Panerai Luminor Sealand Jules Verne

Limited to 100 pieces, to commemorate 100 years of the death of Jules Verne, took Nautilus to start out.
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

Panerai Luminor Sealand for Purdey Third Edition

Specifications

Reference: PAM 817

Material: Brushed steel

Movement: PANERAI OPIII automatic

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date

Case Diameter: 44mm

Water Resistance: 50m

Strap: PANERAI personalised leather strap

Crystal: Sapphire

Attachment: Panerai guarantee, original box, rubber strap, strap remove tools

Collections Value: NT$688,000

Today, I'm going to introduce another Panerai Luminor Sealand Special Edition watch, the other two special editions I have talked about is the Luminor Sealand Tiger and Rabbit, which are specially made for Chinese New Year. But the third series of the Luminor Sealand for Purdey is a special edition watch dedicated by Officine Panerai to James Purdey & Sons, only 100 units available.

This watch represents the meeting of two unique individual professions coming together to give life to a piece that perfectly reflects their natural affinities: high technical skills, long tradition of knowledge and experience, search for constant innovation.

The watch is equipped with an automatic mechanical movement, the Panerai OPIII calibre, certified as a chronometer by the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres. The case is in brushed steel AISI 316L, a very solid type of steel, and has a 44mm diameter. The outer face of its steel cover is decorated by three different motifs recalling the spirit of the creations of Purdey. The thematic engravings have been executed by master engravers entirely by hand. The subjects are particularly complex and may require up to one hundred hours of work. The cover, protecting the watch, has an internal mirror that turns it into a signalling instrument when it is open.

The box, specially made for this Panerai watch, contains a steel screwdriver and a second strap.

Panerai Luminor Sealand Tiger Special Edition

Stainless steel / OP III self-winding movement / hours, minutes, small seconds, date / sapphire / 50 metres waterproof / 44mm in case diameter / 25 pieces limited / Call to order

Chinese Style Tiger Carving

As the Chinese market became huge day by day, many brands increased additional attention to this big cake, Panerai, a brand started in Italy, also published Luminor Sealand China Special Edition, to celebrate the coming of the Chinese New Year. As we knew, in China, there was a cycle of twelve years, each with a different animal. The coming Chinese New Year was Tiger Year, which was the third animal sign in Chinese Zodiac. Panerai designed the Luminor Sealand China Special Edition on the theme of the tiger, the watch was limited in a number of 25, very precious.

Excellent waterproofing was one of the most distinctive features of Panerai wrist watch, and the Crown Guard was the iconic symbol of this brand. Although the waterproofing performance of the Luminor Sealand Tiger was not particularly outstanding, it still kept the Crown Guard, which let people know it was a Panerai's product at the first glance.

The Vivid Tiger Carving

The watch had a cover protecting the crystal glass face, on this cover, there was a vivid tiger, it was a very Chinese style carving, the painting was full of charm, the most prominent was the ringed tiger, it seemed very mighty and gave people a strong impression, with the Chinese "虎" word in the upper right, a vivid Chinese painting was crowned with success. This painting was hand carved by master craftsmen, the extremely complicated process needed up to one hundred hours to be completed, which fully presented its value. Open the cover, the dial looked very simple, Arabic numbers at 6 and 12 o'clock, there was a small seconds subdial at 9, the date window was set at 3.

On the case back, besides the brand's name, there was also an unique "OP" number engraved on.
The watch equipped with OP III self-winding movement, which has been certificated by C.O.S.C., it also featured the Panerai-patented Crown Guard and inherited the traditional style of Luminor series. The most important was, on February 14, 2010, this Panerai special edtion would be exclusively offered in two stores in China, each was located in Shanghai Plaza and Beijing Yintai Centre.

Panerai Luminor Sealand for Chinese Rabbit Year

To celebrate Chinese Rabbit Year, famous watch brand Panerai specially designed a special edtion for Chinese market(only in a limited number of 25), the watch would be on sale in the end of January 2011, in the three stores located in Shanghai and Beijing.

Brushed stainless steel case is 44mm in diameter, forged in one piece metal, gray dial with black hour markers, small seconds subdial at 9 o'clock, date windown is positioned at 3, sapphire crystal case back, inside is the Panerai OP III self-winding movement, which is C.O.S.C. certificated, the watch is 50m waterproof and fitted with PANERAI personalised leather strap and brushed steel buckle, attached with steel screwdriver and spare rubber strap.

As the third edition of Panerai Luminor Sealand Lunar New Year Special Editions, the brand-new Rabbit Year watch drew the inspiration from Chinese traditional paper-cut art, and engraved a mercy and grace rabbit on the watch case, the superb craftsmanship of Panerai's top technology masters made the rabbit image vivid. Hand-carving also reflected the brand's long tradition and innovative spirit.