The luxury watchmaker draws on military experience to develop rugged timepieces designed for demanding missions—and gives collectors a chance to experience that world firsthand.
For former U.S. Navy SEAL Rick Kaiser, a reliable mechanical watch is far more than a luxury accessory. In the field, it can be an essential tool for coordinating movements, managing schedules and keeping an entire team on track.
“Everything is based on time,” Kaiser explained during a conversation with Robb Report deputy editor Paige Reddinger at the magazine’s invitation-only Best of the Best gathering at Hotel Yellowstone in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
From calculating helicopter travel times to determining how long it takes to reach a destination on foot, precise timing can influence the outcome of a mission. Other team members, including drone and aircraft operators, also depend on synchronized schedules.
Kaiser’s experience helps explain why Panerai has developed a close relationship with the U.S. Navy’s Sea, Air, and Land teams, better known as the Navy SEALs.
A Partnership Built on Military Experience
Panerai’s military heritage dates back to the 1910s, when the watchmaker began producing timepieces for the Italian Navy. Since 2022, it has partnered with the U.S. Navy SEALs on watches designed to withstand demanding environments and extreme conditions.
Kaiser brings decades of firsthand experience to the collaboration. Raised in Milwaukee, he joined the SEALs at 17 and served for approximately 30 years. He later became executive director of the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida.
His background also informs Panerai’s exclusive experiences for clients, which allow collectors to put the brand’s watches through challenges inspired by real-world military training.
Some Panerai watches on display at Robb Report’s Best of the Best event.Mark Riegel Visuals LLC
From Mountain Adventures to SEAL-Inspired Training
Panerai’s VIP experiences are designed to take collectors beyond the traditional luxury-watch setting. Activities can range from mountain climbing alongside professional climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin to physically demanding exercises inspired by Navy SEAL training.
Kaiser helps develop some of these experiences, bringing his operational knowledge into the planning process.
For 2027, Panerai is preparing an event at Quail Creek Sporting Ranch in Florida, a property surrounded by hundreds of acres of wilderness. Participants can expect a demanding scenario that requires them to navigate from one point to another while SEALs search for them.
The experience will connect directly to one of Panerai’s most exclusive watches, with production limited to just 35 examples. Many have already been claimed by collectors.
Panerai has partnered with the Navy SEALs on plenty of timepieces.Mark Riegel Visuals LLC
An Exclusive Watch Made With Hafnium
The upcoming experience is associated with a timepiece made from Panerai’s Afniotech, a proprietary material described at the event as containing 95 percent hafnium.
According to Brittiany Mileo-Desmangles, Panerai North America’s senior manager of public relations and events, the material has applications in demanding environments, including submarines and spacecraft.
She noted its substantial weight, water resistance and high resistance to corrosion, qualities that make it distinctive among watchmaking materials.
For Panerai, the material’s physical properties complement the broader philosophy behind its military-inspired watches: performance and durability must be built into the timepiece, rather than simply reflected in its appearance.
The Importance of Mental Toughness
The partnership also highlights a quality that cannot be measured through materials or mechanical specifications alone: mental resilience.
Kaiser said that mental toughness is difficult to test, even though it is central to the SEALs’ approach to challenging situations.
He pointed to two familiar principles associated with the teams: “never quit” and “the only easy day is yesterday.”
For Panerai, that mindset provides a natural connection between its military heritage, its technical watchmaking and the demanding experiences it creates for collectors. The result is a luxury-watch proposition built not only around exclusivity, but also around the endurance required when conditions become difficult.
