It is around 1950 that the transformation of the Panerai case from Radiomir to Luminor is accomplished.
The first evolution, which took place around the 1940s, had led to a new Radiomir case with reinforced wire lugs created from the same block of steel as the case.
In 1949 a New Self-Luminous Substance, Luminor, Supersedes the Radium-Based Paste. Tritium (Hydrogen Isotope) based, this compound is protected by the patent filed on 11 January 1949 under the “Luminor” trademark. Officine Panerai draws inspiration from the name of its newly patented substance for its other historical model that follows the Radiomir watch – the Luminor.
The second world war having drawn to a close, the Florentine Company continuous the technical research begun at the start of the war to render its watches ever more resistant and dependable during the extreme and perilous missions of the Italian Navy Frogmen.
To protect the crown, the part most exposed to impacts and therefore to the possibility of water getting into the watch, Panerai Patents a Protective Device that eliminates both these problems. The Bridge-Shaped Device protects the crown from knocks, while the lever serves to press the crown against the case, ensuring greater water resistance.
The Panerai Luminor 1950 case is inspired by the historic Luminor case from the 1950s with the typical rounded lines of the middle-case, the lugs milled from a single block of metal, the device protecting the winding crown and the flat, wider bezel.
Some models are characterized by the more pronounced cusps of the case band underlining a stage of transformation from the late 1940s classic Radiomir cushion case to that of the Luminor.