Beiruting News

Published in Italy on 2 July, the new book PANERAI tells the story of the past and present of the Florentine high quality sports watchmaking brand Officine Panerai, which in just a few years has transformed what was a niche product for collectors into a global brand which is among the most sought after by enthusiasts throughout the world. Available in four languages - Italian, English, Chinese and Japanese - the Panerai book will be distributed throughout the world by Rizzoli International from 15 September 2015.

Published by the Italian publishing house Marsilio and created with the editorial coordination of the Cologni Foundation for  the  Métiers  d'Art,  the  book  respect the identity of the brand with its elegant, simple yet sophisticated graphic design, its exquisite attention to detail, and the richness and originality of its content. It consists of five essays covering five different aspects of the identity of Officine Panerai, each one written by a different author. The essays take the reader on a journey through the fascinating worlds which define the distinctive identity of the Florentine brand: the history, the technology, the sea and the design.

This last aspect is covered by the respected historian and art critic Philippe Daverio who, with his unmistakeable discerning style, puts the creation of the first Panerai watches in context. The first Radiomir is dated 1936 and he places it "Among the classics of modernity". The Panerai watch is associated with the first examples of great Italian and international design, as well as with the architecture and works of art which marked the international style in the 1930s and 1940s.

The essay by Professor Paolo Galluzzi, Director of the Museo Galileo in Florence, illustrates the role which Italy, and in particular the capital of Tuscany where the first Panerai watch was created, played in the development of time measuring instruments. This historic but little known Italian speciality involved great geniuses such as Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo della Volpaia, who centuries ago created the cultural conditions for the great technical and scientific Florentine fervour which contributed to the birth of Panerai.

The story of the Panerai family, from the opening of its first boutique on the Ponte alle Grazie in 1860 to the supply of instruments for the special forces of the Italian Navy, is told by Giampiero Negretti. As a journalist and historian of timekeeping, he has carefully examined the historical archives of the brand, discovering hitherto unknown facts about both the activities of the Panerai family's Orologeria Svizzera and the epic tales of the frogmen of the 1st Submarine Group Command of the Royal Italian Navy, who wore the first Radiomir and Luminor watches ever made on their wrists as they carried out their heroic exploits.

The English journalist Simon de Burton, one of the best known international experts in haute horlogerie, tells the story of the exceptional technical content of the watches themselves: the acquisition of the brand by the Swiss Richemont Group, the development of a complete range of mechanical movements made in-house, and the recent establishment of a new manufacture which is one of the most modern and advanced in the world of watchmaking.

Finally, in the essay by the journalist and writer Fabio Pozzo, the scene changes and classic yachts play the leading role, as "seafaring souls", to use the words of the author. For more than ten years Officine Panerai has renewed its historic link with the world of the sea, which originated when it supplied instruments to the Italian Navy, not only creating specialised timepieces but also promoting the culture of classic yachts, those unique examples of beauty, history, craftsmanship and exclusivity.

The essays by the five authors are accompanied by photographs of extraordinary beauty and evocativeness, covering various times and places as they retrace the steps which brought the Panerai legend into being. The period watches and contemporary ones are the main stars, but the fields covered of the volume range from masterpieces of Renaissance timekeeping to the icons of international design of the 1930s, from images of Florence in the late 19th century to those of classic sailing yachts which take part each year in the races of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge. The visual content is further enhanced by the original contributions of Victor Togliani, one of the best known Italian illustrators, who has made some 20 evocative line drawings for the volume, examples of a poetic and visionary realism.

Philippe Daverio is one of Italy’s foremost and best-known art historians and art critics. Born in Mulhouse, Alsace, he lives and works in Milan. A full professor in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Palermo, he also lectures in the Faculty of Design at the Politecnico di Milano. He is artistic director of the Museo del Duomo, Milan, the editor of the magazine Art e Dossier, an exhibition curator, and the creator and presenter of popular art and culture programs for television, including Passepartout, Emporio Daverio, and Il Capitale. He is the author of numerous successful publications on the history of art. His most recent books include Il Museo immaginato (Rizzoli, 011), Il secolo lungo della modernità (Rizzoli, 2012), and Guardar lontano veder vicino (Rizzoli, 2013).

Simon de Burton is a well-known English journalist with a special interest in luxury products and fine watches in particular. He is also an authority on deluxe automobiles and sailing. He collaborates with numerous important international newspapers and magazines, including The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, Vanity Fair, and GQ. A contributing editor to many specialist magazines, such as Boat International, the leading British fine watch magazine QP, and motoring magazines Evo and Octane, he has published several books, including, with Giampiero Negretti, Panerai (Flammarion, 2008).

Paolo Galluzzi has been professor of the History of Science at the University of Siena from 1979 to 1994 and at the University of Florence from 1994 to 2010. Since 1982 he has been director of the Museo Galileo-Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. He has written over 200 publications on the history of science and scientific museology. In recent years he has been particularly committed to analyzing the new potential offered by communication technologies for illustrating and developing the scientific and technical heritage and the dissemination of scientific culture.

Giampiero Negretti is an internationally renowned expert on watchmaking and its history. A journalist with Il Giornale, he was the first to write a specialist column (since 1985) devoted to watches in a major national Italian daily newspaper. He has published numerous books and historical monographs on the great watchmaking firms, including, in collaboration with Simon de Burton, Panerai (Flammarion, 2008). He regularly contributes to specialist magazines, periodicals, and newspapers. His expertise as a journalist and scholar ranges from the history to the latest developments in watchmaking, with a special emphasis on aspects associated with technology, in which he has specialized.

Fabio Pozzo, was born in Genoa and works as a journalist with the Italian national daily newspaper La Stampa in the Turin head editorial office. He has always cultivated his passion for the sea, sailing, and the history of navigation. Having completed nautical, legal and historical studies, he joined the crew of one of the last transatlantic ships. He also follows the major international regattas and writes on maritime economics. He has written several books with a great appeal for enthusiasts, including Assolvete l’Andrea Doria (Longanesi, 2006), a fascinating, thoroughly documented enquiry into the sinking of the Italian liner after the Stockholm collided with it in the North Atlantic, and Odiavo i velisti (Longanesi, 2014), written jointly with Cino Ricci, an autobiography of the skipper of the Azzurra, the first Italian challenger in the America’s Cup.

Victor Togliani is one of Italy’s leading illustrators. An artist of visionary talent, sculptor, set designer, costume artist, pattern maker, specialised in science fiction and fantasy, he works for advertising, publishing, cinema, television and music publishing. A graduate of the Brera Academy, he lives and works in Milan. He has created set designs, costumes and props for cinema and animation films.