Panerai Radiomir S.L.C. 47mm PAM00425

The Radiomir lives again in the new Radiomir California 3 Days and the Radiomir S.L.C. 3 Days, two models which represent a tribute to the history of Officine Panerai and to the watch which has constituted a fundamental milestone in the history of professional diver’s watchmaking. Many of the characteristics of the two new Radiomir watches are directly descended from the prototype created by Panerai in 1936 to equip the commandos of the Royal Italian Navy: the cushion case in steel with a diameter of 47mm, the slender wire strap attachments, the conical crown and the simple dial reduced to essentials to increase legibility to the maximum even in conditions of very poor light. The element which differs in the two models is the dial design. The Radiomir S.L.C. 3 Days also has a historic dial of strongly minimalist design, with alternating bar and dot-shaped hour markers. This version was probably created in the late 1930s to experiment with the sandwich construction of the dial, in which two plates are filled with a layer of luminous material – today Super-LumiNova® – the luminescence of which emerges through apertures corresponding to the markers cut in the upper plate. The name of this watch refers to the “Siluro Lenta Corsa” (S.L.C.), the slow-speed torpedo on which the commandos of the Royal Italian Navy rode during their heroic underwater missions, equipped with Panerai watches and instruments. A slow-speed torpedo is drawn in relief on the dial and the inscription “S.L.C.” is engraved on the flange at 12 o’clock.