Panerai: organizing the chaos...

[Travelller]

this recent post...

Originally Posted by porschejeff

Panerai's are just so confusing, Sandwich, pig, sausage, hundreds of models...

...prompted me to think about the various characteristics that differentiate the many PAMs. Here are some:

Product Lines: Historical / Contemporary / Specialties / Special Editions / Limited editions
Case: Radiomir (380) / Luminor Bettarini (000,...) / Luminor 1950 (233,...) / Submersible (024,...) 1950 Submersible (305,...) / "neo" 1950 (372,...) / 1940 (399,...) / Destro (219,...) / Mare Nostrum (006,...) / Egiziano (341) / ...
Case sizes: Radiomir - 38 / 40 / 42 / 45 / 47; Luminor - 40 / 42 / 44 / 47; Others - 48 (Tourbillion) / 50 (Equation of Time) / 52 (Mare Nostrum 300) / 60mm (Egiziano)
Case Material: SS / Ti / Au / Pt / Ta / Ceramic / Composite
Caseback: solid / exhibition / engraved
Dial color: black / brown / black-slate (320/321/...) / white
Lume: Tritium / Super LumiNova (green, patina)
Dial types: Sandwich (111,...) / single-layer painted [aka sausage, beveled] (000,...) / single-layer printed (104,...) / skeleton
Dial styles: Base (112,...) / Marina (111,...) / Logo (000,...) / Pig (292,...) / S.L.C. (449,...) / California (249,...) / various contemporary configurations
Dial Text: Radiomir / Luminor / Luminor Marina / Marina Militare / Black Seal / Luminor Submersible / Automatic / GMT / 8 Days / 10 Days / 8 Giorni / Slytech / Arktos / Regatta / Mare Nostrum / T-Swiss-T / T Swiss T / T Swiss Made T / L Swiss L / L Swiss Made L...
Crystal: standard (000,...) / domed (233,...) / curved (361,...) / plexi (372,...) / raised (422,...)
Movement: ETA (Unitas, Valjoux,...) / in-house (P.2002,...) / other houses (JLC, Piguet, Zenith, etc.) / vintage (Rolex, Angelus)
Complications: 2-hands, 3-hands, small-seconds, date, GMT, power-reserve indicator, Monopusher & standard chronographs, flyback, Rattrapante, Tourbillion, "Equation of Time" / ...


But the more interesting facet of the above "PAMs" is how they relate to vintage and pre-V Panerai models... that's when the real fun begins...