Radiomir 1940 47 3 Days Red Gold / Brown

In Context

At 47 mm this is exceptionally large for something worn on a wrist, closer to a pocket watch given lugs. The case back is open, so the movement is visible without taking the watch apart, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 50 m covers rain and hand-washing comfortably; it is not a watch to swim in.

The movement is hand-wound, so winding it becomes part of the day rather than something the watch does for you. 72 hours of reserve puts it well past a weekend — several days off the wrist and it is still going.

PAM00515 stands on its own in this catalogue — no other reference here shares its base number. It pairs a brown dial with a red gold case.

A member of the P.3000 family, the hand-wound three-day movement Panerai built for its 47 mm cases. Two barrels supply the reserve and the balance is large and slow, running at 21,600 vibrations an hour. The seconds stop when the crown is pulled, so the watch can be set against a reference. There is no rotor anywhere in the family.