Press Release:   Visitors to the Homo Faber exhibition in Venice this September will have the chance to board the yacht Eilean, spectacularly restored by Panerai, the high-end watchmaking maison and former supplier of professional diving instruments and timepieces to the Italian navy.

The yacht was in a state of disrepair when she was found in Antigua in 2006 and bought by Panerai. Transported to Italy on a cargo ship, Eilean was soon in the hands of master artisans at the Francesco Del Carlo boatyard in Viareggio. Over the next three years, they brought Eilean back to life while preserving her shape, defining characteristics and the majority of her original materials.

  •   The cockpit was rebuilt according to the 1930s plans and fitted with its original features including the wooden steering wheel.
  •   Eilean’s two masts were remade using six cubic meters of spruce wood from a single tree in Alaska.
  •   Sixty percent of the boat’s original 4cm-thick Burmese teak planking was salvaged.
  •   Around 5,000 screw heads were made from the original decking.
  •   Eilean’s new sailing instruments – including a wall clock, barometer and marine

    chronometer – were made exclusively for her by luxury Italian watchmaker Officine Panerai, which commissioned the restoration project.

The 22-metre Bermudian ketch was designed and built in 1936 by the legendary Wm Fife & Son Scottish boatyard, Eilean (“little island” in Gaelic) was in a state of disrepair when she was found in Antigua in 2006 and bought by Panerai. Transported to Italy on a cargo ship, Eilean was soon in the hands of master artisans at the Francesco Del Carlo boatyard in Viareggio. Over the next three years, they brought Eilean back to life while preserving her shape, defining characteristics and the majority of her original materials.

With her elegance and perfect proportions, Eilean is not just an extraordinary example of craftsmanship and authenticity but also an expression of deep-seated human and seafaring values that are an inextricable part of the Panerai brand’s identity. She is a yacht with a huge history, including no less than 36 Atlantic crossings.

During the 1970s and 80s she was a charter yacht in the Caribbean, moored at English Bay, Antigua, and such was her popularity that she was chosen by the band Duran Duran to feature in the video to their hit song Rio in 1982. Eilean’s glory days came to an end after she was damaged by a stricken ferry near Malaga, Spain. Her then owner took her back to Antigua to begin repair work, but progress was slow and in the following years she suffered further damage.

Panerai’s restoration of Eilean demonstrates the respect the luxury sector has for traditional artisanal skills and its dedication to championing master craftsmanship and preserving it for the future. It’s an ethos shared by 20 other European marques who will be showcasing rare techniques and incredible skills that go into their products in the Homo Faber exhibit Discovery and Rediscovery.

Eilean will be moored right next to this exhibit in the waters off San Giorgio Maggiore island, with visitors able to board her to get a closer look at the skill and artistry that brought her back to life. As a magnificent symbol of traditional boat building and fine craftsmanship, Eilean is a perfect fit for Venice, an age-old city built on the sea and steeped in creativity.

Eilean is one of 14 exhibits that make up Homo Faber, a major new exhibition celebrating European craftsmanship, organised by the Michelangelo Foundation.

 It runs from 14-30 september 2018. More details from : www.homofaberevent.com