are
watches meeting the criteria of craftsmanship inherited from the traditions of
the past, tested to resist extremely strong adverse influences.
Panerai watches are distributed through a highly selective international
network of watch specialists as well as through the Panerai boutiques. The
addresses are available on our website www.panerai.com.
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THE PANERAI MARE NOSTRUM
TITANIO WATCH
The Mare Nostrum is the chronograph that Officine Panerai supplied to the
Italian Navy in 1943 as standard issue for deck officers. The historical events
of the time put an end to any possible development of this model, of which
only a very few prototypes were produced – almost certainly three in total – of
which first all trace and then all relative documentation was lost, following the
flood that hit Florence in 1966.
The discovery by Officine Panerai of one of the prototypes, now part of the
Officine Panerai Historical Archive, enabled the creation of a new Mare
Nostrum: an extraordinary model from a collectors' point of view.
T
HE CASE
The Mare Nostrum Titanio has a case, in brushed titanium, that measures 52 mm
in diameter, like the original model.
With very strong lugs, it has a tonneau shape, but looks round due to the wide
flat bezel with ridged edge on which, just as on the prototype, a fine circular
mark stands out, perhaps due to an unfinished process or a reference mark
for a subsequent scale engraving.
The screw-down back is made of titanium and has four grooves to assist
unscrewing.
The cylindrical winding and regulating crown, with the words Mare Nostrum
engraved on its ridged edge, is of the screw-down type while the buttons are
cylindrical and of the pump-type.
The crystal is of sapphire, obtained from corundum, a very hard material
(second only to diamond), free of impurities, transparent, resistant to abrasion,
and with anti-reflective treatment.
The water-resistance of your watch, indicated on the back by the symbol
, is guaranteed to a pressure of 3 bar, which correspond to the
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