Panerai’s Legendary Dive Watch Now Looks More Sea-Worthy Than Ever

Panerai has produced countless variations of its Luminor, arguably the most recognizable model in the Italian watchmaker’s robust catalog.

The beefy dive watch, a descendant of those produced by Panerai for the Italian Navy in the 1960s, is recognizable for its inclusion of all the major Panerai design hallmarks: a lumed sandwich dial, an oversized cushion case, a small seconds running indicator and an intimidating crown protecting device.

We’ve seen Panerai make Luminors with cases made of steel, titanium, gold, ceramic and carbon fiber, but the brand has never made a version of the watch in bronze. Until now, that is.

Panerai

Panerai patina

It feels like a misprint, but the new Luminor Marina Bronzo marks the first time Panerai has ever made a Luminor with a bronze case. It’s hard to believe it took so long for this pairing to take place, but I’m so glad it did.

Why? Because bronze and the Luminor are perfect for each other. More than any other mainstream watch on the market, the Luminor looks like a piece of vintage diving equipment thanks to all of those design traits I listed in the intro of this article.

And what material screams “vintage diving equipment” more than any other? That’s right, bronze. This new version of the Luminor would fit right in next to an antique bronze diving helmet.

Panerai

Bronze has a high resistance to corrosion from salt water, which is why the material has long been used for oceanic applications like ship fittings. This also makes it ideal for use in a dive watch like the Luminor Marina. Plus, the material has a nice little bonus: Once exposed to oxygen, bronze begins to patina, creating a unique marine-weathered look as the watch ages that perfectly suits the Luminor’s vintage underwater-instrument aesthetic.

Panerai also used its own special bronze alloy, which it calls Bronzo, that uses a purer form of tin (and less of it) in the formula than usual. This gives the material higher structural strength and a greater resistance to wear, as first seen when Panerai first launched the material in 2011 in its Submersible line.

The new Bronzo features the more streamlined, up-specced Luminor Marina design that debuted earlier this year at Watches and Wonders, which includes an improved 500m of water resistance, a thinner 44mm case and the new P.980 automatic movement featuring a three-day power reserve, hacking seconds and a traversing balance bridge for protection against shocks.

Panerai

The dial, of course, is in the Luminor’s usual sandwich style, executed here in a blue fumé style that’s lighter at the center and darkest at the edges. It adds to the vintage feel of the watch, as does the Old Radium color chosen for the Super-LumiNova illuminating the hands and indices.

Pricing and availability

Bronze watches typically cost more than their steel counterparts, and that’s also the case with the Luminor Marina Bronzo (PAM01678), but to an almost absurd degree.

The new watch — which includes two blue straps, one rubber and one calfskin — retails for an eye-popping $17,500. That’s nearly double the price of a stainless steel Luminor Marina with the same movement at $9,200, so while I think the Bronzo version of the watch is perfecto, the price feels a little steep.

Panerai

Panerai Luminor Marina Bronzo PAM01678

Specs

Case Size	44mm
Movement	Panerai Cal. P.980 automatic
Water Resistance	500m

• $17,500 at Panerai

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