Dear friends of IWS, we are here today to tell you what represents one of the most interesting stories behind a military watch.
If you are a fan of this type of timepieces you have surely already heard of the Panerai Egiziano, one of the most iconic models of the historic brand founded by Giovanni Panerai on the Ponte alle Grazie in Florence in 1860.
Famous for representing the perfect union between the world of watchmaking and the military one, in 1935 Panerai, with Guido Panerai (grandson of the founder) and his son Giuseppe, began to develop the first ultra-resistant underwater timepieces for the Royal Navy, the weapon naval of the Kingdom of Italy which, with the proclamation of the Republic, assumed the new name of Navy.
These were several extremely elaborate prototypes which after several trials and tests resulted in the ref. 2533, made on a Rolex base modified by Panerai.
After the development of this prototype, the very famous Panerai ref. 3646, the clock that is still known today as “Radiomir”. From here Panerai began supplying watches on a regular basis to the Marina Regia, from the early 1940s until 1993.
Among the different models made in this period we also find the reference GPF 2/56, known by all as the “Egyptian”. It is a large diving watch intended for the Egyptian Navy with the consent of the Italian Navy.
This model, in addition to its rich history, has also become famous for another reason. It is the first watch produced by Panerai to ever feature the crown protection device, now a signature of the brand.
Having become the inspiration for modern Submersibles, the Egyptian was the first Panerai watch produced in series in 1956, completely developed and manufactured internally by G. Panerai & Son in Florence.
The History of the Panerai Egiziano
The history of GPF 2/56, known as “Egiziano”, dates back to the proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948. At the time, the Arab League, an international political organization of states in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, led by Egypt , opposed the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The day after the proclamation, an Arab invasion force entered Palestine, starting what was to be the first Arab-Israeli conflict.
At this point Egypt also intervened, aware of the fact that the Arabs, in order to significantly weaken Israel, would have to cut Israel’s supply lines across the Mediterranean Sea through the use of a unit of Egyptian divers.
Thus the Egyptian unit was born which took inspiration and was based on the very famous Italian Decima MAS Flotilla of the Second World War. In order to create an efficient unit on a par with the Italian one, adequate training was needed.
So it was that in 1948, an Egyptian delegation led by the secretary of King Farouk of Egypt, Amin Fahim, went to Italy in search of a veteran of the Decima MAS willing to go to Egypt and contribute to the creation of the first Egyptian school of divers.
To accept this challenge was a soldier of the Gamma Group, Ferdinando Pacciolla, who went to Alessandria with the help of the Italian secret services, completing his task in 1952 after having trained about 300 recruits. Thus was born the Egyptian diver unit called “Al ferka al sierra” (the secret team) led by Commander Fawzi Abdel Rahman Fahmy.
In the same year, the officers of the Egyptian Navy were accompanied to Italy by Pacciolla to purchase professional diving equipment but not by G. Panerai & Son of Florence. In 1955, Commander Fawzi was invited to Italy to train for six months together with Italian soldiers, at the Varignano Fortress in La Spezia.
During this period, the Egyptian commander Fawzi came into contact with the instruments and watches produced by G. Panerai & Son, an exclusive for the Italian Navy. Driven by the interest in these instruments Fawzi sought a way to buy them.
However, in order to purchase Panerai products, the Egyptian High Command needed the permission of the Italian Navy which was not long in coming. When the Egyptians learned that the watches were subject to an exclusivity agreement between Panerai and Rolex, which prohibited the former from supplying Rolex watches to foreign countries, they understood that there would be problems with the production and subsequent supply of the watches for the divers.
So, if the Egyptians had wanted a Panerai watch, the Maison would have had to develop one from scratch and that’s how the idea of the GPF 2/56 was born.
To be precise, it is widely believed that the first Panerai to be produced for the Egyptian Navy was the ref. 6154 produced by Rolex in 1954. Nicknamed “Egiziano Piccolo” by collectors, given the slimmer dimensions compared to the 60 mm diameter of the “Big Egiziano” with ref. GPF 2/56. Unfortunately no concrete and tangible evidence has ever emerged in support of a link between the Panerai 6154 and the Egyptian navy.
More than a production made specifically for the Egyptian army, there is the hypothesis (according to Maria Teresa Abetti Panerai, widow of Giuseppe Panerai) that this watch was donated to the Egyptians.
According to this hypothesis, Giuseppe Panerai paid homage to the officers of the Egyptian Navy during their first visit to Panerai, in Florence, in 1956, with some unused 6154s thanking them for the large order placed on the models with reference GPF 2/56.
