The Pre-A Series.
Few collectors realise, however, that before the A- and B-series PAM's 001 (Luminor Marina), 002 (Luminor), 003 (white dial Luminor Marina), 004 (PVD Luminor Marina), 009 (PVD Luminor) and 010 (white dial Luminor), Officine Panerai issued three (some would say four) small series of watches to test the waters and generate media attention before real production was on its way. I believe most of these watches were destined to be primarily sold on the Italian, Swiss and German markets. Officine Panerai did so in 1997 and 1998. These, largely unknown, series are now called "pre-A" series. Simply because they pre-date the 1998 A-series Luminor Base series of a 1000 pieces, AXXXX/1000 OP 6502 and 1500 Luminor Marinas AXXXX/1500 OP 6502. The latter two are, of course, the "real" A-series as we all know them.
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