History of Italian Watchmaking

Ugo Pancani was a lecturer from 1978 to 2012 at the Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, chairing the Professional Technique in Micromechanics and Mechanical and Electronic Watchmaking. Pancani also coordinated and taught professional training courses organised by the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Leonardo da Vinci on ‘Restoration and Repair of Vintage Watches’. Since 1994, he has been a lecturer and consultant in the watchmaking sector for the Vendôme Group, with whom he collaborated on the acquisition of Officine Panerai, and for the Richemont Group for Italy. He serves on Panerai’s Heritage Committee with responsibility for historical research and the fight against counterfeiting. In 2004, he contributed to the creation of the Study Centre for the Valorization and Restoration of Clocks and Scientific Instruments of the ISIS Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, holding the role of scientific co-responsible and carrying out several major restorations including, in 2014, the led restoration of the Clock of the Florence Cathedral with the dial by Paolo Uccello. Since 2015, he has been FHH Certified Freelance Trainer of the Fondation Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, mainly engaged in FHH training courses and certifications. Since 2019, he has been a Member of the Academy G.P.H.G (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genéve). He has collaborated with various magazines in the field. He promotes with conferences and cultural evenings the knowledge of Haute Horlogerie in Italy and Switzerland.

• Editorial NoteForeword byCarlo Maria CeppiThe first artistic mentions of mechanical watchmaking starting with Dante Alighieri and the Divine ComedyThe Great Italian Watchmakers up to the beginning of the 20th centuryThe Italian protagonists of the development of world watchmaking in the 20th and 21st centuries and the birth of the High-End Made-in-Italy WatchMapsBibliography Acknowledgements