Uncovering secrets

Match Italian design flair with Swiss watchmaking technology and you get Officine Panerai. The great watchmaker has its origins in Florence, in 1860, and its roots are deeply embedded in navigation, a tradition continued through the supply of measurement and precision instruments to the Italian Navy. This is a brand with a maritime heritage.

In the realm of little-known facts about watchmaking, Panerai's Radiomir and Luminor models were covered by the Military Secrets Act for many years.

Today, Panerai is part of the Richemont Group and a name known to watch lovers everywhere. It develops and crafts its movements and watches at its Neuchâtel manufacture, partaking of the great Swiss history of horological expertise while retaining its Italian design flair. In 2002 Panerai created its first in-house movement, the P.2002 - a hand-wound calibre with GMT function and eight-day power reserve, drawing inspiration from the Angelus movement used in the Panerai 1940s models. In keeping with Panerai's strong links with the sea, CEO Angelo Bonati is described as "a passionate and avid seaman". He is also enthusiastic about the promise Asia holds for Officine Panerai.

"Hong Kong and the whole Asian region have always been a strategic market in which Panerai has achieved significant and satisfactory results," Bonati says.

Watches&Wonders is about image, he adds. "For Panerai it is an opportunity to strengthen our contact with our clients and to make ourselves known to potential clients who are interested in niche products," Bonati says. "Panerai is well known in Asia, but in China we have only been present in a structured manner for four years. Watches&Wonders, therefore, represents an important opportunity for us."

While recognising the economic development of Asia and the surge in Chinese consumerism, Bonati says that Panerai has a fairly evenly balanced international distribution.