Anonimo
Design and production
The Anonimo Firenze watch collection, with Swiss high end movements and watch cases produced in house mainly in high quality steel AISI 316L and Marine Bronze, is the result of technical expertise and decades of experience of watchmaking in Firenze, Italy. The core strength of the company lies mainly in the production of watch cases with numerically controlled machines and in handcrafted finish.
The Anonimo Firenze approach differs from the traditional models of Swiss watchmaking. Swiss watchmakers often have a “vertical production", where all the parts are developped in house, as well as all steps of the production process. Or they follow a “horizontal production", where most or all steps of production are external.
Instead, Anonimo Firenze keeps the essential and strategic steps of this process in house, but relying on high quality external partners for other phases of the production cycle.
Design & Engineering
The power of watch making at Anonimo Firenze initiates by writing an accurate product marketing definition, which is then followed by the description of a design concept and next finalized to a well defined function for each watch model.
Marketing, design and technique are three important phases that Anonimo Firenze uses in a distinct and creative way. Anonimo Firenze has created a system that is unique in its set up in that it simultaneously develops watches incorporating all of its resources, competences and experience of the entire Anonimo Firenze team, from conception to completion of the design.
The emotional strength of Anonimo Firenze, including its essentials, rigour and modesty, are derived from the synergy of function and technology that are able to be captured and realized thanks to the design team’s approach of incorporating the revolutionary tridimensional CAD drawing systems. This attention to the functional features of the watch is revealed by the perfect balance between the complexity of the watch case and the complication of the movement. None of these two key watch components is developed without functionality and independently, but rather in an organic synthesis.
The accomplishments of our design structure are especially showcased in the models of the Militare Line. This line incorporates a revolutionary but functional crown positioning (at 6 o’clock), as well as an innovative blocking protective lever. It furthermore led to the development of very particular disposition stem design and push button positioning for the chronograph version of this line. The movement modification that has been applied to the chronograph module by Dubois-Depraz (Switzerland) in exclusivity for Anonimo Firenze, has resulted into the calibre 2035 for the model Militare Crono.
Watch case production and control
Every Anonimo Firenze watch case is exclusively manufactured starting from an initial solid bar of metal (stainless steel, marine bronze,…) out of which the case is carved out. This procedure goes through sixteen different steps and machine settings. Each of these steps includes multiple material carving operations by high precision numerical control machines to reach the final shape and precision.
Anonimo Firenze is the only watch case manufacturer in the world using this technique. Even the most prestigious watch brands mainly use stamping processes for case manufacturing. This approach allows us to achieve a superior mechanical case quality, a more accurate and less modified case, and material which is never submitted to the stress of shaping or forming.
After the necessary dimension controls, the watch case moves to finishing cycle. It is evident that at this point the manual competence and the craftsman's touch are important and fundamental to transform a high precision mechanical product into an aesthetic pleasing object.
Our craftsmanship tradition, so typical to the Firenze culture, combined with Firenze’s watch making tradition, reaches its culmination during this phase of completion of the case before watch assembly.
Many of the machines and the technical knowledge used by Anonimo Firenze today, go back to a family business experience, an atelier that started making watches well before the 1940's (Ambuchi atelier), one that has continuously advanced and eventually has evolved into a Tuscan and Italian tradition.
Watch assembling
Tradition, craftsmanship and high technology always go hand in hand at the Anonimo Firenze production cycle. Our atelier for watch assembling combines the availability of modern instruments with equipment built internally, according to the assembling and control cycle needs. Some of our master craftsmen in Firenze, Italy, have more than thirty years of experience in watch making.
Reggimento San Marco
In 1919 the Reggimento Marina inherited its new name, Reggimento San Marco , and symbol, the lion of San Marco, after bravely defending Venice during the First World War. Afterwards it not only participated in the Second World War, but also in numerous rescue operations for natural disasters that occurred over the past 60 years.
Today, the Reggimento San Marco is the operational deployment element of the Landing Forces of the Italian Navy , that in the present international scene has proved to be a valid and easily "deployable" instrument for the performance of overseas operations. It is capable of tackling long sojourns in areas of crisis and conflict for "peace-keeping" and "peace-enforcing" operations.
Casemakers since 1939
The centre of each Anonimo Firenze watch is its case. The secret is the company's own workshop which produces the watches manually - the heart of Anonimo Firenze.
You can recognize an Anonimo Firenze by its solid, handcrafted watch case. The case reveals the company's roots: a workshop which manufactures watch cases since more than 70 years.
"Casemakers in Firenze since 1939" is proudly engraved on the back of each timepiece.
Introducing a powerful collaboration
Anonimo Firenze and C.N.S.
Anonimo Firenze was created out of a commitment and passion to preserve and continue a Florentine tradition and heritage of Military watch making. From the beginning, performance and safety standards required by the use underwater have had an important role in design and implementation of our watches.
Millemetri achieved critical acclaim and instant recognition as superior diving watch after its release, positioning Anonimo Firenze as an important watch producer. Industry recognition provided the opportunity to develop a close relationship with one of the most important deep-sea diving industrial companies in the world, C.N.S. (Cooperativa Nazionale Sommozzatori).
Dino Zei and Anonimo Firenze: military precision meets Italian luxury
The vision of Dino Zei on watchmaking has been profoundly influenced by technical training, first in the Italian Navy, then at the head of Officine Panerai. Therefore creativity has been addressed, refined and optimized by a rigorous mental discipline, but never neglecting challenge (following the philosophy of the Naval Academy). According to Anonimo Firenze, this sailor-engineer has defined the guidelines of the prestigious Dino Zei collection, which is at the same time rigorous and innovative as far as both function and technology are concerned.
The Bronze age of Anonimo
One of the greatest merits of an Anonimo Firenze watch is the craftsmanship of its case. In the very beginning the company handcrafted only stainless steel cases, but from 2006 it started issuing other case materials for its watches, amongst which Marine Bronze. This alloy is used in propellers of ships of the Italian navy since many years, but it is a novelty in the watchmaking world. It has proven to be a very unique and at the same time very functional material.
The Italian design, the high tech know-how and the solid cases made in the Anonimo Firenze workshop by the finest craftsmen, make the Marine Bronze watches special. They represent a combination of mechanical precision and aesthetic elegance.
