For the creation of the new Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT, Officine Panerai has sought inspiration from its own history – indissolubly linked to the world of the sea – and from the marine tradition of marking the passage of time by a ship’s bell. On sailing ships in particular, the striking of a bell served to rouse the crew in the morning, to summon the sailors for meals, to indicate the end of each watch, or to warn of danger. This ancient tradition is invoked again today by the special tones of the chimes of this new Special Edition created by the Panerai Haute Horlogerie Manufacture in Neuchâtel.
The carillon: three different sounds
For this model Officine Panerai has developed the new P.2005/MR Manufacture movement, a hand-wound skeleton calibre fitted with a high-end minute repeater mechanism, faithful to the philosophy of the brand of innovating by pursuing constructional simplicity which result in practical benefits and ease of operation.
The chiming is activated by a push-piece at 8 o’clock, and it is carried out by three hammers which strike an equal number of gongs fixed to the movement and the case. The choice of three hammers, instead of the traditional two, enables three different sounds to be combined, so that the carillon can play a melody, like that of a bell. As is traditional, the first gong is the lowest and identifies the hour, while the last and highest indicates individual minutes. The unusual feature is that the second gong sounds triple chimes of an intermediate note, each triple chime corresponding to ten minutes instead of the traditional fifteen.
In an ordinary repeater, the time of 10.28 is usually indicated by ten chimes for the hour, a different chime for the quarter of an hour and thirteen individual chimes for the minutes. In this new timepiece, however, the sequence consists of ten chimes for the hour, then two triple chimes (the two ten-minute intervals) and eight single chimes. The system of tens, reducing the number of chimes, makes telling the time easier and quicker, and it also corresponds to customary way in which time is now indicated by digital watches.
The quality of the sound propagated by the minute repeater is also enhanced by the specificities of the red gold of which the case is made and by its structure, being formed of two parts created separately and then soldered together. This construction enables the empty spaces inside the case to be optimised in order to enhance the quality of the sound.
Innovative double hour and minute repeater mechanism
The repeater function can be activated both for local time and for a second time zone, which is indicated on the dial by the central arrow hand and the am/pm indicator on the counter at 3 o’clock. In this case too, the simplicity of selection and of activating what is, in essence, a double hour and minute repeater mechanism, is astonishing and the device is designed not to affect the safety of the movement.
To avoid accidental activation, the carillon can be operated by the push-piece at 8 o’clock only when the winding crown is rotated slightly.
Patented tourbillon regulator
As well as the minute repeater mechanism, the handwound P.2005/MR calibre, the result of four years of research and development by the Laboratorio di Idee in the Neuchâtel manufacture, also has the remarkable Panerai tourbillon regulator, which can be admired from both the front and the back of the watch thanks to the work of skeletonisation. In the system patented by Officine Panerai, the tourbillon cage rotates on an axis which is perpendicular, not parallel, to that of the balance. Also, while the rotation is once a minute in a traditional tourbillon, in the P.2005/MR it takes 30 seconds, and this is shown by an indicator which rotates in the small seconds counter at 9 o’clock. The greater speed and the particular arrangement of the mechanism enable it to compensate for any changes of rate very effectively, ensuring a very accurate precision timepiece.
The work of skeletonising is helpful in providing better acoustic performance and it also enables the technology of the P.2005/MR calibre and its details to be admired. All the elements which form the dial are directly mounted on the movement or on the flange. The little hammers of the minute repeaters and the two spring barrels, which store a power reserve of at least four days, are visible from the open back, through which the power reserve indicator mounted on the movement can also be read.
Signée Panerai, la nouvelle boucle déployante du bracelet en cuir d’alligator est constituée à 100 % du même matériau que le boîtier. De longueur réglable, celle-ci est conçue pour offrir à la montre une protection optimale sur le poignet.
Panerai identity and personalisation
From the aesthetic point of view, the codes of the new Radiomir 1940 Minute Repeater Carillon Tourbillon GMT are the immediately recognisable ones of the Panerai style, such as the historic Radiomir 1940 case (49 mm in diameter), water-resistant to 30m, and the characteristic bar markers and figures covered with Super-LumiNova®.
The case is presented in 18 carat red gold, a metal of intense colour and excellent properties both in terms of resistance to corrosion – thanks to a percentage of platinum in the composition of the alloy – and in propagating the sound, with its particular hardness.
This Special Edition is only made to order for clients, and can be personalised (strap, hands, material of the case).
