The Luminor Dynasty

[DJ16013]

The Luminor Dynasty​

Hello everyone, first allow me to give a short “how to guide”: this turned out to be a quite a long post, therefore I will be splitting it as follow to ease the browsing between the main sections:

• Intro and History
• Reference Table and legenda
• Table reading companion
• Replica consideration and links

Intro/Goal​

Luminor is the most famous case shape in Panerai history and one of the most recognizable in the entire watch realm. There are two variants of this case shape in the current production of the Richemont era Panerai: one is called Luminor 1950 and was introduced in 2002 with the famous 127 (Fiddy) while the other one is simply called Luminor but also “Bettarini” and it is the one that started the civil watch production in Officine Panerai in the early 90s and it is still used to market the more conservative watches of the luxury brand. This writing will focus on the latter case shape, trying to list all the models using this specific case following some criteria that will be explained later. The goal of this writing is to create some order in the – rather chaotic – Panerai catalogue that rapidly evolved year after year using reference numbers that are quite inconsequential and look random at first sight. At last, we will close with some info about the replicas available.

Who is this Bettarini guy after all?​

Alessandro Bettarini had an engineer’s degree and belonged to the second generation of artisans working for Officine Panerai, a company in the military tools sector, providing a wide range of tools mainly to the Marina Militare Italiana. In 1980 he was hired directly by Mr. Dino Zei (OP Ceo since the death of the last Panerai family member in the early 70s) on the R&D operations of the company. In a few years he became the manager of the mechanic planning and drawing section of Officine Panerai and he was instrumental in establishing the watchmaking area of OP by resuming the historical designs and traditions of the “old” OP. But the first attempt in the 80s wasn’t successful: OP was at full capacity with the current military supply and the prototype of an Egiziano-shaped watch called “Millemetri” did not spark any interest. Five years after the environmental conditions evolved: OP military business was going down and an obscure historical book put on the spotlight the old OP watchmaking business, sparkling some interest even from watch enthusiasts in Japan.



Now, relatively recent historical findings, made mainly by Loris Pasetto in his book “Panerai. Una storia Italiana” show how Alessandro Bettarini is in fact not responsible for the design of the Luminor case, as it’s commonly said all over the web. It turns out from the interview made by Pasetto that the design was performed by the Swiss watch company Valgine Guenat (an old watchmaking firm established at the beginning of the XX century and now part of the Richard Mille Group) that was commissioned by Dino Zei to design two watches more suited for the general open market starting from the “classical” military production models of the past that were deemed to be too big and chunky. Valgine Guenat delivered the designs and Alessandro Bettarini’s team copied them on some working glossy sheets that were later found and from which comes the misconception (there’s Bettarini sign is on those sheets). We will call them Bettarini cases nonetheless since it is now common terminology, but please keep in mind that this is a forgery (which we don’t really care about as long as it’s well done, I guess). Also, Valgine Guenat was the company producing the watches for all the pre-V period.

Anyway, finally we have the civil production started (1993) and the famous Stallone incident (1996), but the success was unfortunately for Bettarini and Zei coming too late. OP was in fact playing the watch card in the hope of increasing the firm revenues because the financial situation of the company was already troubled and proved to be not recoverable, so that the brand and the whole business including the main assets were shortly after (in 1997) sold to the Vendome Luxury Group. The old company was renamed Panerai Sistemi, and remained as supplier of the VLG until it was itself sold to an Italian firm in the military business. Alessandro Bettarini remained in Panerai Sistemi and then left with the idea to restart the watchmaking business, in which he succeeded in 2004 by founding ENNEBI, a watch brand that’s still in the business. Check the link in the bottom of this essay, they are fine watches that partially are linked to pre-V Panerais.

First design of the case and its evolution​

The first run of the Luminor case (Pre Vendome or Pre-V) was a sparse production of around one thousand watches divided in a few models. More than half of those numbers were in the 201/A model, the progenitor of the Luminor which displayed the features that would carry on until today in one model or the other: the iconic 44mm case with crown guard, a black dial where the indices are carved out and filled with lume, the OP logo, the 24mm lugs allowing a fast strap change with a screw in mechanism, a reliable mechanical caliber that has to be manually wound.

