Worn by: Ettore Manni as Luigi Durand de la Penne
Reference: Panerai Radiomir
Brand: Panerai
Luigi Durand de la Penne leads Italian frogmen in the most successful Decima Flottiglia MAS operation—the December 18, 1941 attack on the British Naval Base in Alexandria, Egypt, where three manned torpedoes entered the heavily protected port and disabled two battleships, altering Mediterranean power balance for over a year. After placing his damaged torpedo under HMS Valiant, de la Penne is captured and imprisoned in the ship's anchor chain locker, refusing to reveal the impending explosion. The extremely rare updated Rolex-Panerai reference 3646 worn by de la Penne features straight lugs carved from the same steel block as the middle case—a salvage solution developed by G. Panerai & Figlio in the 1950s. Early 3646 watches used soldered wire lugs that frequently tore out completely under the stress of military diving operations. Rather than scrapping these damaged watches, Panerai created special replacement middle cases with integrated horn lugs machined as a single piece, providing far superior structural integrity. The film features multiple close-ups clearly showing this distinctive case construction. This modification represents practical military engineering—extending service life of critical equipment through intelligent redesign. For a character portrayed as a real historical figure and decorated Italian naval hero, using an authentic period military watch with documented field modifications added historical credibility to the 1962 production.
Source: https://perezcope.com/2022/02/04/vintage-rolex-panerai-on-the-big-screen/