Giovanni Panerai opens his first shop in 1860 at “Ponte alle Grazie” in Florence, serving not only as a watch shop and workshop, but also as the city's first watchmaking school: the history of Panerai begins here. After having used various Florentine locations since 1876, the shop moved to its current location in the 1920's for the reconstruction of the Ponte delle Grazie, located in the Archbishop's Palace in front of the Florence Cathedral under the name "OROLOGERIA SVIZZERA", a name that has meant high-quality watches in Florence for over a century.