5 Panerai Radiomir Facts that only hardcore Paneristi know
Panerai Radiomir — the watch that started the whole myth around the Italian watch brand. First exclusively made for Italian military divers, then a publicly available shelf warmer, and finally a global star after the brand had its famous breakthrough.
This year is the 80th anniversary of the model… Reason enough to revisit it and take a deep dive into its amazing history! Sit back and enjoy five curious facts that only the brands hardcore fans are familiar with:
1. The original models were considerably toxic and are still dangerous
Many know that Panerai was the watch manufacturer that invented luminous markings markings for the Italian navy. What less people know is that the first version was based on Radium, which is one of the most radioactive chemical elements that has been found until today. Unlike the luminous materials that are used nowadays, it does not save the energy of incoming light and releases it slowly. It is glowing because the emitted radiation is so strong that it interacts with some materials when they’re mixed with radium (yes, like in comics!). In the Radiomir paint, zinc sulfide was used.
Today we know the hazardous effects of radioactivity, but in the beginning no one understood how dangerous it was. Radium was even considered healthy and used as a drug against cancer and other illnesses.
Because of that, the radium used on watch dials and other instruments was applied by hand with fine brushes. This work was mostly reserved for factory women, who often licked their brushes and sometimes painted their fingernails with luminous mass.
The perception of radium started to change when many of these “radium girls” in the US started to develop cancer and other radiation-related diseases, quite often with deadly outcomes. No one knows for sure how much damage the radium has done, but this is certainly one of the saddest watch-related stories that has ever been told.
Today, the original Radiomirs that used radium are not glowing in the dark anymore. The zinc sulfide in the paint is worn out. However, that doesn’t mean that the radium has stopped to emit radiation! Since its half-life is more than 1600 years, not much of it has been depleted since the watches were build. Ironically, the affected timepieces still sell for hundreds of thousands because they are so rare and there’s a number of avid Panerai collectors.
2. The first Panerai Diving Watches were probably existing Rolex Models that were rebranded
You might have heard that the first Radiomirs were featuring Rolex movements and cases — the legendary diving watch rose from a fruitful cooperation of the small Italian watch shop and the legendary Swiss manufacturer. However, recent findings suggest that there was more to this liaison that what is commonly known today.
When browsing through a Rolex Catalogue from 1935, watch enthusiasts found this mysterious model:
It’s a Panerai! …Well, at least when you don’t pay attention to the dial.
The design is not even so far-fetched — as the Rolex historian James Dowlich noted, it’s basically a Oyster pocket watch with lugs and a flat bezel. However, the really mysterious thing is that there is not a single known exemplar of this model! So, how could it end up at Panerai?
There’s a funny theory that explains enigma pretty well. We well know that already before the second world war, Rolex was using many modern marketing techniques before they even had a name… Lean product iterations seems to be one of them.
What probably happened is that Rolex made a few test versions of this timepiece and tried to sell them to the public, but soon took them out of their sortiment again. It would be no surprise if these watches didn’t sell at all back then, as they were insanely huge and clumsy by the standards of their time!
When Panerai needed big watches that could be read undersea, Rolex seized the opportunity and offered them their shelf warmers that were still in stock. However, keep in mind that those are only assumptions… We might never know for sure, because Rolex is extremely secretive about its history and keeps its archive locked for the public.
3. Radiomirs were not only deployed by the Italian Navy, but also by German Military Divers
They were only produced in small numbers and are super rare today, but you can still find them: Radiomirs without the Panerai-branding that and were dubbed as “Kampfschwimmer” and worn by German military divers during WW II.
No one knows for sure anymore how they got them — did they approach Panerai directly, or were the watches handed over by the Italian Navy? Like many mysteries surrounding early Radiomir models, this one might stay unsolved forever.
4. Radiomirs were among the first watches that used plexiglass
Plexiglass — not exactly the right word to take a watch enthusiast to cloud nine! Known for its wide usage in cheap watches today, plexiglass would be in a luxury watch what polyester would be in an Armani Sweater.
However, when creating the Radiomir in the 1930s, Panerai didn’t do it for keeping the costs down! It was a revolutionary material in the 30s that was implemented for functional reasons. Traditional glass crystals shattered easily, making them unsuitable for dangerous underwater missions. In contrast, plexiglass was easier to scratch, but much harder to break — a much better choice for the frogmen, whose lives depended on the functionality of their timepieces.
However, don’t worry if you considered buying a Panerai watch now — those days are over. Modern Radiomirs feature sapphire crystals like most other luxury watches.
5. It’s not just Rambo’s watch — Radiomirs also look good on women’s wrists
Panerai has a quite masculine brand image — Now wonders, because our favorite action heroes made it famous! It might still be a small niche manufacturer if Sly Stallone had not endorsed them and spread some models amongst his friends.
However, did you not that the Radiomir actually NOT too big and martial to be worn by women? If you want a proof, look at Panerai’s female brand ambassadors! Top model Heidi Klum owns several watches from them, including a Radiomir.
Another proud Panerai wearer is Stana Katic, who featured in series like Emergency Room, CSI and Castle.
So, if you’re looking for a Valentine’s present… Remember that the world of wristwatches offers more than Rolex, Cartier and TAG Heuer!
Conclusion
We hope that we managed to give you a taste of what makes the “Paneristi” so excited about the Italian Watch manufacturer… The brand’s rich history that is full of amazing stories and mysteries that are still waiting to be solved! If you feel like browsing through Panerai’s models now, we recommend you to discover our great collection at Watchmaster.com.
For more exciting infos about Panerai, we recommend you Jake’s Panerai World, an incredibly rich and detailed resource on the history of Panerai watches. Another great address for finding out more is Paneraisource.com.