When Vendome took over the managing of the brand (in fact Angelo Bonati, OP CEO from 1997 to 2018, proudly said that he created a brand from one single watch, indeed the 201/A) they naturally started from the Luminor case, from differentiating in a very competitive sector by using different “exotic” materials and from a handful of dial variations.

Since then the Luminor case shape didn’t basically change, maintaining its fundamental design characteristics intact. The only changes were pertaining to the size (in height, since there is no other size than 44mm available) to accommodate the different movements, in sealing when bezel and caseback were “downgraded” in some of the entry level models, and in lug hole functionality. We may then distinguish two main eras and a transition period:

• 1997- 2017, encasing variants of the Unitas 6467 (OP I & II & X & XI)
• 2013 onwards, encasing P.5000 and P.6000 Manifattura movements
• Between 2013 and 2017 we have different combinations of phase out of Unitas and phase in of manifattura combined with testing the new “cheap” cases in the Logo collection

The thickness of the case changes, can be summarized as following:

• OP I & II & X & XI > Glass to caseback: 15mm (8mm just case)
• P.5000 > Glass to caseback: 14mm (7mm just case)
• P.6000 > Glass to caseback: 13.05mm (7mm just case)

In fact the overall (caseback to glass) thickness depended also by the thickess of the glass and the type of the caseback, therefore you may encounter different variant of thickness in between the two extreme (15 and 13.05). What seems to be a given is that the case itself (with no extra parts) has two variants.

Let’s move now to what can be considered the heart of this paper.

 

[DJ16013]

How to read the table​

In the following table I have listed every “Bettarini” case model ever released that combine the following features:

• Have a MW movement
• Were part of the regular Panerai series (no SE, no LE)

This two limiting factors allows for a shorter table that can actually be read. My sources were the catalogues, the Panerai website and the analysis of countless Chrono24 sales pictures. I also had some luck in finding specific models millesimation information. But I still had to make some assumptions, so please feel free to contribute if you have any evidence

Table​

Legenda​

So as a quick reference we have from right to left:

• Years of production (Pre V are grouped so 1993-1997)
• Panerai Series (started with Vendome and the letter “A” for 1998. Still we have Vendome models with no series, they are called Pre A
• Models number grouped by yours truly logic (explained below)
• I = year of production (i.e. we do have a serie-year for that model)
• V = last year of production

If you see an excel note, it will be part of the description below

 

[DJ16013]

Table reading companion​

I have kept as a main discriminating entry the logo/no logo dial not because it is the most prominent, - and it should be noted that it was never used for a collection name by Panerai – but because Richemont itself consistently used this feature to differentiate “entry level” bettarinis from the “Luxury” or let’s call them “classic” since this is a tool watch that is pushed to luxury standards only by marketing.

A - Logo​

Starting with the Logos, we see that it has a simpler outline of models, since they have always differed by dial substantially (inside the same generation). The only remarkable divide is between the Base (hours and minute hands only over a dial with 4 hour markers) and the Marina (addition of the small seconds hand decentred @9) models. The marina name was recently dropped but we will keep it to point to a watch with three hands where the seconds is at 9 (or 3).



The Logo itself was a design devised in the 80s by Dino Zei, (see above for who Dino Zei was) the two squared O and P were refined with two arrows, one, pointing up, representative of the sky and earth operations, and the other, pointing down, representing the sea operations. Bear in mind the core business of OP was military supplies of tools.

201/A​

We already discussed this model in the History section. Enough to repeat here that this was the first model released for civil use in 1993, it was produced in more than 600 units (only the 301/A, a Mare Nostrum, has had better production numbers), and it was the base over which different variants were attempted in preV era: PVD, Marina, Slytechs. That’s why we call it the “Progenitor”

PAM000/005​

Ironically the Logo was the first to be made by Panerai, but also it was the last (as PAM000 and 005) to be reintroduced by VLG in 2004, well after a wide range of Classic models were already released.

