Officine Panerai

amanico
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THE LOGO PRE VENDOME, THE REVIEW

In 1993, Officine Panerai Firenze decided to launch 2 monsters, charged of History, the Logo and the Mare Nostrum...





Panerai, which was known for all military equipment, as torches, compass, light systems for planes to land on ship etc, was also famous for its military watches, since 1936...With the Radiomir cases.We speak here of the 3646, California and non California dials.

In the Early 40's, Panerai decided to produce another watch, in a different case, the Luminor, which reference was 6152, and 6152/1, the first didn't have crown protection, the 2d did...

With or without small seconds at " 9 "...





This is this last watch ( without small seconds ) which was used as the model for the Logo ( reference 5218- 201/A ), in 1993.



The very interesting thing is that the Logo wasn't concieved and designed for the Military Market, as like the Marina Militare was, but for the Civil Market...

Marina Militare:



Since now, the Military Secret of this watch, well kept, was on to be shared...

I/ Specificities:

The case was for this period ( early 90's ), something big: 44mm, and even around 50 mm if you include the crown protector, and 14mm thick...!!!

Big if you compare these dimensions to the production of the moment, which was around 38/40mm, with also a lot of 36mm watches...

Well with some exceptions, as the quite simultaneous ROO AP ( 1992 ), and older Piquerez cases, like the Polaris JLC ( since 1963 ), The Sub Polerouter Universal, and the Vulcain Nautical which were produced even before the Polaris, all in 42mm diameter, and the Blancpain Fifity fathoms, which is not build from a Piquerez Case.

So, in 1993, this Logo was quite revolutionnary, as the biggest round watch in production, even judged too big, and quite unwearable...LOL, mentalities have changed a lot!

The Case is made in SS 316L with a polish finish, which contrasts greatly with the black dial.

The movement is an Unitas 6497, 17 Jewels, reworked and refinished by Panerai, reliable, solid, well nothing to complain about, especially when you have in mind that this watch , even if offered in the Civil market, has big military roots!

The accuracy is good, as for the model without seconds, like the base, the tolerance is a bit under 10 sec per day, which is very good.

The water resistance is given for 30 ATM ( 300 Meters ), but the was checked till 40 ATM.

The design of this movement is also interesting, as it's stunningly close to the design of the Rolex Cortebert which was housed by the Ancester 6152/1.

Here a pic of the Pre V brochure presenting the Logo:



The Case Back is screwed, with the engraving of the reference " 5218- 201/A ", and the number of the watch, as the Logo was produced in 2 references...201/A: 677 pieces + 10 protoypes ( protos are numbered P 001 till P 010 ), and 209/A, which was produced in 10 or 12 pieces at the end of the pre vendome era; so in early 1997.



note that for the Logo 209/A, the only differences are about the ref, and the system of fixing the strap, but I'll speak of that a bit later...

Now , let's speak about the dial, as to understand why the name Logo was given...

The dial is made of brass, with a varnish that caused a nice accident...

Nice because the varnish " attacked " the tritium a bit too fast, giving it a magnificient orange brownish color, which didn't match with the lightly greenish hands, hence the name " Non Matching ".

When Panerai realized that, they changed the varnish for the other Logos to produce, so, even if it's difficult to say, I guess that some 30 Non Matching Pre V logos were made, according to Gurus like Y.O, and D.G, or M.B.

Pic of a Non Matching Logo: Credit Pic: Asi, Thanks, mate!







Pics of a Matching Logo:



I took some macros to give you an in depht idea of the quality and the specificities of this dial, not to speak about its true sex appeal...
.
Pic of the whole dial.



Pic of the numbers...









You will first notice the form of the numbers, specific to the Pre V dials, " closed " " 6 " and " 9 ", and very progressive form and shape of the " 2 " of the "12 "...

Here a groupshot with from left to right, Vendome Pam 36, 40, and Pre V Logo...



