Description
Panerai is going back to the watch that turned it from a naval supplier into a public brand. The new Luminor 42 collection, refs. PAM01710, PAM01711 and PAM01714, revisits the angular Luminor ref. 5218-201/A of 1993, and for the first time puts that design in a 42 mm case. There are three dials: matte black, forest green and matte blue. The first two come in brushed and polished steel at EUR 6,500. The blue one comes in matte black DLC-coated steel at EUR 7,500. All three are part of the permanent collection.
The recipe is as pared back as Panerai gets. Hours, minutes and small seconds; printed beige numerals; the crown-protecting bridge; 500 metres of water resistance; and the automatic calibre P.980 with three days of power reserve. It is a direct response to the demand for slightly smaller watches, and it gives Panerai a Luminor that fits wrists the 44 mm models never suited.
Design
The case keeps the 1990s Luminor geometry: sharp, angular lines, solid lugs, a sloped bezel on a rounded-square mid-case and the signature crown-protecting bridge on the right. It measures 42 mm across and 13.8 mm thick, with a domed, anti-reflective sapphire crystal on top and a screwed, solid 12-sided steel caseback with engraved details. PAM01710 and PAM01711 are brushed and polished steel; PAM01714 has a matte black DLC coating.
The dials have a grained, matte finish and follow the 1993 Luminor closely. Large printed numerals and markers in beige Super-LumiNova, sword hands with matching lumed inserts, and a recessed small seconds at 9 o'clock. At the bottom, the dial is signed "L Swiss Made L", the marking Panerai used once it moved from tritium to Super-LumiNova. Each watch comes on a canvas strap matched to its dial: beige for PAM01710, green for PAM01711, and blue with a black DLC pin buckle for PAM01714.
Specifications
- References: PAM01710 (black dial, steel), PAM01711 (green dial, steel), PAM01714 (blue dial, black DLC steel)
- Case: 42 mm diameter × 13.8 mm thick; brushed and polished stainless steel (PAM01710, PAM01711) or matte black DLC-coated steel (PAM01714); crown-protecting bridge
- Crystal: domed sapphire with anti-reflective coating
- Caseback: screwed, solid steel
- Water resistance: 500 m
- Dial: grained matte black, green or blue; printed beige/ecru Super-LumiNova numerals and markers; small seconds at 9 o'clock
- Movement: calibre P.980, automatic, made by ValFleurier for Panerai; 177 components
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds with stop-seconds
- Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve: 72 hours (3 days), single barrel
- Strap: canvas in beige, green or blue with pin buckle (black DLC on PAM01714)
- Limited edition: no, permanent collection
- Price: EUR 6,500 (PAM01710, PAM01711), EUR 7,500 (PAM01714); £5,600 and £6,500 respectively in the UK
What's Exciting
Panerai's recent revivals, starting with last year's Luminor Marina Militare PAM05218, have been about stripping the Luminor back to what made it iconic. The Luminor 42 is the most useful step yet, because it tackles the one thing that kept many people away: size. Two millimetres off the diameter changes the watch completely on a smaller wrist, and at 13.8 mm thick and 500 metres it is still a real tool watch rather than a dress-down fashion piece.
The forest-green PAM01711 is the one to watch: the colour gives this purist, no-date Luminor a warmer, more military character. The blue-on-black DLC PAM01714 is the moodier choice, and the EUR 1,000 premium buys a coating, not a better movement. The P.980 is a ValFleurier-made calibre with a three-day reserve and hacking seconds. It is not the brand's own manufacture P.9000 family, but it is sensible and robust, and it helps keep the price near EUR 6,500.
History
For most of its history, Officine Panerai supplied watches only to the Italian Navy. On 10 September 1993, under CEO Dino Zei, the Florentine company became a public brand with two watches: the Luminor ref. 5218-201/A and the Mare Nostrum Chronograph ref. 5218-301/A. The Luminor had already shrunk the historic 47 mm military proportions to 44 mm, and introduced the sharper, angular case that defines the "Pre-Vendôme" era, before the Vendôme Group, today Richemont, bought Panerai in 1997.
The Luminor takes its name from the luminous material Panerai developed and trademarked in 1949 to replace radioactive radium, and its crown-protecting bridge has made it one of the most recognisable silhouettes in watchmaking. More than 30 years after the 1993 debut, the Luminor 42 brings that original design back, in a size built for today's preference for slightly smaller watches.