At that time the justification for the introduction of a new model different from the “classic range” came from the closed caseback (as opposed to open), the non decorated movement (OPI & II) and a more basic choice of straps. Plus of course the Logo itself that visually differentiated the front view of the watch. Also to be remarked that the Logo dial always had a sausage dial, while the classic sported a wider range of dials. Nevertheless, and because of the link with the preV models, the logo became the most sought after Panerai, demanding higher prices than retail in the secondary market. The 000/005 couple had a very long stint from 2004 and 2016, making for one of the most produced models in the whole Panerai range.

PAM1000/1005 and brothers​

Such a glorious model was finally superseded not by the introduction a new movement (as it happened for the “classic”) but by some “experimentation” in what was widely discussed at the times as cost cutting measures, with the main issue identified in reducing the WR of the watch from 30 atm to 10 atm. Not that many Paneristi would use the watch at such depth, but for a diver with roots in military it was considered an outrage. More in detail, those changes were:

• First, the bezel and mid-case of these new models were made in one piece (vs screwed in)
• Second, the case back is a snapback rather than screwed to the mid-case
• Third, the lug screws are replaced with spring bars
• Fourth, the sapphire crystal thickness decreased from 3.5 mm down to 2.5 mm
• Fifth, the fat "sausage" (luminous) dials are replaced with thin painted dials
• Plus, on some models, no roller on lever CG is found

Also with this change Panerai introduced for the first time a few variants in the line, all of them sharing the above listed features.

Here’s a list of the models, all launched in 2016

• 630 > a white dial base model with a blue logo
• 632 > a Marina similar to the 1005 but with vintage lume
• 660 > a Marina white dial blue logo
• 631 > a Marina similar to the 632 (vintage lume) but blue logo

Also it could be interesting to note that this new change in the Logo line up was preceded in 2015 and tested with the PAM634, a limited edition for the Paneristi club in their 15th anniversary (to add insult to injury…)

PAM773-4-5-6-7-8​

In a quite strange and quick move, only two years later we got a new complete change in the lineup, driving for 6 new references numbers. This time the novelty was mainly (and finally) the launch of a new movement, the third manual movement of Manifattura after the big P.3000 and the 8-days P.5000. P.6000, this is the name of the caliber, is a simpler version of the P.5000 (110 components vs 130), pushing down the power reserve to 3 days only and the diameter of the movement by less than a mm. Moreover, Panerai was taking some “feedback” from the previous generations “cost cutting” measures, and specifically the case back was changed from snap to a new bayonet system, with faceted caseback (instead of round). The WR however was maintained at 100m. Here are the new references:

• Base
  • 773 > successor of the 000/1000 line
  • 774 > black dial blue logo
  • 775 > white dial blue logo
• Marina
  • 776 > successor of the 005/1005 line
  • 777 > black dial blue logo
  • 778 > white dial blue logo

Current generation​

Again after only a couple of years, a new round of references was introduced replacing the old ones. This time the differences are mostly visuals and concentrated on the dial:

• Silver hands (vs black)
• Open numbers (vs closed)
• Luminor Panerai (vs Luminor Marina) @12 and logo @6
• Different mounted straps

Plus the strap changing mechanism was reverted to the screw bars from spring bars.

As of 2024 six references of this generation are released:

• Base
  • 1086 > 000/1000/773 son
  • 1087 > White dial, only available online
  • 1623 > announced at W&W 2024, blue rays dial
• Marina
  • 1084 > 005/1005/776 son
  • 1085 > Blue rays dial called “Blu Mare”
  • 1624 > announced at W&W 2024, Green rays dial

Now let’s see for how long these models will last but it should be noted that the first (1084) is already 5 years old, hopefully we will have some stability and the swing times are gone.

 

[DJ16013]

B - Classic​

Here’s were the things gets more funky. As this is the “classic Panerai watch”, we have more variants released throughout the years: on top of the already seen variants based on complications (Base vs Marina) and dials colors, we have new features to play with: case materials and flipped watches for lefties.

