While many brands with storied pasts base some of their modern watches on vintage pieces, few and far between are the brands that do so to the extent that Panerai does. To its credit (and possibly its long-term detriment"), the brand has built its contemporary collections almost entirely on the narrative of its 20th-century history. Hence the countless variations on the Radiomir and Luminor models, the use of vintage designs and faux-patina coloration, and the arrival of the watch we?ll be covering today: the Panerai Mare Nostrum.

This modern watch (below) is based upon a 1943 prototype piece developed for the Italian Navy (above). Originally, only a handful or so of these watches were produced, and as the Allies overtook the Italian peninsula in the same year as the watch?s development, the need for final models quickly evaporated. Still, these first watches were beasts ? at 52 mm in thick steel cases, with complicated green dials, and with a unique configuration of various dial and case elements, its obvious why Panerai is hearkening back to this design once again after first reviving it in the early 1990s.
The most recent edition of the series is one of the most different yet from the original, but it continues to maintain many of the design elements that have attracted consumers to the watch in the various limited-edition releases seen over the past 20-plus years. It comes housed in a 42-mm steel case with elongated, blockish lugs, thick pump-style chron...