Front view
Dial, hands and bezel as delivered.
Case-back view
Case-back engraving and, where fitted, the sapphire display.
Movement
Calibre with its finishing and decoration.
On the wrist
Worn shot for proportion and strap drape.
Panerai · Quaranta
Panerai Quaranta 39 mm Ice Ceramic
Reference 50278OR.97
Reference at a glance
- Brand
- Panerai
- Collection
- Quaranta
- Model
- Panerai Quaranta 39 mm Ice Ceramic
- Reference number
- 50278OR.97
- Year / era
- 1979 · 1970s — quartz-crisis era
- Complication
- Time and date
- Movement
- In-house automatic, chronometer certified
- Case material
- Ceramic
- Dial type
- Ice blue
- Strap / bracelet
- Milanese mesh
- Water resistance
- 50 m
- Limited-edition status
- Regular production, not a limited edition
Case, dial & bracelet
- Case dimensions
- 39 mm
- Case thickness
- 9.4 mm
- Case material
- Ceramic
- Bezel
- Unidirectional ceramic 60-minute
- Crystal
- Sapphire with internal AR treatment
- Dial
- Ice blue
- Hands
- Blued steel Breguet-style hands
- Indexes
- Applied Arabic numerals with luminous coating
- Bracelet / strap
- Milanese mesh
- Clasp / buckle
- Titanium deployant clasp
- Water resistance
- 50 m
Movement
- Movement / calibre
- Calibre 48F — In-house automatic, chronometer certified
- Movement type
- High-frequency automatic
- Frequency
- 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve
- 72 hours
- Number of jewels
- 33 jewels
- Complications
- Time and date
- Functions
- Flying tourbillon, power reserve
- Watchmaker
- Finishing, assembly and timing are carried out in the manufacture's own atelier.
Production & market
- Production period
- 1979 – 1983
- Limited-edition quantity
- Not applicable
- Current market information
- Values have stabilised after the 2022 correction; condition and box-and-papers drive the premium.
Designer
Jörg Hysek
Jörg Hysek left Rolex and Seiko's European studios to build a design practice in Geneva, giving houses such as Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Seiko and TAG Heuer their sculptural, architecture-led cases before founding his own brand, HD3.
Historical significance
Panerai Quaranta 39 mm Ice Ceramic sits within Panerai's Quaranta line, introduced in 1979. It carries the house codes established since 1860 — ceramic case, ice blue dial and in-house automatic, chronometer certified — and is one of the references collectors use to date the evolution of the collection.
Interesting facts
- The bracelet tapers across its length, which is why the profile looks thinner on the wrist than the specification suggests.
- The reference was originally planned as a one-year run and stayed in the catalogue for well over a decade.
The House
Panerai
Brand facts
- Founding year
- 1860
- Founder
- Giovanni Panerai
- Headquarters
- Italy
- Tier
- Luxury
- Major collections
- Luminor, Radiomir, Submersible, Luminor Due, Quaranta
- Signature technologies
- Hand-applied guilloché dials · Proprietary case-hardening and polishing · In-house hairspring production
- Famous movements
- In-house manual-winding · In-house automatic, chronometer certified · In-house automatic, Superlative Chronometer · In-house automatic chronograph
- Notable watches
- Panerai Luminor 39 mm Black Stainless (1968) · Panerai Luminor 44 mm Salmon Ceramic (1955) · Panerai Radiomir 40 mm Skeletonised Quartz (1963) · Panerai Radiomir 44 mm Green Carbon (1995)
Brand history
Panerai has spent more than 166 years refining a single idea: a watch should outlive its owner. From the earliest workshop pieces to today's Luminor, the house has balanced technical ambition with a recognisable design language, and its collections remain among the most closely followed by collectors worldwide.
Giovanni Panerai established Panerai in 1860, working from Italy at a time when precision was measured by hand. The founder's obsession with finishing and accuracy still defines every Panerai calibre produced today.
Historical milestones
1860
Giovanni Panerai founds Panerai in Italy.
1899
Panerai earns its first international recognition for precision timekeeping.
1969
The quartz era forces Panerai to redefine mechanical watchmaking.
1990
Panerai enters the modern collector market with its signature lines.
2024
Panerai continues to produce Luminor, Radiomir, Submersible and other icons in limited numbers.