Proving its integrity amongst famous watchmakers, Panerai earned the right to be called one of the elite. Maybe that is why the Italian brand moved its headquarters from Florence to the watchmaker’s know-how capital of the world Switzerland, into the heart of the small town of Neuchatel. The move signified the philosophy of the young company: to build reliable watches that meet strict criteria of production (they adopted that from the Swiss) and with design that meets the mile-high standards of the Italians. So far, they have flawlessly managed to do that.

The relentless pursuit of this philosophy becomes most evident with the examination of the special editions which have been released since 1997. Since then, the company has successfully captured the spirit of each year without losing their unique identity in the process.

Worth a look is the eye-appealing special edition of watches from 2005. The company released three watches: Radiomir 8 Days GMT callibre with black strap, the Radiomir 8 Days GMT callibre with brown strap, and the Luminor Power Reserve Regatta 2005 callibre. All of them are splendidly constructed watches with awe-inspiring designs. The stylish black-strap Radiomir has the brilliant mix of white and black colors which entwine perfectly as the never-ending circle of day and night.

The fact that there are only two numbers displayed, 6 and 12, while all the others are presented only by stripes, along with the color combination, makes the watch look more like a piece of art than a device that is supposed to measure time. The one with the brown strap changes things slightly to add even more class to the lucky man wearing it.

The Panerai fake copies of the special editions are just as beautiful and reliable and have also managed to keep the philosophy of the original brand intact. The advantage is that they are much cheaper.