Let’s start with the classic stainless steel case variant differentiating between white and dark dials:

• Dark dial. Here we have to split between models in order to make sense of it: Base, Marina and Destro
  • Base
    • No preV version
    • 002 in 1997 until 2001, sold less than half than the Marina. Closed caseback and undecorated OP I. Painted dial, started from Tritium, and transitioned to L
    • 112 in 2002 until 2015. Open caseback and decorated OP X. Dial: Sausage(E-G) ; Sandwich(H-onwards). NB: 111 R series exists, not sure about 112 though.
    • 560 in 2014. New manifattura P.5000 movement, Luminor/Panerai and 8 days dial, green lume on sandwich until S series, then painted. Open CB
    • 914 in 2020. Luminor/Panerai and 8 giorni dial, patina lume on sandwich, open cb limited to 1000 pcs in 2020, otherwise closed CB
  • Marina
    • Again, no preV version. Only PVD Marinas in PreV era.
    • 001 in 1997 until 2001, 12K pcs sold. Closed caseback, OPII movement encased. Tritium painted dial. At the beginning of the new era the number one watch is a never seen before model: ss case, no logo on dial, small seconds. For the first time a three layered dial Luminor/Marina/Panerai appears on the dial. It will be the new classic.
    • 111 in 2002. This is “The Pam” since its characteristics made it the most recognizable watch out of the range. Not the most sold since this crown always went to its automatic version (104, 312, 1312) but the most historically accurate since most Pam snobs think that automatic movements are for Japanese watches (/s). Nevertheless it is for sure the more popular and sold between the watches in this list. Anyway, we digress. The 111 was part of the 2002 “wave” driven by the “new” (in fact just an OP II with a different decoration and the addition of a regulator swan neck. Other changes – a better spring for more PR, the Nivarox spiral – were also added to OP II) OP XI caliber. In the process other two major changes were added: the sandwich dial and the transparent caseback. Here a list of the major changes between the long production stint of the 111:
      • Up until F-series included the CG was polished. From G onwards it was brushed
      • Movement decorated with small PANERAI lettering until G series included, from H onwards: Cotes de Geneve
      • Printed dial until G series, Sandwich from H onwards
      • Modern buckle until G series; Pre-Vendome Style from H onwards
    • 510 in 2013. The year 2013 saw the launch of the new Manifattura movements in the Bettarini cases. Two models were unveiled in 2013 (others will follow in 2014). The successor of the 111 (“The Pam”) and a never seen before gold version of it (511). 510 had the following distinctive features:
      • 4 layered dial (Luminor/Marina/Panerai/8 days)
      • Sandwich dial for the first two years printed from R onwards;
      • Green lume on indexes and hands;
      • Transparent caseback;
      • P.5000 No hacking (reintroduced eol) Note: numerals and indexes width is changing from the 111-560-915 as follow: 1-3-2 where 1 is the narrower.
    • 915 in 2020. A new change in reference for some unknown reason. Main distinctive features:
      • Dropped the Marina on the dial (Luminor/Panerai @12 and 8 giorni @6).
      • Patina lume on sandwich.
      • P.5000 w/hacking seconds.
      • Open CB for some time (longer than 914) and now closed CB.
    • 590 in 2014. One of the two “oddballs” that were released as regular series along the classic 111/510/915 range. Friendly called “il Pirata” (pirate) by Paneristi. As 510 but:
      • Ocra (fintage) lume;
      • Closed CB with an engraved “pig” torpedo;
      • Dial with round printed “8 giorni brevettato” @3 (nod to the historical Panerai 6152/1 powered by Angelus;
    • 795 second oddball, released 2018:
      • Brown dial, power reserve indicator @4
      • Cal P.5001
  • Destro
    • So first of all, no Destro was produced in pre-V models. The first one was therefore the 022 under the new management (along the PVD 026). It was a 001 “flipped” so that the CG is at 9 and the seconds hand at 3. Otherwise same characteristics as 001: OP II, Tritium lume, printed dial, brushed case and polished bezel and CG. Four years of production
    • 2002 came and also the destro had to conform to the nouvelle vague: new caliber and new transparent caseback. Reference was 115 and was a flipped 111. That reference however only resisted three years and 800 pieces (quite rare then!).
    • In 2005 the Destro resurrected but with a twist: the new 219 was a Base model not a Marina. It lasted more in production (H-P series) and delivered 4.300 pcs. It is the “classic” destro I would say.
    • After “P” the destros on Bettarinis came sparser and rarer. The Manifattura Destro waited until 2018 (U) and only lasted three years. It got the reference 796 and the main feature were
      • the “8 days” writing in blue in a four layered black dial (Luminor/Marina/Panerai/8 days)
      • the p.5001 variant of the caliber P.5000 that sports a power reserve indicator on the back
      • Vintage (faux) lume on hands and indexes
    • Finally, at W&W 2024 it was presented a new reference 1655 that appears to be a destro. Still early to make any considerations but the odd features seems to be an “inverted CG” with the lever opening downside…

