Weekly Watch Photo – Panerai PAM300 Mare Nostrum

Maybe it’s because I just bought a Panerai or maybe it’s because I recently visited the Montblanc Manufacture in Villeret. This Weekly Watch Photo shows the Panerai PAM300 Mare Nostrum featuring a re-worked Minerva movement, originally produced in the Manufacture in Villeret.

Martin Wilmsen made the Weekly Watch Photo, which shows Panerai caliber OP XXV. This is the movement of the immense Panerai PAM300 Mare Nostrum, that measures 52 mm in diameter. Earlier we wrote an extensive report on the different Mare Nostrum models. 

Panerai OP XXV is a hand-wound mechanical movement, measuring 12¾ lignes (or 28¾ mm). The base movement is developed and produced by Minerva, now-a-days owned by Montblanc, and is a vintage caliber 13-20. It has 22 jewels, a monometallic Glucydur balance that vibrates with 18,000 v/h. The movement features an Incabloc anti-shock device, a swan’s neck regulator and has 55 hours of power reserve.

Panerai dismantled, refinished, and modified the vintage Minerva movement to meet its technical and quality standards. The movement looks absolutely gorgeous and seems to be finished manually, because we can see the beveled sides of teh levers and bridges. The bridges are also finished with Côtes de Genève decorations.

The original Mare Nostrum had an Angelus movement, however since it had a closed case-back the movement was not visible. A re-issue of the Mare Nostrum, released as Special Edition PAM300, was long awaited by by Panerai collectors and it was widely praised when it was presented at the SIHH 2010.

The PAM300 is made to the same specifications of the original Mare Nostrum, meaning the case shape and size (52 mm in diameter) are the same as the WWII original and even the dial looks very similar. Although it is probably a very desirable collector’s item, we don’t think many people will wear the watch due to its size. We also don’t know how the depth rating of only 30 meters, compares to the original Mare Nostrum that was designed for deck officers in the Italian Navy during WW-II.

A big thanx to Martin Wilmsen for letting us use his photos again! These photos where also used in a post on his blog called Wristwatch Photo. More photos of Martin can also be seen in Monochrome’s Weekly Watch Photo.