The new Luminor 8 Days Set – available in only 500 examples – contains two watches inspired by models created in the pre-Vendôme (between 1993, the year of the first collection made for the public, and 1997, when Panerai was acquired by Vendôme, part of the Richemont Group). In those years, a very small number of watch was produced and they quickly became highly sought after in the collector’s market.
The new Luminor 8 Days Set takes two models originally created for Sylvester Stallone: a Luminor Black Seal, here presented for the first time in a left-handed version, and a Luminor Daylight with an original, extremely rare white dial with blue markers and numerals.
The Luminor Black Seal Left-Handed 8 Days is the version with the winding crown and the lever device protecting it on the left side of the case of the historic 2 Luminor Black Seal. The tradition of making watches for left-handers was initiated by Panerai in the 1940s to enable the watches to be worn on a frogman’s right wrist, while the compass and depth gauge were worn on the left. The Luminor Case, 44 mm in diameter, is made of stainless steel coated with DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon).
The Luminor Daylight 8 Days is the reproduction of a model of 1996 of which only a very few examples exist. The striking detail of the historic example, faithfully reproduced in the new model, is the white dial – as in the Daylight models of the time – on which, unusually, all the markers and the hands are an intense blue colour. All the hands are blue, as are the large markers indicating the hours. In this model the case 44 mm in diameter is made of AISI 316L stainless steel with a polished finish, as is the winderprotecting device placed traditionally on the right side. In keeping with the dial the strap is blue alligator, and the steel tongue buckle is sewn-in, as in the vintage models.
Each watch has a hand-wound movement with a power reserve of at least eight days, stored in two spring barrels connected in series. The P.5000 calibre, entirely made in the Panerai Manufacture in Neuchâtel, recalls many of the “historic” characteristics of the calibres used in the watches at the time – such as the hand winding and the long power reserve – but it meets the standards of contemporary high quality watchmaking in the purest Panerai style, the structure of the movement being remarkably strong with its large bridges protecting the mechanism and the balance bridge with twin supports.
The two watches are supplied in a box inspired by those used for vintage Luminor watches, made of pear wood with a teak base and containing a model of the human torpedo, a rare publication about the military equipment of the special forces of the Royal Italian Navy, in which Panerai watches and instruments appear, a spare strap for each model and a screwdriver.
