Panerai Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days Titanio – Special Edition PAM427

Panerai just released a new Special Edition in honour of the Panerai Transat Classic 2012, a classic yachts challenge that is sponsored by Panerai. The new watch is the Panerai Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days Titanio; limited to 500 pieces and exclusively available from the Panerai boutiques around the world. 

The new Panerai Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days comes in a titanium case and inside ticks the very impressive movement, caliber P.2006, featuring several excellent functions! Style-wise the hour markers (sandwich-style stick markers (at 12, 3, 6 and 9) and dots) on the dial show some resemblance with the Radiomir S.L.C. 3-Days that was released earlier this year; a first in the Luminor case.

The classic yachts race isn’t just a race where beautiful vintage yachts can be admired by the audience, no the quadrennial race goes from from Cascais in Portugal to Barbados. The participants in the Panerai Transat Classique 2012 are travelling 4,000 miles in yachts which in some cases boast histories of a hundred years or more.

Officine Panerai is a big sponsor of classic yachting (just check out this website here) and in celebration of this very exiting race they released this Special Edition distinguished by an engraving of the logo of the Panerai Transat Classique 2012 on the back of the case. The watch has been made in a limited edition of 500 units, one of them earmarked for the owner of the yacht winning the transatlantic race.

The Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days Titanio is a split-seconds chronograph with a magnificent movement featuring a vertical clutch and twin column wheels; caliber P.2006. The split-seconds function, also known as rattrapante, operates two hands that are superimposed and partially independent. The first, controlled by the button at 8 o’clock, is the chronograph hand (with embossed “C”); the second, controlled by the button at 10 o’clock, is used for measuring partial times or a second event simultaneous with the first (with embossed “R” for Rattrapante).

When the pusher at 8 o’clock is used to start the chronograph, both central seconds hands go round the dial simultaneously. By pushing the button at 10 o’clock the white central chronograph second hand stops and by pushing that same button again, it rejoins the blue chronograph second hand.

This makes it easy to measure for instance a lap-time, while the chronograph continues to measure the entire time. The blue hand of the small minute counter moves in jumps instead of continuously, to improve readability.

The remaining power reserve of the handw-ound movement can be read on the dial from a linear indicator just below “8 days” that tell us how much power reserve caliber P.2006 has. That’s 8 days of power reserve and Panerai achieved this by means of a special patented system of three (!!) main spring barrels.

Another feature of the (in my opinion) very impressive caliber, is the seconds reset function that makes it possible to synchronize the watch with a reference signal. In order to achieve this the seconds hand is reset to zero and the balance wheel is stopped until the winding crown has been returned to the running position.

The Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days Titanio has a brushed titanium case, measuring 47 mm in diameter, fitted with the well-known Panerai crown protection lever. The watch is water-resistant to 10 atmospheres (equivalent to a depth of about 100 metres).

The bezel is made of polished titanium and surrounds the black sandwich dial. The structure of the dial consists of two layers; the upper layer is the black dial with cut-out hour-markers and the lower layer has Super LumiNova that shines through the cut-out hour-markers.

The Luminor 1950 Rattrapante 8 Days Titanio comes on a rubber strap. It is sold exclusively in Panerai boutiques throughout the world and at a small number of specialist watch shops.

• Movement: Hand-wound mechanical, Panerai P.2006/3 calibre, executed entirely by Panerai, 13¾ lignes, 9.6 mm thick, 34 jewels, Glucydur balance, 28,800 alternations/hour. KIF Parachoc anti-shock device. Power reserve 8 days, three barrels. Double column wheel, 356 components.
• Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, linear power reserve indicator, seconds reset device, split-seconds chronograph.
• Case: Diameter 47 mm, brushed titanium. Brushed titanium buttons with engraving and polished edges for the split-seconds function at 10 o’clock and for the chronographic functions at 8 o’clock.
• Bezel: Polished titanium.
• Back: Screw, titanium. Panerai Transat Classique 2012 engraved. Device protecting the crown: (protected as a trademark) Brushed titanium.
• Dial: Black with luminous dots and hour markers. Minute counter at 3 o’clock, seconds at 9 o’clock, linear power reserve indicator at 6 o’clock, central chronograph and split-seconds hands. Chronograph seconds scale on the outer edge.
• Crystal: Sapphire, formed of corundum, 2 mm thick. Anti-reflective coating.
• Water-resistance: 10 bar (~ 100 metres).
• Strap: PANERAI personalised rubber strap and large-size brushed titanium buckle. Supplied with a second interchangeable strap, a tool to change the strap and a steel screwdriver.
• Reference: PAM00427

More info can be found via the Panerai website and the Panerai boutiques around the world.

This article is written by Frank Geelen, executive editor for Monochrome Watches.