The Logo OP represents the stylized beginning letters O and P of Officine Panerai name, but not only.
Do you know what is the meaning of the two arrows, one towards up and one toward down? It's very simple and intuitive. Officine Panerai, since the origins and up today, has always been a specialist in manufacturing underwater products and landing aid systems.
The firsts (wrist watches, compasses, depth-meters, tank level probes, mechanical timers for underwater mines and many others) were used under the sea by the Italian Navy.
The seconds (Deck landing systems, Helipad lighting systems, Portable landing systems) were used on surface, for those arriving from the sky.
Here we explain the meaning of the two arrows: the one facing down shows the underwater products, the one facing up shows the products for that arrive from the sky.
The OP Logo was born at the beginning of 1980, designed by an Architectural Office of Florence and, in the first drafts, had a rounded form; Eng. Dino Zei (CEO of Officine Panerai from 1972 until 1999) did not like this Logo as it was designed. Then, Eng. Dino Zei, together with the Officine Panerai Technical Department responsible, had the idea for this definitive version (here described) adding the two stylized arrows.
The OP Logo was sold to Cartier, at the time that the Vendome group purchased Panerai in 1997, with the watches- torches-compasses and depth-gauges brand, the patents, the original drawings and all the watches store. Since 1997 the old #OfficinePanerai changed its name into Panerai Sistemi SpA. On 1999 the Panerai Sistemi has been sold to Calzoni of Bologna, that absorbed all its industrial and productive activities. Since 2004 Panerai Sistemi is a brand of Calzoni Srl, utilized for all ex-Panerai products.
Cartier, now Richemont group, had never utilized the OP Logo until the end of the 2003 when it appears on the special edition for collectors of the Luminor Marina 44mm (PAM 195), on the dial and on the case-back and, subsequently, on the crowns of the new Radiomir 45mm 8 Days (PAM 190 and 197) and Black Seal (PAM 183) models. Since then, the logo has shown up on more models giving a sense of the history of the brand.
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