An Italian luxury watch manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A, Panerai was founded by Giovanni Panerai in Florence, Italy in 1860. Panerai offers watches across four marketing lines: Historic, Contemporary, Manifattura and Special Editions in runs of 500, 1000, 2,000 or 4,000 units; each with its issue number on the case back. The company issues Special Editions by year.