BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
In case you didn’t know, Officine Panerai has always been a brand dedicated to nautical things, whether that’s sailing on the waves or diving under them. For 2022, they’re debuting a new-look Luna Rossa collection. Now, we all know that when Panerai says it is issuing a “new-look” watch what they mean is “the watch is nearly identical to before but with one detail changed”, that’s what’s happened here almost.
The thing is, we don’t want Panerai’s designs to change too much if we’re honest. We like the cushion-shaped cases they’ve been making, their dials are clear and they’ve been upping their movement game for years now. To run away from that instead of embracing it would be foolish.
What they’ve done instead is issue a new Luminor with a white dial. It doesn’t sound like much, but white-dialled Panerais are quite rare, with black and blue dominating their range. This unique shade amongst the lineup is just the thing this watch needs to get in with the die-hard Paneristi, who generally need the least convincing to get a sale.
To help make this watch more special is the tie-in to Luna Rossa, the world-famous sailing team and winners of the Prada Cup at the America’s Cup. Panerai has released watches with tie-ins to Luna Rossa before and they’ve generally been handsome watches, this one isn’t different. With its clean white sandwich dial and red seconds hand, it screams class. Thankfully there’s no date window to this watch, it really didn’t need it.
Behind this dial is the hand-wound calibre P.6000, it has one spring barrel providing 72 hours of reserve. The beat rate is 3Hz and the watch uses Incabloc shock absorbers to aid it in taking a beating when at sea (or anywhere else). This is all wrapped up nicely in a polished 44mm stainless steel case with Panerai’s signature crown locking device. The case’s water resistance is 100m and it comes with a black rubber strap or a grey “bi-material” strap of rubber and fabric that has a neat red line down it and Luna Rossa text on it.
The price is €5900 and this is limited to 1500 examples.
Visit Panerai here.