See the difference? Also, you won't have a writing at " 6 " T Swiss T, but you may have on a Pre A 1,2,4 and 9 a writing T- Swiss -T..There were Pre V dials used by Vendome on these watches...

Never on a Pre V logo nor any other Pre V watch!

You will see, around the numbers, the finish of the dial, like " pailletés "...Wonderful, and I even suspect them to turn to brown, as you can see some microscopic brown particules...

Very nice, and Time will tell....

In both case, the Logo is the Logo for this ...





The symbol of these 2 arrows, pointing their head, one up, the other down,is the reflection of the Panerai World..From the surface to the dephts..of the sea.

A symbol born in the 70's, but I don't remeber the name of his author...Certainly Asi will give us his name...

As the the changing strap system, this is THE only problem these Pre Vendome watches get
.
The system is awful.

You have 2 pairs of microscopic screws, you have to turn in the opposite side to screw or unscrew, before changing the strap.

This is a very difficult operation, with many risks of hairlines that may be caused by the head of the screw driver which accidentaly goes on the case...

On the 209/A, they changed the system for an easier one, One screw only and a tube, like the system we know on Vendome Luminor watches...

The packaging is something nice:

As for all the Pre V watches, except the Slytech, it comes in a little wooden box, with an outer blue box, a screwdriver, a set of screws, 2 straps, a 144 / 84 mm in natural leather, treated to resist to salt water, and a khaki shark one ( 128 / 80mm ), and the Libretto: Here the box of the Marina Militare Pre V, but exactly the same than the one of the Logo...





If it is easy to get a Logo with a pre vendome box like this, it is much more difficult to get the outer box, and I don't speak about this crazy bag, as this is the first time I see it....



To quote Asi..." And I thought my Logo was complete"...LOL

As we spoke about " complete " I have to speak about two rare birds, now...

The legendary Logo PVD Gold coated, that Sly offered to Schwarzie...Heeerm, I mean Mr Governator ....

Here a pic taken from the Slytech Brochure, showing this moment...



He seems happy:



The Brochure...



God knows what happended to this piece, as it was unique, and as it appears that Schwarzie sold or give it to another person....

The 2d Rare Bird is the Luminor Submersible Prototype, which has the dial of a Submersible Slytech, but the case back of the Logo, with the same ref than the Logo, ( 5218- 201/A ).

Yes, with Panerai nothing is simple...LOL

Pic of the dial:



And the Case Back, being said that only 12 watches were made, receiving a special number...Hidden on the pic.



Another legendary Logo has been made, by a true passionate, well, at this time, an unique piece, a Logo PVD...by my friend...

The result is spectacular, and some people became crazy for it...( Credit pic..Y.O )



II/ Thoughts about the Logo:

I, for one, firmly consider with no doubt that the Logo is the most important Pre Vendome watch...

First of all, because since 1980, this is the 1st watch produced by Officine Panerai Firenze.

Pic of the Proto 1000 Meters from 1980, presented as unique, but maybe not THAT unique as I heard that 3 or 4 existed...Pic Courtesy of Club Panerai.



You will notice in this pic that the " Logo " Officine Panerai already existed as it was on the dial of this watch...

Important historically, of course, as I wrote at the beginning of this review...

Important also when you consider all the other Panerai watches..As this logo was the first watch re introduced by OPF, with the Mare...and the Marina Militare...All the others were produced between 1994 and 1997.

So we can consider that the Logo re opened the book of the Panerai Story.

Then esthetically speaking, the Logo is one of the strongest, if not THE strongest of these Pre Vendome Panerai watches...

I was lucky enough to own the 201/A, 202/A, 203/A, 205/A, 207/A, 218/A, 301/A, 302 and 304, so the 8 most important Pre V, plus the Mythical BlackSeal Slytech, which was ordered and designed by OPF Pre V, received in March 1997, just before OPF was bought by the Cartier Vendome Group.

So the 5 protos of the 218/A were never sold by OPF.And God knows what happened to these watches, more certainly kept and sold by some very close pepole from OPF...

