Panerai’s New Dive Watch Is Bursting with Advanced Features

Decades before it became a watchmaker, Panerai began making underwater tools for the Italian Navy in the 1910s, registering a patent for its self-illuminating “Radiomir” material in 1916.

Panerai still maintains a relationship with Italy’s Marina Militare, though it’s not the official supplier of critical military tools it once was. Still, that original spirit of innovation lives on today at the brand, as evidenced by the crazy amount of tech packed into Panerai’s latest dive watch, the Submersible GMT PAM01495.

Panerai

How polarizing

Panerai’s style and tricky history have long made it a polarizing brand, but in this watch, the Italian-Swiss watchmaker is leaning into another type of polarization.

The PAM01495 is powered by Panerai’s in-house Calibre P.4001/S movement. First unveiled in 2021, the skeletonized P.4001/S is one of the brand’s most impressive calibres, and arguably one of the most advanced GMT movements you’ll find anywhere.

It boasts a 12-hour GMT complication with an AM/PM indicator, a jumping local hour hand powered by a patented GMT spring, a seconds hand that resets to zero when pulling out the crown, an offset microrotor to keep things thin ‘n’ pretty, and two mainsprings providing three full days of power, tracked by an indicator on the fully exposed rear side of the movement.

Panerai

But what is perhaps most impressive about the P.4001/S, remarkably, is its date complication. The simple date is rarely given a second thought on advanced mechanical movement such as this, but Panerai took the time to develop a patented polarized date window that ensures you only see the date for the current day.

The rest of the date wheel is technically exposed on the skeletonized dial, but it’s transparent when viewed without a polarized lens. Only when viewed through the polarized date window is the date visible, allowing the skeletonization of the rest of the dial to show without being obstructed by an unsightly date disc. It’s the same concept your polarized sunglasses use to reduce glare, and it’s mega cool to see such tech put to use in a dive watch.

The 47mm case of the PAM01495 is also quite innovative. It’s made of titanium, but not in the typical sense. Panerai made the case using a technique similar to 3D printing called Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS).

Panerai

The case begins life as Grade 5 titanium powder before being fused together by a laser. This process allows for more complex case shapes, including cavities on the interior of the case, without compromising structural rigidity. The result is a case that’s 25 percent lighter than a traditional titanium case in the same design would be.

The 500m water-resistant case is corrosion-resistant and has a sandblasted finish, which carries over to the titanium bezel. The bezel insert is in scratch-resistant blue ceramic, with a blue-emission luminous pip to match the blue-glowing minute hand. The other hands and indices all glow with green Super-LumiNova.

Availability and pricing

The polarized date is like a magic trick on your wrist, and the amount of research and engineering required to create it, the rest of the P.4001/S architecture and the DMLS titanium case is enough to make your head spin.

You know what else will make your head spin? The price of this watch. As one of Panerai’s most advanced models, the PAM01495 doesn’t come cheap. It’s priced at a whopping $50,300 and includes two straps, one in blue rubber and a hybrid fabric-rubber strap in black. The watch is a Panerai boutique exclusive.

Panerai

Panerai Submersible GMT PAM01495

Specs

Case Size	47m
Movement	Panerai Cal. P.4001/S automatic GMT
Water Resistance	500m

• $50,300 at Panerai

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