While an all-black watch might not seem like the most intuitive design for checking the time on a deep dive, Panerai‘s new Luminor Marina makes a convincing case.
Designed in collaboration with Guillaume Néry, a world-record-setting pro free diver and Panerai ambassador, it comes equipped with the brand’s patented tritium-based green luminescent material on the hours and seconds markers, as well as the hands. It presents a cleaner, more monochrome look than Néry’s previous 2019 collaboration, the Submersible Chrono Guillaume Nery Edition ($19,400) which came in a silver-colored brushed titanium case with a grey dial along with a blue bezel. (A limited-edition of 15 black DLC-treated titanium models with a blue degradé dials were also released and came with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to free dive with Gery in French Polynesia, for a cool $40,000 apiece.)
Panerai Guillaume Néry Special Edition Luminor Marina Courtesy of Panerai
The new Luminor, while more pared down as a time-only diver than its chronograph predecessors, ups the technological ante in a screw-back case made from sandblasted titanium. Crafted in Panerai’s Laboratorio di Idee, the company’s R&D hub for forward-thinking materials, the case’s shape is formed via a 3-D printing process called Direct Metal Laser Sintering or DMLS. Housed within is the Caliber P.9010, a 6 mm-thick self-winding movement that was designed and developed in-house at Panerai’s Neuchâtel manufacture, which allows for a smaller overall build at 44 mm versus the previous 47 mm Nery models. The movement is made with double barrels that offer three days of power reserve and a quick adjustment function, connected to the date indicator, that allows the wearer to easily move time forward or backward in increments of one hour.
Guillaume Néry Courtesy of Panerai
In a full-on display of its efforts to push innovation to the next level, Panerai outfitted the piece with a PET strap, made from recycled plastic waste discarded in the ocean. (Other brands, like Ulysse Nardin and Breitling, have also recently made an effort to use the material on straps.) An additional white leather strap is included and is the first to offer customized luminescent personalizations. The Luminor Marina ($18,900), also comes with a screwdriver to change the straps, a recycled plastic box and the brand’s new extensive 70-year-long warranty.
Panerai Guillaume Néry Special Edition Luminor Marina Courtesy of Panerai
