Panerai Luminor Marina with Metal Bracelet and New Silver-Coloured Dial PAM00977 and PAM00978

For the first time in its history, Panerai, the Italian brand well-known for its iconic shaped diver’s watches, is introducing two new models with a silver-coloured dial. The new Panerai Luminor Marina watches, which are always the ones with a small seconds subdial, will be available in 42mm and 44mm. To match the silver-coloured dial, both come on a steel bracelet.

We’re used to picturing Panerai watches as the archetypical diver’s watch,  robust underwater tools first used by the Italian Navy many decades ago. Big and rugged watches, with a black dial with large and legible Arabic numerals, and the recognizable crown protection device. However, since the brand was bought by the Vendôme Group in 1997 (which later became Richemont), collections with more complications and styles were developed. Today, the range comprises much more than iconic professional diver’s watches. And while the Italian brand already offered various dial colours, including white and cream-coloured dials, it now launches two new models with a brand new silver-coloured dial that beautifully matches the tones of the steel bracelet.

The movement – Panerai calibre P.9010

Inside both models ticks Panerai’s in-house calibre P.9010 that can be seen through the sapphire pane in the caseback. When fully wound, the automatic movement offers 3 days of autonomy and stores its energy in two mainspring barrels. The movement ticks at a pace of 28,800vph, and when you look at it, you can see the oscillator held in place by a sturdy bridge construction. Panerai’s own go-to movements, like this calibre P.9010, have a lot in common with the older hand-wound Unitas-based movement, namely sturdiness and reliability. The winding mass is bi-directional and adorned with the brand’s logo and name in blue.

The case

The 42mm and 44mm cases of the PAM00977 and PAM00978 are made in 316L stainless steel, the most commonly used steel in the watch industry. That’s because the 316L steel alloy is very resistant to corrosion. Besides the diameter, there’s no mention of other measurements, however, it’s safe to assume that the 42mm Luminor Marina watches is approx. 13mm thick and the 44mm version measures approx. 15.5mm. Depth rating of the 42mm version is 10ATM or 100 metres, while the 44m version has the proper depth rating for diver’s watches, namely 300 metres.

In fact, these two new references PAM00977 and PAM00978 are actually similar to the PAM00722 and PAM00723, except for the dials that are black. These two silver-coloured dials look pretty neat on the press photos and I’m curious to see how they are on the wrist. I’m especially curious to find out how the legibility is, with white hands and hour markers on a silver dial. There’s not much contrast, which is usually key for diver’s watches, but maybe on the wrist it will be OK.

Concluding

Altogether these two new Panerai Luminor Marina models with silver dials look very good. Let’s be honest, most rugged diver’s watches don’t get wet besides the morning shower. So the life-saving contrast that a proper diver’s watch needs has been replaced with an attractive colour scheme. Same goes for the depth rating of “only” 100 metres for the 42mm PAM00977; this is not suitable for actual diving as this would require a 300m depth rating, like the 44mm PAM00978. But then again, not many people use these watches to dive.

Prices for these new watches will be EUR 8,200 (PAM00977) and EUR 8,300 (PAM00978). More details at panerai.com