Here some Group Shots to have an idea of the beauty of these watches...

With some nice Vendome, and Asi's beautiful Vintage...



Here, only Pre Vendome...



And there, a mix of Pre Vendome and Vendome...



The Logo has something that the other Pre V and Vendome watches don't have,I'd character, strenght due to its perfect balanced and pure dial.

Don't get me wrong, all the Pre V watches have something, a story, beauty, character, but with the Mare, I strongly believe that the Logo is the watch to get, and if you only can afford one, this must be this one.







Change the strap, and you will have more or less character, it will be less or more dressy...This is as funny as it is stunning!

This is, IMHO, the watch with which you get the closer feeling of a Vintage watch, of THE Vintage watch, the 6152/1...

Listen to it, put your ear on the glass, you will hear it telling you stories, the life it has before knowing you, from its birth till the moment you owned it..It is just a magic moment.

Another great thing, with this watch , is that each Logo is unique, as I had the opprtunity to see quite a dozen in real and much more in pics, but some here, happy owners must know and understand what I'm saying.

Due to its artisanal construction, the patina is not the same from one watch to another, the dials are lightly different in their aspect.

This is another amazing point.

Maybe the owners of the Logo here may post their pics, as you all see them, and you'll get my point.

With the Logo, there is basically an option: Matching or Non Matching?

Here's a beautiful pic taken by Asi on his own Logo Non Matching.



I was lucky enough to see it in the flesh, as another Logo NM form another great guy, and even to live some days with, this is without doubt a maginficient watch, with its orange brown patina.

BUT, on the Logo, I prefer the matching indexes and numbers, maybe less spectacular, but more sublte, elegant, maybe..This is very personnal, and other people will be right to say that they prefer the non matching version.





As you can see, the indexes are more creamy brown, and they still have the possibility to get another patina, which is not the case of the non matching Logos, whose patina is fixed, I mean, it won't move and change with Time...

Although I love the non matching pre vendome ( only for Logos and Marina Militare, as all the other pre vendome are matching), I prefer the non matching dials on the Marina Militare, as it gives a very nice and wonderful contrast with the black PVD case...





So, the best of both worlds maybe this solution...LOL



One thing is sure, this Logo was so strong, so beautiful that Panerai decided in 2004 to launch its own version, its modern version, the Pam 000, but this is not a comparable watch.( Sorry, don't know who to credit, but I'll be pleased to do it once I know...)



Eve if the Pam 000 is a nice watch, it can't fight with the Logo Pre V, much more charismatic, and much more perfectly balanced...with the Luminor Panerai at 12, and the Logo at 6.







The Logo Pre V is the " Real Mac Coy", the Pam 000 is only a copy.

You perfectly feel the difference between the artisanal approach of a Pre Vendome watch ,and the industrial conception of a Vendome one...

Wearing this sacred monster is only pleasure, comfortable, as all 44mm Panerai watches, as the watch sits perfectly on the wrist.





The only problem of this watch is that this is a Killer, I mean that once you get it, understand it and fall in love with it, the other Panerai watches seem weak, when you compare them to THIS monster.

Yes, if I only had to keep 2 Panerai watches from my collection, this would be the Logo and the Mare, the 2 watches which symbolise the re birth of the Brand.

May I add that the Logo sums all the qualities of a Panerai, and that it shows the way to follow, the philosophy to respect, and the roots to be kept?



I will end by giving a warm hommage to Mr Alessandro Bettarini, who is the " father " of these Pre Vendome Beauties, who was brave enough to decide to create such beasts ( 44 mm ), who also made some of them in PVD, which was not that current at this time.

Mr Bettarini, you're indeed a great " Signore "....And if a lot of people fell in love with Panerai and got the virus, it's due to your work and your vision.



( Credit pic and photomontage...Y.O )

Hope you'll enjoy this review, as I love this watch.
Best.
Nicolas This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2008-06-04 08:47:52

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