Among the new releases from Panerai at this year?s Watches & Wonders, we find what amounts to a first from the brand: a pair of annual calendars. While Panerai has dabbled in perpetual calendars, the annual calendar compilation is a new venture. This has always felt like an under-appreciated complication to me in an environment where perpetual calendars tend to get all the plaudits. For the relatively minor inconvenience of having to make a manual adjustment to the calendar on the first day of March, you get a calendar complication that?s very nearly ?set it and forget it? at what often amounts to a significant discount over comparable perpetuals. While these new Panerais aren?t exactly rubbing up against the value end of the spectrum (they are both well into the five figures, with cases in precious metals), they do represent something genuinely new in the Panerai catalog, which is always going to be of interest to the brand?s dedicated base of collectors. 
The new annual calendars are both found in the Radiomir collection, which is Panerai?s sleeker case design (compared to the Luminor) with vintage style wire lugs and a squared off cushion case shape. Gold and platinum options are available (Panerai refers to their alloys as ?Goldtech? and ?Platinumtech?) and the cases measure 45mm in diameter. Panerai enthusiasts and collectors will tell you that a 45mm Radiomir case wears quite a bit smaller than the numbers would indicate, because thanks to the wire lugs...