A Guide to Vintage Panerai - Are They Worth the Investment?
An Introduction to Vintage Watches
Panerai is of course well known for its military roots. But you don't get so see many of the original watches often. The vintage pieces are rare and the current price range of such pieces sadly places these watches outside of the possibilities of most collectors. As is of course the case with all sought after items, regardless of what they are. To be the first owner of a watch can cost a considerable amount. New watches are subject to VAT and depreciation so the economics of buying a vintage watch has real appeal.
If you’re looking for a highly sought-after watch, you’ll probably pay over the odds for the modern version but the two are generally not comparable. The vintage will continue to go up in value, while the modern one won’t.
Vintage watches tell a great story – they’ve been loved way before you clapped eyes on them. Their age can be seen in their general conditions and detail of the dial. Ageing can add value to vintage timepieces and there’s always the chance that if you don’t purchase a watch you’ve spied, you won’t see one like it again.
Owning a dated watch shows you have an appreciation for heritage, quality design and class goods. Whether it’s a unique take on a power reserve or has an unusual movement, many of them use old technology that can only be found on certain models.
Many now see vintage watches as a hot new asset in their investment portfolios. In a market where stocks, bonds and real estate seem at an unsteady peak, do vintage watches present a Bitcoin-in-2017-like growth opportunity?
Additionally, old watches are considered cool: They have patina, provenance, soul. And for a generation of men (and yes, vintage watches seem to be an obsession largely for men) who value the analog-chic of antique mechanical watches, just like vinyl records and selvage jeans, that is key. Vintage watches should show off their age. They evoke a sense of adventure and a kind of dare to add more dings and scratches to them as evidence of a life lived.
What’s Special about Vintage Panerai?
To get an idea of why vintage Panerai fetch for such a price today: The Luminor 6152-1 was produced in minimal quantity with only 33 known to ever have been created. Each 6152 is individually known to have a great story - most vintage Panerai for that matter. Some have been known to sell at auction for over £200,000…
The value of a vintage Panerai watch is mostly dependent on the dial’s condition, the “patina’d” look of the watch over time and whether the dial is original.
Vintage dials can be extremely charismatic and the focus of the watch, it makes all other aspects of the watch seem unimportant. Panerai were a strange case as, originally a dial maker, the brand is portrayed as a watch manufacturer. The need for these watches were originally from Italy, but Rolex were the driving force behind supplying professional diving watches to the Decima MAS swimmers.
G. Panerai e Figlio had Rolex design a series of references, receiving exclusive rights for 15 years. Most Vintage Panerai seen today were designed and produced by Rolex.
Panerai’s accolade came from their dials, known for outstanding legibility even in dirty & murky waters. It is rumoured that whilst in enemy waters, divers had to cover the watch with cloths to avoid being seen!
This extraordinary luminosity was achieved with a radium-based substance named RADIOMIR, which was never patented. Radium-226 is highly radioactive with a half-life of 1,600 years.
G. Panerai e Figlio developed a series of different dials always using intricate multi layer “sandwich” constructions with the goal to insert as much RADIOMIR paste as possible. These ingenious dials evolved over time.
Perezcope made a tremendous timeline of Panerai models over the years. Click on the image below to study the timeline in more detail.
