When Officine Panerai has started to pursuit the need to entail a complete overhaul it wasn’t about making little changes, modifying small details or proceeding to make some additions. The desire to become a true manufacturer was translated through the creation of their own entirely in-house developed movement. And it all started with the calibre P.2002, as the first calibre signed by the Neuchatel manufacture, that has proved to be the delight of the Paneristi, being the result of the now famous know-how of the brand.
You can call it a multipurpose mechanism, as it is a hand-wound calibre that delivers accurate time measurement (hours, minutes) and has multiple features like small seconds, date, GMT, 24h indicator, a power reserve indicator and a second reset mechanism.
In order to provide all these functions, it works with 21 jewels and has a total of 247 components. It’s a large movement with a diameter of 13 3/4 lines (31mm) and a thickness of 6.6 mm.
A stunning 8 days power reserve is translated, at the level of the dial, by a linear indicator. Three spring barrels positioned in series can be hand-wounded through the winding crown. When fully wound at 8 days there are less fluctuations in accuracy, another benefit being the fact that winding it up every 7-8 days means insignificant wear on the components.
The GMT function can be read due to a specific hand on the dial that shows the time in the place of departure. The winding crown does the job of setting the second time zone. It has three positions and the intermediate one adjust the local time while the date indicator updates automatically. When the crown is pulled out to its furthest position, the hands of the watch show you the local time and the central hour hand of the second time (a bit shorter then the main local hour hand, in order to differentiate itself) also moves so you can see the difference between your local time and the time in the departure place. And to make sure there isn’t any confusion, the watches bearing this mechanism have a AM/PM indicator informing you about the GMT over 24 hours.
This position of the winding crown also engages the zero reset device, moving to zero the seconds hand of the small sub-dial so you can synchronize the watch with a reference time signal.
Another strong point of this calibre is its resistance to shock, because the balance-cock is fitted with two supports, unlike most ETA automatic movements. The Glucydur balance and the KIF Parechoc anti-shock device are also assuring that time delivery is made without any external interfering.
And with a water resistance up to 100 meters, we can see why this calibre is a true masterpiece that keeps alive large case models such as the 44mm Luminor 1950 8 Days GMT (Oro Rosso, Platinum, acciaio,or the Left-Handed versions) the 47mm Radiomir Composite Marina Militare 8 Giorni or the impressive Egiziano, with a case diameter of 60mm.
