The Panerai Company was started by Giovanni Panerai in 1860. During that time the company was in Florence. Consequently they started supplying watches to the Royal Italian Navy. They started building precision instruments. Italian commando frogmen used the Radiomir and Luminor watches. These watches were worn during the World War II (between 1939 and 1945). The watches helped to execute the mission of sinking the Allied naval vessels during WWII. During that time, the watches used Rolex movements inside them.
Between 1938 and 1993 around 300 wrist watches and diving instruments for the Italian Marina Militare where produced. Soon the navy realized that the watches did not meet the naval specifications and so the company stopped making these watches for the Marina Militare.
Now Officine Panerai watches are being made for the civilians. In 1997 the Officine Panerai brand was taken over by Richemont. These are large watches though now there are many brands that produce these large watches. Panerai watches are sold in four lines of watches namely: Contemporary, Historic, Manifattura, and Special editions. Most of these watches are produced in limited numbers.