Rolex don’t make a lot of mistakes, but in the late 1920s they really screwed up and the firm’s attempt to solve this screw up is what led to the birth of the Panerai Radiomir watch you see here. You might well ask what a Panerai watch is doing with all these Rolex watches; the answer is very simple: for the first couple of decades of their existence all Panerai watches were actually made by Rolex.
Rolex Oyster Wristwatch (1926)
Like most things to do with Rolex before WW2, this is not a simple story, so please bear with me whilst I explain. In 1926/7, Rolex launched the Oyster wristwatch and it would not be wrong to say that it was a watch which had a bigger impact on the watch industry than anything that had ever preceded it. However, what is almost completely unknown is that the Oyster wristwatch was launched simultaneously with what was, undoubtedly, Rolex’s biggest commercial failure to date. That failure was the Rolex Oyster Pocket watch. Yes, Rolex launched a waterproof pocket watch alongside the wristwatch.
Rolex Oyster Pocket Watch (1926)
Now, it’s possible to imagine a plantation manager in some tropical place, like East Africa, Burma or Malaya, having a requirement for a watch which was protected against humidity. But the obvious truth is that this requirement can just as easily be fulfilled by the wristwatch, with the added benefit that this mythical plantation manager no longer needs to wear a waistcoat.
Image credit: Perezscope
But, I can already hear the question rising up from my readers: “What’s the relationship between this mythical plantation manager and Italian WWII frogmen?” Bear with me, please. It didn’t take long for Rolex to realise that the Oyster Pocket watch was a commercial disaster, but Wilsdorf wasn’t going to let the watches go to waste. He had the attachments for a watch chain removed, along with the dials, had the watch rotated through 90° clockwise, attached a new dial with the subsidiary seconds now at the 9 position and to finish off he had wide wire strap attachments soldered at their 12 and 6 positions. These revised models entered the 1934 catalogue as Oyster wristwatches, reference 2533. Even at this early stage you can begin to see how Rolex might be responsible for the creation of the Panerai Radiomir.
Rolex ref. 2533 drawing
Meanwhile the Panerai family in Florence were running two businesses: Orologia Svizzera, a prestigious watch retailer in the shadow of the Duomo, and G. Panerai & Figlio who made instruments for the Italian Royal Navy. The Regia Marina were the first navy in the world to use free divers in an offensive capacity; however, for the divers to operate in teams they needed a watch in order to co-ordinate their actions. Since the introduction of the Rolex Oyster, several other firms had introduced watches which were notionally waterproof, but all were tiny – as was the fashion of the day – between 28 and 32mm in diameter and would be unable to be read underwater in the dark in treacherous conditions. But when Giuseppe Panerai saw the 1934 catalogue – which he would have seen, as Orologia Svizzera was a Rolex agent – he realised that this could be the answer to the requirements of the Regia Marina.
Rolex Invoice (1935), image credit: Perezscope
On the 24th of October 1935, Rolex sent a package to Florence, containing one of the new reference 2533 watches. Like the original pocket watch it sprang from, it was made from 9 carat gold and equipped with a 16¾ ligne movement from Montilier, a high quality movement with 17 jewels, most of them in screwed chatons, a snail shell micrometer regulator and a Breguet overcoil blued hairspring; they were timed to 6 positions at all temperatures (actually, there were only 3 temperatures at which watches were tested).
Rolex Invoice for ref. 2533 made specifically for diving (1939), image credit: Perezscope
The watch was evidently tested extensively by the Regia Marina and must have passed these tests, because on the 20th of December 1938 Orologia Svizzera submitted another order to Rolex, this time for 15 of the reference 2533 watches, but this time incorporating the changes demanded in the order. These watches were now steel and fitted with dials which had been supplied by Panerai, but the most important feature of these watches were these words on the 7th March 1939 invoice from Rolex “Oyster acier spéciales pour scaphandriers”, meaning “Oyster, steel, specially for divers”. These early Panerai watches, made completely by Rolex and eventually inspiring the Panerai Radiomir, are the first true diver’s watches ever made.
In the second invoice from Rolex, it was stated that the dials were supplied by Panerai, who had developed a method of dial construction for their instrument gauges where the dial was made from two brass discs; the lower one was thickly coated in a radium/phosphor paste and the disc above it had the outlines of the quarter hour numerals punched out, along with bars for the remaining hours, so that the luminous material could shine through the apertures.
Panerai ref. 3646, the first issued Panerai based on the Rolex steel 2533 prototypes
The thicker the paste is applied, the brighter it shines and this method allowed a much thicker application of the paste than if it had been merely painted onto the dial in the conventional manner. As these watches would be used underwater, Panerai wanted an even brighter luminosity. So, instead of the top disc being brass, they used celluloid, probably assuming that the luminosity would shine through it. However radium generates heat as well as light and the celluloid warped, which stopped the hands from rotating, so almost every one of these early Panerai watches has had the dial replaced, as does the watch shown here.
So, you could say that both Rolex and Panerai made mistakes; however, they both learned from their lessons and came out stronger – and certainly more successful. It also shows the power of Rolex design when a fumble from Rolex resulted in the Panerai Radiomir. Learn more about Panerai’s history here.
