Introducing The Panerai Radiomir 1940 42mm (PAM00512): What We've Been Waiting For

January 29, 2013

Panerai Radiomir 1940 42mm The Radiomir 1940 42mm (PAM00512) is one of the Panerai novelties we really liked this year at SIHH.? The standard Radiomircase has gotten a lot of love over the years and has always been the "dressier"Panerai, thanks to its onion crown and slim welded strap loops which are well suited for alligator straps and wear with a dress shirt. The Radiomir 1940is really a Luminor without the crown protector and essentially is a thirdfamily of cases for the brand, as we explained last April. This variation splits the difference and works well as a sports watch but can stillclean up alright. The familiar cushioncase works well on its own without the Luminors crown protector, making it alittle less brutish and a little more versatile.? This year, Panerai introduced twoRadiomir 1940 novelties in two sizes and two metals. While the 47-millimeter PAM00514 (and red goldPAM00515) may be truer to its ancestral inspiration, the PAM00512 is arefreshingly more wearable 42 millimeters, which answers a common critique ofPanerai, that its watches are just too damn big. 42 millimeters is a great sizefor a sports watch and works on just about any wrist size. The Oro Rosso version,the PAM00513, is equally handsome, as weve always thought red gold works wellon the Radiomir watches. The P.999 calibre Other than the case dimensions, the movements are differentbetween the 42mm and 47mm Radiomir 1940 watches. The latter makes use ofPanerais P.3000 handwound calibre with the three day power reserve while theformer is fitted with the P.999 hand-cranked movement, which has astill-respectable 60-hour power reserve but also has the distinction of beingPanerais slimmest movement. This translates into the PAM00512 being thesveltest Panerai to date in all dimensions. Given all the traits we just mentioned, and with preliminarypricing coming in at a shade less than $8,000, this should prove to be a goodseller for Panerai.