# Information on the Case Back of Panerai Watch



## fannychou (May 3, 2011)

This post provides some fundamental tips for green hands in hope of removing their doubts, those who are already well acquainted with watches can just skip it. The original article was posted here: Panerai Case Back Information | Panerai Watch Blog

What kind of information can be obtained from the case back of Panerai? Well, I will give you a simple demonstration using my own watch.









1) OP XXXX - Case No. (as shown in picture number 1)

OP attached with a four-digit number represents the Case No. of this watch. Panerai models resemble each other in most cases with little differences. Meanwhile, differences in these figures mean that their cases are of different models. They differ from each other in external appearance and material as well as the internal structure. Even the same model may bear some differences in Case No. in different historical periods.

2) BB XXXXXXX or PB XXXXXXX - reference numbers of watches (as shown in picture number 2)

This group of numbers is the reference of this watch, which is equivalent to the identity card number. For each different watch, this number will be different. In general cases, please avoid making public this number so as not to be utilized by the counterfeiters.

3) A single English character - prefix of the watch (as shown in picture number 3)

The prefix represents the year of the watch. The following is some specific information.

Vintage: 1936-1956
PreV: 1993-1997
PreA: 1997-1998
A: 1998
B: 1999
C: 2000
D: 2001
E: 2002
F: 2003
G: 2004
H: 2005
I: 2006
J: 2007
K: 2008
L: 2009

From 1956 to 1993, merely a few prototypes were made. Of which:

A) The rules for the case back of PreV and PreA are quite different, but it is not our focus today.

B) For some watches, there will be an OOR right here standing for Out Of Range which means that this watch is not involved in the normal prefix numbering. Generally, OOR may appear only once for a single watch. Due to its scarcity, product with OOR has a slightly higher price compared with others of the same model.

4) Numbers right behind the prefix number - serial numbers of the watch (as shown in picture number 4)

This number represents the order number of the watch under the prefix in a particular given year. When the model is fixed, these numbers composed with the prefix constitute a unique and definite combination.

5) The number after the slash - the annual total of this model (as shown in picture number 5)

This number represents the total production number of this kind of watch under the prefix in a particular given year. This is a limited edition for Panerai now. Generally speaking, the smaller the number is, the more precious these watches will be, and thus the higher market price they are.

Linking into the following website, you may get some reference information about the productivity of penerai each year.

6) The fish symbol and XXX m - waterproof mark of the watch (as shown in picture number 5)

The fish symbol and figure represent the waterproof capacity of this piece watch. It says 300 meters in the picture.

Contemporarily, waterproof standard of Panerai can be classified as following:
30 meters, 100 meters, 120 meters, 300 meters, 1,000 meters, 2,500 meters.

Ok, done. Hope this post can do some help to green hands.


----------



## penerai 1950 (Nov 25, 2009)

many thanks for sharing


----------



## Mercury2wo (Oct 4, 2009)

Great Post! Thanks!! I am just starting on my PAM journey and was looking for something EXACTLY like this! Thanks again!


----------



## avatar1 (Sep 15, 2008)

That serial looks photoshopped...

Just kidding. Thanks. :-!


----------



## Salca (Jan 17, 2016)

Thanks for all this information and your time to do it!
I'm a green hand I just both my first pam 91 f226/400
Any extra info on this watch will be helpful. 
Thanks again!


----------



## CrownUp (Mar 7, 2011)

Good information to know! Thanks for taking the time!! Ed


----------



## T1meout (Sep 27, 2013)

OP has been inactive on WUS for many years now by the looks of it. I'm quite certain he won't be back.


----------



## tle (Feb 10, 2015)

thanks for great infor


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

