Panerai recalls the evocative thousand-year tradition of the Chinese Zodiac with the new Luminor Sealand—44 mm, a special edition created to anticipate and accompany the Year of the Rat which will officially start on 11 February 2020.

For Panerai, this is a true tradition within a tradition which started in 2009 with the celebration of the Year of the Ox and culminating today, in the 12th year, with the Luminor Sealand dedicated to the Year of the Rat.

Both ambitious and brilliant, those born under this sign use their intelligence and shrewdness to adapt to any situation, easily overcoming the problems and pitfalls of everyday life. They are also endowed with inspiration and intelligence, qualities which they share with the rat, the animal represented on the steel cover of the Luminor Sealand dedicated to it.

A distinguishing feature of every Sealand, the decorated cover—with a signalling mirror inside—is hinged at 12 o’clock on the brush-finished AISI 316L steel case of the 44-mm model. This aesthetic and functional element protects the grey dial with its printed Arabic numerals and linear hour-markers, supplemented by luminous SuperLumiNovaTM dots.

The decoration of the cover has been engraved by hand by Italian master craftsmen using the ancient art of sparsello. This technique is named after the tool, like a little scalpel, which is used to make incisions. These are then inlayed with gold threads which are carefully hammered to fill the recesses. This operation takes up to 50 hours of work for each watch.

The mechanical movement of the new Luminor Sealand is the P. 9010 Calibre with a power reserve of three days provided by twin spring barrels, and rapid time adjustment which also changes the calendar. With automatic winding and only 6 mm thick, it was entirely conceived and developed at the Panerai Manufacture in Neuchâtel.

Water-resistant to a depth of 10 bar (about 100 metres), the new Luminor Sealand is fitted with a semi-matt calf strap, gold in colour with beige stitching, and it is presented in a pear wood box. It is supplied with a second strap of black rubber, a special tool for changing the strap and a screwdriver to remove the buckle.