La revue PANERAI
PANERAI
The discovery of a rare "demilitarized" diving watch produced for Italian combat swimmers and presented as a gift to Admiral Cataldo Gigantesco, in charge of the GOI Special Forces.
In the world of diving watches, the Panerai myth lives on, as these Rolex-built timepieces, like our model, are often hidden treasures. They have very special features and historical anecdotes that make them a delight to auction.
The first watch produced by Rolex for Officine Panerai saw the light of day in the 1930s. Panerai, based in Florence, equipped both Italian and German special forces combat swimmers known as "kampschwimmer". Panerai was commissioned by the Royal Italian Navy to produce a military-grade wristwatch that would not only keep accurate time, but also withstand the harsh maritime environment.
This led to the creation of reference 3646, which in the early '50s became reference 6152, distinguished by its slightly larger case size. Although the famous crown guard can be found on Panerai diving wristwatches from the 1940s onwards, the patent for this iconic design element was not issued until 1955.
Our example, which dates from the 1950s, is a reference 6152-1 that belonged to Admiral Cataldo Gigantesco. This watch was given to him on the occasion of his retirement in 1983. It also bears unique engravings on the caseback: the mention of his name "All' Amm Cataldo Gigantesco", the date of his retirement “25.10.83”, a round notch in the center indicating that the watch is “demilitarized” (military engraving erased), as well as the engraved mention “GOI”. This corresponds to the abbreviation of the group of Italian combat swimmers “Gruppo Opérativo Incursori”. These combat swimmers watches are now famous among the collector community. Our example is particularly interesting since it is the perfect illustration of an army watch that has been “demilitarized”. We know very few examples of Panerai watches that have been. Featuring a movement and case signed by Rolex, this piece is listed in the archives of the reference book on vintage Panerai models by Ralf Elhers and Volker Weigmann, “The References 1950’s-1960’s”. There is mention of this round engraving made to “demilitarize” the watch and the date “25.10.83” engraved on the back.
To date, there are only a few examples presented at auction that belonged to an admiral or vice-admiral. The last watches on sale were those of Admiral Birinidelli or that of Vice-Admiral of the NATO forces Amedeo Vesco.
Our copy comes directly from the son of Admiral Cataldo Gigantesco and has only had two successive owners to date. These are two private collectors who have taken great care to carefully preserve this historic piece presented at auction for the first time. This is therefore a great discovery for collectors.
The Aguttes auction house will have the pleasure of telling in more detail and in a unique catalog the history and anecdotes around this vintage Panerai.
Upcoming auction “Collectible watches”
June 2023
To include your watches in a sale contact
Claire Hofmann
Head of the Collectible Watches department
+33 7 49 97 32 28
hofmann@aguttes.com