Mike Horn became the first man to circumnavigate the Arctic Circle on foot, skis, sailing boat and kayak when he arrived at his starting point on October 21, 2004. His journey began on August 4, 2002 and the only permanent companion on his trip was the specially designed and conceived Panerai Luminor.
In the first phase of the trek, Mike Horn used a stainless steel Panerai Luminor Amagnetic whose movement was encased in a soft iron case as an anti-magnetic protection, with a movement using special oils to protect it from the Arctic temperatures that range from -70º to +15º. The rest of the expedition Mike Horn used the Luminor GMT which allowed him to determine north.







By pointing the hour hand at the sun, north is ascertained at midway between the hour hand and 12 o’clock and this gives the position for setting the rotating bezel with the four cardinal points applied in relief. By using the 24-hour dial, the Luminor GMT enables north to be identified with greater ease, since the 24-hour scale marked on the outer edge of the dial means that the midway point does not have to be estimated: the supplementary 24-hour hand points to the sun and north is at 24.00.
The Luminor GMT Arktos (44 mm) is in stainless steel and is equipped with a Panerai OP VIII Calibre movement, with a 42-hour power reserve. There is a date aperture at 3 o’clock, the watch is water-resistant to 300 metres and the caseback is engraved with the logo of the Arktos expedition – the drawing of the globe showing the route taken by Mike Horn.


Source: April-May 2005 Issue

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