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HANDS-ON: The Panerai Radiomir Firenze 3 Days Acciaco (PAM604)

Felix Scholz

The story in a second:

The limited edition Panerai Radiomir Firenze is an elegant tribute to the city that was the brand’s birthplace. The allusions to Antipodean tribal tattoos is purely incidental, these engravings are intended to reference renaissance architecture. They’re badass, either way.

The Panerai Carbotech was responsible for a lot of virtual ink being spilled earlier this year. And sure, it’s one face of Panerai – the brutish, hulking face. But Panerai is more multifaceted than that, as their special edition Radiomir Firenze demonstrates. There are artisanal, artistic roots to the brand in proportion to the surging Italian testosterone.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. The chances are slim that you will ever own this watch. First of all there are only 99 being made. Secondly they’re only being made available in the brand’s historic Florentine boutique. Sorry to have to tell you that.

The Firenze is a Florence-boutique-only release. Trip to Italy, anyone?

But on to the good news. The watch is stunning. It takes as its base the regular 47mm Radiomir, and turns it into a work of art. The Radiomir Firenze is completely hand engraved by a single engraver, and each case takes over a week of work to complete. Engraving like this is a highly skilled and nerve-wracking task, as a single slip of the burin (that’d be an engraving tool) means the entire case is a write-off.

The design of the engraving, and indeed the whole watch, pays homage to the city of Florence – the case bears the Florentine Lily, the city’s coat of arms. The other motifs are inspired by Firenze’s rich renaissance architecture. The engraving is made more striking and legible by the filling of
black lacquer. Another nice touch is that the ‘Firenze’ on the dial is in the typeface of vintage Panerai watches.

This Radiomir Firenze was easily the most elegant of the Panerai’s SIHH releases this year – and while the refined detailing of the watch may seem to be a little unusual for the ultra-masculine brand, it’s a beautiful salute to the city of Florence.