As 2012 marked the year of the Dragon on the Chinese calander, Panerai the world renowned Italian watch maker released its limited edition Luminor Sealand Dragon Watch

Aimed at the Chinese market, the Panerai Luminor Sealand Dragon Watch (PAM 840) was crafted to represent the essence of Chinese culture and style. Humble in appearance yet complex in design.

The PAM 840 is designed with a spring-loaded lid over the watch face hinged at 12 o’clock. This lid features an intricate gold plated engraving of a dragon. Hand crafted by the sister brand of Panerai, James Purdey and Sons of London. The detail and elegance of the engraving sets the PAM 840 apart from its competitors.

While many other watches display dragons and Chinese characters, Panerai’s Dragon watch attests to its manufactures level of skill and dedication to luxury.
Upon lifting the engraved lid you will notice a textured steel dial on the right side used to move the clock hands. The lid also contains a mirror underneath it; I would say that it is just an extra feature. It is really up to the user how and what they use the mirror for, not a necessary feature but neat to have. The clock face itself is actually very simple in design. With the white background, black hour markers and a brown leather bracelet strap the clock is as simple as it gets.

One setback for the watch is that although the watches hour and second markers come with the famous Panerai luminosity, the fact that most of the hours and all of the second markers are dots and lines will make it hard to tell the time in low light conditions.

Like most of Panerai’s watches, The PAM 840 is powered by the Panerai’s OP III movement and in this case it’s also housed in a ‘Sealand case”, a case similar to that on the ‘Hunter’ style case 44mm Luminor.

Panerai has not yet released a price for this model. Although, it is a limited edition so you will have to find a local Panerai boutique to get a quote or contact Panerai’s main headquarters located in Milan, Italy for more information.

Since Panerai’s founding in 1860 in Florence, Italy the company has become one of the world’s leaders in high end designer watches. Each year Panerai designs a watch for a certain part of the world. This particular edition was designed for the Chinese market. It is intended for those who want simplicity yet worthy craftsmanship.
In fact only 50 of these will be made for China.