Panerai wristwatch photo blog: An iconic Panerai, the 232

Friday, November 13, 2009

An iconic Panerai, the 232

The 2006 PAM232 is surely one of the most iconic watches of all the pieces that Panerai produced in recent years. The watch is modeled after the first special edition Panerai, the PAM21 - which in turn was based on the vintage Panerai Radiomir watches.

The PAM232 has a beautiful tobacco brown sandwich dial

The dial may look black in most photos, but it really is a beautiful tobacco brown which is especially apparent under certain light (above photo). The big sandwich dial has large numbers through which the Luminova lights up very bright if charged.

The Luminova lights up in a bright green color

The 232 is a 2006 special edition watch and 1938 units were produced - 1938 being the year in which the vintage Radiomirs of this model were produced. Recently Panerai released a few OOR units. To some that was great news as it meant there was an opportunity to buy the watch at list price, but others feel that it's not so great to produce more pieces of a special edition watch. Because it makes a special edition watch... well... not so special anymore. I personally share the opinion of the latter, although I understand why it makes sense for Panerai to create out-of-range (OOR) pieces.

2006 Special Edition of 1938 pieces

The PAM21 was made of platinum but the 232 is made of stainless steel. The case measures 47mm and it takes 26mm wide straps. The photos in this post do not show the original strap. The movement is a hand-wound mechanical, exclusive Panerai OP X (ETA based).