Giorgio Armani: The King of Italian Fashion

 

Giorgio Armani

The King of Italian Fashion

Panerai Reference 6154

Giorgio Armani, the master of understated Italian elegance who died at 91 on September 4, 2025, was photographed wearing one of the rarest and most refined vintage Panerai watches ever made: a Rolex-cased Radiomir Reference 6154, the so-called “Egiziano Piccolo” (Little Egyptian). 

Produced in 1954 in extremely limited numbers—scholarship places total production somewhere around 30 to 40 pieces, with only about 20 known today—the 6154 was allegedly ordered for the Egyptian Navy after its frogmen trained with Italian commandos. 

The image of a Reference 6154 pictured above appears to be very similar to the one Giorgio Armani is rocking in these pictures appears courtesy of Panerai's Archivio Storico, which is Panerai's Museum.

There is a similar model that was sold by Christies, which back in 2014 for $326,500.

The 6154 featured a slim, streamlined cushion case (noticeably flatter and more elegant than the 6152) and classic 8 mm Rolex Brevet crown give it a graceful, almost art-deco presence that stands apart from the more robust Luminor profiles that followed.

These photographs show Armani wearing the watch on a long leather strap with the extra tail hanging free—the traditional, unfussy way these military instruments were meant to be worn. The sandwich Radiomir dial, originally black, had typically aged to a warm tropical brown from the radium compound reacting with the brass beneath, a patina that only heightens the watch’s quiet authority. 

In the hands of a man whose entire aesthetic was built on restraint, proportion, and enduring quality, the 6154 feels less like a flashy celebrity accessory and more like a natural extension of his personal style: a rare, purpose-built tool from the early days of professional dive watches, chosen for its design integrity rather than its status.