2013 Panerai PAM 526 Regatta Flyback Chrono Titanio

This new piece, the Panerai PAM 526, is very similar to the PAM 524 and PAM 525 (all three pieces comprise the entirety of the new models in the 2013 “Contemporary” collection) except it comes with a Regatta timing module built on to the automatic P.9100 caliber.  I think that the extra bits of color — note the orange split seconds hand, orange sword hand on the hour sub-dial, and the orange regatta track — will be well received.  The button at 4 o’clock (right below the crown guard–shown below) is for the regatta function, and it is also orange.

Panerai PAM 526 Regatta 3 Days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio

Price $11,800

47mm brushed titanium case, automatic Panerai P.9100/R

hours, mins, secs, flyback chrono, regatta countdown, knots scale (for calculation of boat speed), seconds reset

The flange carries the scale of up to 15 minutes for the countdown to the start, with the five final minutes picked out in orange, and also the tachymeter scale expressed in knots, enabling the speed of the yacht to be measured over a defined distance.

How the Regatta Timer and Flyback Chrono work:

The orange push-button at four o’clock moves the central orange chronograph minute hand back one minute at a time, until it is at the correct position in relation to the length of the countdown.  On starting the chronograph,by pushing the chronograph stop/start button at ten o’clock, the relative hands begin to move, indicating first the minutes and seconds remaining until the start, and then, when the countdown has finished, the time elapsed since the start of the race. The push-button at eight o’clock ends the time measurement, returning allthe chronograph hands to zero.  Alternatively, if it is operated while the hands are still moving, it activates the return-to-zero (flyback) function, thus enabling a new time interval to be measured immediately without operating the stop and reset buttons.