Dino Zei was born in Viterbo in 1931. In 1950 he entered the Naval Academy and in 1958, as a Naval Weapons Officer, he graduated in Industrial Engineering at the University of Pisa.
His last assignment in the Navy began in 1968 with the double position of Head of the Weapons and Explosives Section of the Navy Commandos and Divers Headquarters "Teseo Tesei" and Head of the Ammunition Section of the Institute for Weapons, Ammunition and Missiles of the Standing Committee for the Experimentation on War Materials.
In 1969 he became Director of the Centre of Studies of the Navy Commandos and Divers Headquarters.
In 1972, after Giuseppe Panerai's death, he left the Navy to take up the management of
Guido Panerai e Figlio, a Florence-based company engaged in important and extremely delicate work for the Special Units of the Navy. In the same year he established and became Sole Director of
Officine Panerai Srl, which took over all the activities and industrial capabilities of
Guido Panerai. He became Chairman of
Officine Panerai SpA, until the watch division and trademark were sold to Cartier and covered this position for the
Panerai Sistemi SpA until 1999, when the business was transferred to the Bologna-based company
Calzoni.
He currently lives in Florence.
