Panerai continues its series of annual Sealand editions dedicated to the Chinese Zodiac with the Luminor 1950 Sealand Year of the Goat (PAM00848), featuring a hunter case decorated with gold-inlaid hand-engraving.

Fitted with distinctive flip covers over the dial, the hunter cases of Panerai Luminor Sealand watches are a perfect canvas for engraving. To be officially unveiled at SIHH, the 2015 edition of the Luminor 1950 Sealand is dedicated to the Year of the Goat, the seventh in an annual edition for each year’s Chinese Zodiac and also the first in the Luminor 1950 case. While most of the earlier Sealand watches were engraved by Purdey, the maker of precious hunting rifles, Panerai now turns to Italian craftsman for the gold-inlaid engraving. The steel lid is first engraved by hand, and then fine gold wires are beaten into the grooves of the engraving until the image is formed in gold.

The inside of the lid has a little mirror, and beneath it is a steel grey dial that differs from the typical Panerai look. Minimalist with just a “12”, the dial has black baton indices with tiny luminous dots.

Unusually, the Luminor 1950 Sealand Year of the Goat is the first Sealand watch to use the Luminor 1950 case as well as an in-house movement, the P.9000. Earlier Sealand editions used the standard 44 mm Luminor case which lacks the more complex form of the 1950. Those were also powered by a simple Unitas movement.

Available only at Panerai boutiques and produced in an edition of just 100 watches, the Luminor 1950 Sealand Year of the Goat is priced at 32,500 Singapore dollars, which is equivalent to about US$26,000. Panerai isn’t alone with a Chinese Zodiac-themed timepiece, Vacheron Constantin will also present a Year of the Goat edition at SIHH 2015.