• White dial: pretty straight forward evolution here compared to the dark dials, let's go faster:
  • 207/A: only around 100 pieces for Stallone in 1995/6, two versions with blue and black markers
  • 010/003 from the beginning of the LVG realm, so that we can say that white dials were always in the plans for Richemont. Black markers only, closed caseback
  • In 2002 113/114 (new OP X/XI and transparent cb). Again, when renewing of the line was in place, white dial was considered and implemented. Curiosity: white dial 113/4 were not produced for J series
  • In 2014 561/563 (new Manifattura caliber), with 8 days dial and transparent CB showing the (ugly) P.5000. Not clear if Y series in fact exists.
  • Currently discontinued. No treatment of 8 giorni for White dials. Will they be back? Would love to have a 8 giorni dial and closed caseback for white dials.

Now, with the bulk of it out of the way, let’s quickly look at the different materials cases.

• PVD: It started with grandeur, with none less than 3 models (base, marina, destro). But in fact it was then abandoned after a couple of years only. Since 2000 only special and limited editions could sport PVD (or DLC) cases. Exception is the “exceptional” 779 (titanium DLC California dial. It is in the 2018 official catalogue so that I believe is not SE or LE but I was only able to found U series, so I really don’t know about this watch).
• Gold: only one reference, the 511 launched in 2014 to celebrate the arrival of the Manifattura caliber
• Titanium: Titanium lovers were luckier but still at the present time we don’t have a Bettarini with Ti case. Titanium “evolution” was in fact pretty linear:
  • No Ti case in Pre-V watches
  • Introduced first time in 2000 with Base, marina & destro. Brown dial
  • 2002 was the year of the OP X/XI and transparent caseback, so 3 new references (brown dial resist)
  • Two years later dial turns black, two new references (no destro sadly)
  • In 2014 they are receiving the Manifattura treatment. Still black dial
  • In 2018 we have the “oddball” 797: Ti case, brown dial w/power reserve indication

 

[DJ16013]

Some replica consideration​

Ok, I am quite tired and all (and you’d be the same I guess) but now let’s take a quick look at the replicas of these models. First thing first: the goal here is just to have a quick overview of the replicas without going too in depth, that’s because the main goal of this paper was the history of the Richemont Panerai models and because we already have a lot of good info about the replicas.

The resources to deepen the knowledge about the replicas are linked at the bottom of this work and are 1) the PAM guide made by ALE7575, covering all replicas made in 2012 and update until 2016 roughly 2) the overview of the available replicas in 2020 made by KOT1917.

Also, please bear in mind by reading this section that – differently from what was written until now – what is stated from now on is in the realm of the opinions. I am not the judge, I just try to make sense of what I have understood.

Now, generally speaking we can state the following about the quality of the replicas:

• Panerai Bettarinis, but let’s say Panerai in general, were among the easiest model to copy for the Chinese replica industry. This for several reason:
• Size – a bigger watch is easy to replicate
• Simplicity – large dials, few complications, standard cases
• Usage of standard movements from external companies and for a long time
• Lack of specific anti-counterfeit gimmicks (as Rolex holograms, rehaut inscriptions, cristal engravings…)

This situation led to a time were Panerai replicas were the better copied of the market, fooling a lot of people. But also this ultimately affected the brand in the sense that people was hesitant to consider a Panerai watch in the fear of a counterfeit. (note, counterfeits were always discernible, especially in a side by side comparison, but most of the people do not know that).

