MASTER MECHANICS

46 SIHH europa star
Panerai looks beyond the sea
One of the highlights of last year’s SIHH was the unveiling of Panerai’s Jupiterium, a planetarium clock created
as a homage to Galileo Galilei.This year the tribute to Galileo continues with an exhibition and two new
collections. Europa Star’s Sophie Furley was in the Italian city of Florence to find out more.
RSophie Furley
From the sea to the solar system
Following the astronomical and horological
achievement of the Jupiterium, Panerai is
continuing its tribute to Galileo Galilei with a
special exhibition in Florence entitled ‘Time
and Space: A tribute to Galileo Galilei’. The
exhibition showcases an enormous selection of
timekeepers and instruments from the brand’s
historical and contemporary collections, and
is unveiling two new collections that will be
presented during the SIHH this year.
L’ASTRONOMO
Galileo Galilei
Angelo Bonati
L’Astronomo
The first collection is Panerai’s Luminor 1950
Equation of Time Tourbillon Titanio – 50mm
L’Astronomo, which was created to celebrate
the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first celestial
i P.2005, P.2005/G and P.2005/P movements
observations and is the most technically complicated
watch that the brand has ever produced.
The timepiece includes a tourbillon with equation
of time, indication of sunrise and sunset
times for the owner’s city, as well as a map of
the night sky of the same region on the caseback
(the map can rotate both ways depending
on which hemisphere the owner lives in). The
Astronomo is equipped with Panerai’s P.2005
in-house calibre which has been modified to
include the new functions (P.2005/G) and is
also available in white or rose gold. As soon as
the collection was announced, Panerai fans
started fighting to get their hands on a piece.
“We are only making 300 pieces, but have
already received 2,600 requests,” shares
Angelo Bonati, Panerai’s Managing Director.
Lo Scienziato
The Radiomir Tourbillon GMT Ceramica –
48mm Lo Scienziato, the second collection to
be previewed before the SIHH, was also conceived
as a tribute to the famous scientist,
mathematician and philosopher. The Scienziato
timepiece comes in a zirconium oxide ceramic
case and its striking skeleton structure is made
out of a fine mesh that supports the indexes
and the sub dials. The P.2005/P movement