In the well-known literary work Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne mentioned watches almost 30 times. In fact, it was the first time that the watch appeared as the role of literary hero. If calculated accurately, this novel used the word "hours" for 243 times, "minutes" for 51 times and "seconds" for 12 times. In 1884, after Around the World in Eighty Days being published for a decade, people re-organized the plot of the book according to time zone and the regional time difference in the stories, making Around the World in Eighty Days become a literary work that was mostly related to watches in Extraordinary Journeys series of Jules Verne. It was curious that, in a Jules Verne's book in 1871 - Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, there was no citation about watches. It was generally believed that even though there was very strong premonition, it never occurred to Jules Verne that the world first nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus would complete the first Arctic voyage in human history after the book was published less than a century. In particular, the ship Nautilus was adopted from the name of a submarine(belonged to Captain Nemo) in the book.
One might ask: During those days, if Jules Verne had a Panerai watch that was used by Italian Royal Navy in the mid-30s, would not even open his imagination?
Jules Verne, the creator of virtual world and wrote many adventure literature, died 100 years ago, and the year 2005 was called "Year of Jules Verne". To commemorate its Extraordinary Journeys, Panerai launched Luminor Sealand Jules Verne Limited Edition watch, which was limited to 100 pieces. The Luminor Sealand Jules Verne Limited Edition was a watch that was specially made to commemorate this great writer and his novels that were full of imagination. In his writings, Jules Verne has vividly described the sci-fi world (at least according to his knowledge at that time). The crafty plot arrangements in Extraordinary Journeys liked those mechanical watches of many watch legends, affecting many generations of dreams and emotions. As the ancestor of diving watch, Panerai had the obligation to make a extraordinary watch to commemorate Jules Verne.
The hand-carved steel cover of Luminor Sealand Jules Verne was especially unique. The image on the cover imitated from an ikon of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, this ikon was drawn by Alphonse de Neuville and sketched the appearance of Captain Nemo using the sextant on Nautilus. It was worth mentioning that all ikons of Captain Nemo in this novel was actually the publisher Jules Hetzel, the friend of Jules Verne. The engraving on the cover of Luminor Sealand Jules Verne clearly demonstrated the renal spirit of original painting. The strong case, crown guard and cover of Panerai watch were exquisite and perfectly made, echoing with the highly innovative and aesthetic Nautilus submarine in the book. The image on the cover that was selected by Luminor Sealand Jules Verne also shown the importance of the navigation timer. Not only navigation timer must be absolutely accurate, but also had to overcome all the difficult environment of navigation. The famous Marine Chronometers allowed sailors to take the date out of the sextant to calculate their exact location in the ocean.
Coincidentally, Albert Einstein also published the Special Theory of Relativity a hundred years ago, later came out the General Theory of Relativity. Einstein made people get a revolutionized understanding of space, time and physical movement, and because of this, the evolving of some treacherous journeys was possible. Under the possibility in some time, in the universe somewhere, Captain Nemo was standing on Nautilus that was tied to the Eiffel Tower while wearing a Panerai watch. What better navigation watch that could help him realize his dream?
Luminor Sealand Jules Verne was 100 limited worldwide, only sold by the Panerai boutiques. Five boutiques of Panerai around the world distributed as follows:
Shanghai, China: Plaza 66
Hong Kong: Prince Building
Florence, Italy: Palazzo Arcivescovile
Italy Portofino
Los Angeles, the United States: Beverly Hills
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