Panerai Mare Nostrum PAM 300: Living Legend

• Even among Panerai Special Editions, the Mare Nostrum PAM00300 is a standout.

• At 52mm and 99 units built, the PAM00300 is unmistakable AND unobtainable.

• Everything about the PAM00300 is true to Panerai history: size, details, design, and engineering.

• The vintage Minerva 13-22 movement is stunning to behold and charming in its slow-beat cadence.

• One of the truly great Panerai historic tributes, the PAM00300 is the definition of a “grail watch.”

• Rarely seen on the open market, this Panerai Mare Nostrum is available from collectible Panerai authority watchuwant.com.

In the Pantheon of Panerai, there exists an echelon that sits above and beyond even the elite of PAM production.

This is the domain of Panerai’s vintage military divers (’36-’93), the pre-Vendome (’93-97) references, and the truly outstanding historic Special Editions. The Panaerai Mare Nostrum PAM00300 stands among the exalted ranks of that final group.

The appeal of this watch is simple: it’s rare, unmistakable, true to  Panerai history, and beautifully finished to a degree almost unheard of within the Panerai family.

“Mare Nostrum,” or “Our Sea” in Latin, reflects traditional Italian assumption of suzerainty over the Mediterranean.

Panerai’s first reference to employ the moniker debuted in the fires of World War II as a deck watch for officers of the Italian Navy. In contrast to the dive watches designed for Italian amphibious forces, the Mare Nostrum was a complicated watch – a chronograph – and water resistance was of secondary concern for a watch designed for use high and dry.

At 52mm in diameter, it was also a huge machine. While water resistance took a back seat, the need to ascertain accurate readings while timing maneuvers in low light placed a premium on size.

Enormous hands, dial, indexes, and numerals were included and illuminated by Panerai’s signature “Radiomir” radium-based paint.

Three Mare Nostrum prototypes were built before the war’s course of events curtailed development; only one example survives.

Although the model was revived for the civilian market from 1993 into the early Vendome era of the late ’90s, the Mare Nostrum has never represented more than a fleeting presence in Panerai showrooms and the corporate catalog. Few were built.

And so it remains. watchuwant.com’s PAM00300 represents an outstanding example of the 99 units constructed for the 2010 Panerai Special Edition series. As rare as hen’s teeth on a rooster, even many committed Paneristi can say in total honesty that they’ve never seen one in the flesh.

But when they do, the watch is visible from a mile away.

At 52mm in diameter, the brushed stainless steel case cuts an iconic profile from across a large room.

Its sculpted lugs, broad bezel, milspec stitched-cloth strap, and twin-register chronograph loom with imposing presence. The reborn Mare Nostrum looks ready to eat an Hublot King Power with a side of pasta.

While epic-scale sports watches often appear as awkward and contrived, Panerai’s tactical heritage of high-viz, no-nonsense, style-by-necessity means that the PAM00300 not only wears its proportions well, but it’s absolutely true to the monstrous 1943 original. Authenticity makes no apologies and asks no pardons.

Despite its rarity, the Mare Nostrum shape electrifies Paneristi and commands instant respect among the Florentine brand’s cognoscenti. While uncommon, rarity has only reinforced the collective recognition of this shape; like a four-leaf clover, Mare Nostrum references are readily recognized but rarely seen.

The PAM00300 dial is true to the 1943 prototypes – almost to a fault.

While the word “Radiomir” appears at 12 o’clock, the graphic only references the 1940s sense of the word, which referred specifically to the luminous paint and not the case shape or model name. A stepped inner dial breaks up the black expanse of the watch face and continues Panerai’s faithful adherence to wartime precedent.

“Dirty Dial” simulated-patina “radium” is featured on the text, indexes, chronograph sub-dial, and constant seconds sub-dial. The oxidized blue hands accent a simple but handsome visage that retains a measure of elegance in spite of its colossal span.

In motion, the lazy beat of the vast chronograph seconds hand is more reminiscent of a stately vintage clock than a wristwatch.

And Panerai has coupled a stellar chronograph to that hand.

The true standouts among Panerai Special Editions have employed “heritage” movements that recall the “customer caliber” practice from Panerai’s military years. Immortals like the 1997 PAM00021 (Rolex movement) and the 2005 PAM00203 (Angelus movement) are latter-day legends and full-blown grail watches within Paneristi circles. The Minerva-powered PAM00300 continues this celebrated practice.

The 1940s-vintage Minerva caliber 13-22 is immaculately finished and a suitable stand-in for the Angelus 215 that powered Panerai’s 1943 original.

With a lazy 18,000 VpH “heartbeat” and that exceptionally long chronograph seconds hand jumping in huge increments, the PAM00300 chronograph appears to chug like the works of Big Ben when called to action.

It’s an anachronism and a pleasure to admire solo or share with friends.

And it’s a beautiful anachronism. Under the Mare Nostrum’s sprawling sapphire caseback, the Minerva, here doing business as the Panerai OPXXV, has been finished to a degree rarely seen on PAMs and more evocative of Geneva than Florence.

While the vintage military Panerai survivors have much to offer the collector, no old-school PAM diver features the blinding anglage, pearlage, and côtes de Geneve that animate the caseback of this Mare Nostrum. It’s a vista worthy of a Vacheron Constantin.

The polished screw heads, straight-grained levers, and circular-grained wheels speak to the level of attention lavished on this watch.

More than a historic tribute, the Minerva-based OPXXV is a work of art that deserves a station of honor in any collection of luxury watches – Panerai or otherwise. It’s also proof positive that with respect to finishing quality, we are living in a new golden era of high-end watchmaking.

Among modern Panerai watches, the Mare Nostrum PAM00300 is a full-blown grail watch with more admirers than available units. watchuwant.com has one, the rest of the world has 98 others.

This Mare Nostrum is offered indistinguishable from new condition with a full set of factory papers, accessories, hang tags, and a dramatically-wrought wooden case of proportions commensurate to its coveted contents.

These watches tend to trade hands between collectors, and they rarely reach the open market.

watchuwant.com’s unique status as a world authority in collectible Panerai watches allows us to offer general population Paneristi this rare opportunity to acquire a real life “sea monster.”