BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Panerai. How we love their watches, but sometimes feel they aren’t doing all that they could to stay competitive in the watch world. Well, I think they could be doing more anyway. For late 2025, we’re introduced to one of their more novel ideas in a new format. Bronze is an unusual material for watches, but it’s garnered loads of enthusiasm, much of it thanks to Panerai, because it patinates over time and goes all kinds of colours depending on the environment it’s in. It’s usually the mainstay of Panerai’s Submersible watches, but now for the very first time, they’re using bronze in the standard Luminor collection, beginning with the new Luminor Marina Bronzo PAM01678.
The Luminor Marina collection could best be described as Panerai’s “standard” collection of watches. I don’t mean standard in a bad way, just that when I think of Panerai, the Luminor is the point I start at, as it has the classic case look with their signature locking crown mechanism. From there, it branches out into models such as the Submersible watches, which offer a beefed-up look, or the Radiomir, which strips everything (including the crown mechanism) away for historically inspired simplicity. The PAM01678 follows this trend with its simple Luminor case, measuring 44.0mm x 13.7mm, which offers an impressive water resistance of 500m.
The bronze blends well with the shades of blue used on the PAM01678. I love the gradient colour of the dial, which starts bright at the centre and fades out gently towards the edges. It’s not as steep a gradient as seen on the likes of H. Moser & Cie.’s fumé dials, but it still looks good. It also means there’s enough to look at, even with the apparent simplicity of the dial, as this watch displays the time only and has a small seconds dial. The signature “sandwich” style dial, where the lume is applied to a plate and then the coloured dial is placed on top, adds depth.
The new PAM01678 is powered by an automatic calibre P.980, visible through the titanium caseback thanks to a sapphire crystal window. We first saw this calibre at Watches & Wonders this year. It was difficult for me to find any information on whether or not the P.980 is made by Panerai at its manufacture in Neuchâtel, or not as they don’t provide much info on it, and we now know that not all of their calibres start life there. Whether or not the P.980 is made by Panerai in Neuchâtel, the specs are still impressive, with a three-day (72-hour) power reserve from one barrel and a 4Hz beat rate in a calibre measuring 4.2mm thick. There’s also Incabloc shock absorption, although these new calibres don’t have free-sprung balance wheels like they used to.
The new Luminor Marina Bronzo PAM01678 is a permanent part of Panerai’s collection and is available now for a princely sum of $17,500. Yeah, I had to do a double-take at that as well. It’s a really good-looking watch, but I think there are better alternatives at this price point.
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