• Basically the anti-counterfeit strategy of Richemont was to aim as quick as possible for one goal only: creating a vast array of in house movements. We must say now, at this point in time (2024) that this strategy was productive, especially for the range of watches taken in consideration in this paper. In 2002 OP established the in house operations in Neuchatel and in 2013 the first handwound in house movement was launched in the Luminor 44mm case and since then all the range was affected, phasing out Unitas movement in 2018.
• Point is that at the present time (more than 10ys after!) there is not a single clone of those two manifattura movements (P.5000 and P.6000). We had plates made to resemble to the new movements but they are poor efforts, leaving a lot to be considered visually when the case is a see-through one (wrong placement of the balance wheel, wrong size of said balance wheel and bridge, different finish).
• Not only that: the manifattura movements also allowed for a slimmer case. It is worth noting though, that the difference between the size of the movements is not in the thickness of the movement itself, that is equal, but in the diameter, allowing for a more tapered case:
• P.5000 4.5mm / 15.75 ligne / 21 jewels / 127 components
• P.6000 4.5mm / 15.5 ligne (35,7 mm) / 19 jewels / 110 components
• Unitas 6497 4.5mm / 16.5 ligne (36,6mm) / 17 jewels

Also in the logo range cristal is slimmer (1mm) and caseback too. In any case difference in thickness is very visible on a Panerai.

We should maybe ask ourselves why we are in this situation (poor quality of Panerai reps, especially compared with say 10 ys ago). It’s a mix of the following:

• A typical risk of this business: knowledge was concentrated in the hands of few people/factories, and once raided the knowledge was lost
• Watch world in the last 10 ys saw an increase in concentration in few brands/models and the replica business is mainly competing in that smaller space (Rolex, Omega, AP, PP)
• Panerai brand market attractiveness is sharply decreasing. In 2017 Panerai was the 13th brand by revenues, in 2023 was placed 18th. Still in the top 20 but losing 5 places is bad. That is due to reasons partly out of the hands of the management, as large watches being out of fashion, and partly to the management itself, but this is a long and controversial discussion I am not ready to address here
• Panerai has a very scattered production over miriads of references, that change often on a yearly basis. This for sure makes difficult for a factory to focus on a few models and start projects that risk to focus on a niche reference or something that will be out of the market soon.

Ok, that’s all folks, I hope you enjoy reading that as much I did enjoy research for it and writing it. I will try now to complete the overview working on the LE and SE.

Have a good one, and one last data for the numbers-lovers: this paper is over 4.800 words long excluding the table

 

[DJ16013]

References and Links​

Official ENNEBI website
https://www.ennebi.eu/it/benvenuti-da-ennebi/

Review of seimilametri and Bettarini interview
https://timetoblogwatches.com/2023/07/09/watch-review-ennebi-seimila-metri/

Very interesting podcast were Loris Pasetto spill the beans on the Panerai hidden history (sorry, Italian only…)
(also please remove the spaces with backspace in a browser to make it working)
https:// open.spotify.com /episode/4BLzKGkVlMu9tHfbH3Ua6f?si=d58c4b770e97476e

Comparison of Bettarini Luminor Cases by Klockis and Ale
https://www.rwg.bz/board/index.php?...ets-noob-vs-kw-vs-h-maker-ale-klockis-review/

White dial paper by KOT1917
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/something-about-white-dial-panerai.9855003/

Watch market evolution
https://monochrome-watches.com/indu...ey-rolex-breaking-the-chf-10-billion-barrier/

Website with interesting info about the evolution of Panerai in recent years
https://perezcope.com/

Ale7575 Pam’s guide on RWI
https://forum.replica-watch.info/th...h-identification-evaluation-selection.106183/

Kot1917 overview of 2022 available Panerai replicas
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/current-rep-panerai-models.10919731/

KOT1917 2020 Panerai rep releases
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/something-about-all-reps-panerai-2020.9692510/

KOT1917 movement overview
https://forum.replica-watch.info/threads/something-about-panerai-movements.9930120/

 

[DJ16013]

ETA: Sorry I have quite a bad time in editing the post right now, I keep getting errors.
What is missing is
- pictures
- formatting of the second part.
I'll do that as soon as I understand how to make the forum software works.


