Panerai case backs are very helpful providing lots of useful information that can be used to identify and age a watch.
The majority of Panerai Watches will have the following numbers:
Panerai Case Numbers
Starting with ‘OP’ and normally followed by 4 numerals, the case number identifies the case used on the watch. Different Panerai models may share the same case and so have the same case number. Small changes in a case design over years can see the case number change for its model.
Panerai Serial Numbers
The serial number which is useful for recording a watches provenance normally starts with the letters ‘BB’ but ‘PB’ has also been used. These numbers started in 1997 and have been ascending since.
Panerai Edition Numbers
The edition numbers shows your watches number out of a its production run for example number 1 out of 1000 (K0001/1000). The number is preceded by a letter, this letter represents the year of the watches production run and can be used to date the watch. Below is a list of the letters that have been used and the dates they represent.
| Serial Letter | Production Year |
|---|---|
| None | 1997 |
| A | 1998 |
| B | 1999 |
| C | 2000 |
| D | 2001 |
| E | 2002 |
| F | 2003 |
| G | 2004 |
| H | 2005 |
| I | 2006 |
| J | 2007 |
| K | 2008 |
| L | 2009 |
| M | 2010 |
| N | 2011 |
| O | 2012 |
| P | 2013 |
| Q | 2014 |
| R | 2015 |
| S | 2016 |
| T | 2017 |
| U | 2018 |
