Panerai wristwatch photo blog: PAM00316 48mm Radiomir Tourbillon

Sunday, August 16, 2009

PAM00316 48mm Radiomir Tourbillon

Panerai certainly made a leap forward with the introduction of their Manifattura line. The range of incredibly well manufactured and generally very reliable in-house movements is very impressive. Especially considering that Panerai have been developing these movements for only a relatively short period of time. Research and development have always been strong points of Officine Panerai - but with the introduction of the P.2005 movement Panerai have undoubtedly put themselves on the map of haute horlogerie.

Panerai PAM316 48mm Radiomir Tourbillon GMT

Panerai 316 Radiomir Tourbillon GMT

The platinum Panerai Radiomir 316 features a tourbillon, a device invented by Breguet in the late 18th century. The purpose of this invention was to eliminate errors in rate of pocket watches that were generally worn in upright position. Although a tourbillon offers the best possible accuracy in a wristwatch, only very few watch brands offer this complication. Simply because it is very complicated and very expensive to manufacture such a function. Panerai have undertaken the challenge and even introduced further improvements in this field. And Panerai wouldn't be Panerai if they didn't decide to not make the tourbillon visible on the dial of the watch. Only a blue dot on the dial at the nine o'clock position - rotating every 30 seconds - indicates the presence of the tourbillon.

The tourbillon can be seen through the crystal of the case back

The PAM316 furthermore offers a GMT function with an am/pm indicator at the three o'clock position. The cushion shaped Radiomir case is a whopping 48mm and it's made from platinum. For some reason the watch doesn't look its size when on the wrist. It's just perfect.

Panerai Radiomir Tourbillon GMT

The crown of the watch is pulled out to the first position to set the time. You pull out the crown to the 2nd position to set the second time zone. The watch has the Panerai 12 hour GMT function so that the second time can be read in a very natural way.

The crown has the OP logo

I probably said this too many times about too many different Panerai watches, but this may very well be one of the most beautiful Panerai watches I've ever seen. Mind you, the list price is currently 95,000 Euro. I assume that this is not within the price range of many watch enthusiasts...