ETA2: made some progress so that at least the indentation is now fixed as I imagined, which is the most important thing for readability. What I still cannot doing is adding colors and pictures (managed with one Idk why, but I cannot resize it or center it).
I did open an HD ticket to look for help by a Tech forum guy.

Thank you for your patience

 

[CF_Stan]

Thank you for taking the time to put that together, very informative.

 

[GPFModDep]

Also, thank you for pulling this together and sharing some new info.
I can contribute to your table with the following missing models :

Pre-Vendome: 1997

5218-205/A Luminor Submersible Slytech
5218 209 Luminor Logo
5210 210 Luminor Marina (PVD)
5218 218/A Luminor Black Seal Slytech

Transitional Vendome B Series: 1999

PAM 036 Marina Militare - Titanium - Tobacco Dial T-SWISS-T
PAM 040 Luminor Marina - Titanium - Black Dial - T-SWISS-T

Vendome C series: 2000

PAM 082 - Marina Millitare - Titanium- Blue Dial

That's as far as I got .

Thanks

 

[DJ16013]

Pre-Vendome: 1997
5218-205/A Luminor Submersible Slytech
5218 209 Luminor Logo
5210 210 Luminor Marina (PVD)
5218 218/A Luminor Black Seal Slytech

Transitional Vendome B Series: 1999
PAM 036 Marina Militare - Titanium - Tobacco Dial T-SWISS-T
PAM 040 Luminor Marina - Titanium - Black Dial - T-SWISS-T

Vendome C series: 2000
PAM 082 - Marina Millitare - Titanium- Blue Dial

Thank you for your help and for your kind words!
In fact out of your notes I should have included the Pam040 at least. It is not a special edition even though it is a very rare model produced in only 200 pcs in 99. But it is important because it's the first Ti! I will add it.

For the rest:
> Pre-Vendome: the four models you are mentioning are quite sparse production and since the focus is more on the V models I exlcuded them to maintain one single PreV line
> PAM036 and 028: are two special editions, not regular production models.

However I am working on a SE table that I will post sooner or later

 

[Pinion Minion]

Great stuff- thanks!

IMO this is deserving of a sticky

 

[Tippyracer]

Great stuff- thanks!

IMO this is deserving of a sticky

I agree, if you did not bring this back up to the top from April I would not have seen it. I've only been able to digest the first post so far, 5 more to go!

 

[pm-guy]

Awesome detail write up!
A sticky for sure....

 

[Pinion Minion]

@KOT1917 - do you think this would benefit from a sticky?

 

[kilowattore]

How did I miss this?
Great researching work and write up. Thank you very much for this.
Not my call but I vote for sticky

 

[KOT1917]

Yes, I think there's enough work done here to share it with others.
There are things I'll be happy to clarify with the author later, but for the most part, it's basically true and certainly useful for anyone getting to know Panerai.

 

[KOT1917]

Done!
I congratulate you, @DJ16013 , and I will eagerly await the second part with description and links to reps on the correspondence of these models!

 

[DJ16013]

Wow thank you @KOT1917, @kilowattore and all! I am humbled and grateful. Happy to contribute in a small way. Also open to discuss any mistake or improvement I can bring to it.

 

[marcsp2675]

Yes, I think there's enough work done here to share it with others.
There are things I'll be happy to clarify with the author later, but for the most part, it's basically true and certainly useful for anyone getting to know Panerai.

Love that this is a sticky now!

 

[ALE7575]

Done!
I congratulate you, @DJ16013 , and I will eagerly await the second part with description and links to reps on the correspondence of these models!

Nice addition
Congrats
ALE