PANERAI BEIRUT SOUKS WEYGAND STREET

PANERAI REOPENS ITS FLAGSHIP BOUTIQUE AT BEIRUT SOUKS Beirut, October 2017 – Officine Panerai, the Italian high-end watchmaker renowned for combining Italian design and Swiss know-how, reestablishes its presence in Beirut, through a freshly renovated Panerai Boutique with the concept by Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola. The newly reopened boutique is located in the heart of the city at Beirut Souks and it features an area of 16 square meters where enthusiasts and collectors can immerse in a sophisticated and elegant ambience. The renewed boutique remains consistent to the concept of interior design developed by Patricia Urquiola across all the Panerai boutiques worldwide. She has reinterpreted the aesthetic and technical codes of the watch house, respecting the identity of the brand with a timeless design. The distinctive elements used by Patricia Urquiola in Beirut boutique are oak, “calacatta luccicoso” veined marble, brushed dark brass, bronze. The boutique also features a large Wall Clock, in the boutique a large-scale version of Panerai’s iconic watch dial. “Perfect for watch enthusiasts, collectors and new 01
clientele alike, the Officine Panerai Boutique in Beirut creates a completely immersive experience in the refined world of watchmaking,” said Milvin George, Managing Director of Officine Panerai – Middle East & India. “At Panerai we have always represented the best in advanced technology and progressive design. With the reopening of Beirut boutique, we are now able to offer a complete showcase of our novelties as well as a creative setting for our customers, celebrating premium watchmaking in the capital of Lebanon,” he concluded. Beirut customers and collectors are welcomed into a simple, sophisticated and classic space fitted out with Italian taste, to get to know the brand’s technical Florentine beauty and purchase available novelties including rarest special editions. The Officine Panerai Boutique in Beirut is the first standalone boutique in the region with a Patricia Urquiola design. With Beirut Officine Panerai ha now 71 boutiques worldwide. 02
OFFICINE PANERAI Founded in 1860 in Florence when it consisted of a boutique, a workshop and a watchmaking school, Officine Panerai was for years the supplier of precision instruments to the Italian Navy, in particular equipping the commando frogmen. The projects which were created at that time, including the Luminor and Radiomir watches, continued to be covered by military secrecy for many years, until the purchase of the brand by the Richemont Group in 1997 and the brand’s subsequent launch on the international market. Today, Officine Panerai develops and produces its own movements and watches – combining Italian design and history with Swiss craftsmanship – in its manufacture at Neuchâtel, and these are sold worldwide through an exclusive global network of authorised dealers, and in its own-brand boutiques throughout the world. www.panerai.com 03
PATRICIA URQUIOLA Patricia Urquiola studied architecture and design at Madrid Polytechnic and Milan Polytechnic, graduating with Achille Castiglioni. She worked with Vico Magistretti and later head of design at Lissoni Associati, She has received the Gold Medal of the Arts and the Order of Isabel the Catholic by His Majesty The King of Spain Juan Carlos I. Her work is displayed in various museums and collections, such as MoMA in New York, Musée des Arts decoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Design in Munich, the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, The Design Museum in London, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Stedelijk in Amsterdam and the Triennale Museum in Milan. She is the Art Director for Cassina. www.patriciaurquiola.com