As for the first use of the Panerai Egiziano in the field, by the Egyptian “frogmen”, this dates back to the same year in which the watches were produced.
During the Suez crisis in late 1956, the Egyptians and Israelis clashed again. The Israelis, at that time, were part of a secret alliance within which Great Britain and France were also present with the aim of regaining control of the Suez Canal. And it is precisely during this conflict that the Panerai Egiziano came into play on the wrist of the divers of the “Al ferka al sierra” unit.
To make the Suez Canal unusable, the Egyptian Navy raiders blocked it by sinking some ships at the entrance. At the conclusion of the conflict, the canal was cleared with the assistance of the United Nations. Also taking part in the clearing operations was Ferdinando Pacciolla, the Italian Navy soldier belonging to the Gamma Group who had trained the Egyptian divers a few years earlier.
The features
Panerai developed this diving watch with reference GPF-2/56 assigning it to the Egyptian Navy with the consent of the Italian Navy. Known today as the “Egiziano”, the ref. GPF-2/56 stands for “Guido Panerai e Figlio” (Guido Panerai and Son) and the numbers correspond to the Maison’s project (2) and the year (1956).
This innovative model was equipped with exceptional features for the time: a 60 mm diameter case and a high level of waterproofing. Featuring a graduated rotating bezel to calculate dive time. The GPF 2/56 was the first watch to feature the crescent-shaped crown protector, which has become a hallmark of modern Panerai watches.
Inside the generously sized case, beats the Swiss-made Angelus 240 caliber with an 8-day power reserve, previously only used in table and travel watches. From the design point of view, compared to the watches supplied by Panerai to the Italian Navy, with the particular cushion case produced by Rolex, the GPF 2/56 looked more like a Panerai instrument.
The massive central stainless steel case is locked between the rotating bezel, glass and caseback by six screws, which together with large rubber seals were able to provide high water resistance to the watch. At 60mm in diameter, the GPF 2/56 is one of the largest professional diving watches ever made.
The sandwich dial, made luminous with Panerai’s Radiomir lume, has a small seconds hand at 9 o’clock compared to the Panerai produced until then. less.
At 3 o’clock the circular logo “8 Giorni Brevettato” was also added, where “Brevettato” means patented and refers to the patent of the crown protection device that Maria and Giuseppe Panerai filed with the title of “Seal device” on November 30, 1955.
Known Panerai Egiziano watches
G. Panerai & Son is believed to have produced approximately 50 examples of the reference GPF 2/56.
Of these 50 watches, about 15 are known to the world of collectors.
According to the Phillips auction house they are:
N. 001, belonging to the Panerai Museum;
N. 002, sold by Antiquorum in 2008;
N. 007, sold by the auction house Artcurial in 2014;
N. 012, sold by Christie’s in 2015;
N. 017, belonging to the Panerai Museum;
N. 018, sold by Christie’s in 2011;
N. 019, sold by Phillips in 2020 (sold for EUR 149,000 );
N. 020, belonging to a private collection;
N. 023, belonging to a private collection;
N. 032, sold by Christie’s in 2007;
N. 033, sold by Antiquorum in 1995;
N. 035, belonging to a private collection;
N. 038, sold by Antiquorum in 2005;
N. 040, sold by Christie’s in 2005;
N. 041 belonging to a private collection.
Final take
Surrounded by one of the most fascinating stories of all time, with the intent of the world of watchmaking, the Panerai Egiziano represents one of the most important pieces in the history of the Florentine Maison.
Made with the aim of being an indispensable tool, this military watch, for lovers of the genre, as in my case, represents a real grail for this type of timepiece.
Made even more fascinated by its great rarity, this Panerai will forever remain a fundamental piece in the history of watchmaking that no one will ever forget and that, if you ever have the opportunity to hold one in your hands, will evoke the missions in your imagination. in the depths of the sea undertaken by the brave divers of the Navy.
Were you aware of this watch produced by Panerai?
Fonti
“Panerai, una storia italiana” by Loris Pasetto, Francesco Ferretti, e Mario Paci
Perezcope – “Vintage Panerai Heavy Metal at Phillips Hong Kong”
Panerai Website “La storia degli orologi Panerai” – “Panerai per la Regia Marina Italiana“
Michele Galizia “Orologi Militari di cielo di terra di mare”, Cronomania
Catalogo Phillips “The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XI, Hong Kong Auction 29 November 2020”
Perezcope – “Egiziano Piccolo?”
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