Panerai’s Submersible resurfaces as a stand-alone line
Less than a year since taking over Officine Panerai, CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué is already making his first moves in re-engineering the brand by carving out the maison’s Luminor Submersible into a new stand-alone Submersible line. This separates Panerai’s novelties into four main collections: the Luminor, the Radiomir, the Due, and now the Submersible. No surprise, then, that the focus of Panerai’s SIHH 2019 was a new collection of Submersibles.
“The Submersible will not be a subsegment of the Luminor any more. All of the Lab d’Idee applications that we have initiated will go towards feeding the development of the Submersible. This line will be the first to benefit in all the priorities for new materials,” says Pontroué, who took over from longtime stalwart Angelo Bonati last April after six years spearheading Roger Dubuis.
With a new creative director coming on board only last month, it will take a little longer for Pontroué to realise any major new designs, so it makes sense for the new CEO to start making his mark by carving out the Submersible, not only to better distinguish it from the other Luminors but also make it his own.
The brand extends its affiliations with African-born Swiss Earth warrior Mike Horn and world champion French freediver Guillaume Néry by dedicating novelties to them. The new Submersible Mike Horn Edition is inspired by the man – and his principles.
More than just a professional diving watch, the 47mm timepiece is built to withstand the extreme conditions Horn usually faces in his adventures, and is also built from Eco-titanium, innovative recycled titanium first introduced into watchmaking by Panerai, as well as recycled PET straps.
There are two versions of the Mike Horn Edition, the PAM984 and PAM985. Both feature a unidirectional rotating bezel, which has a new design compared to the classic Panerai, enabling each dive’s duration to be safely calculated. PAM984 uses green Super-Luminova on the index markers and on the large skeleton hands, set against a black sandwich dial.
The Submersible will not be a subsegment of the Luminor any more
The date counter is at 3 o’clock while a second-hand subdial sits at 9 o’clock, together with the inscriptions “Panerai Submersible” and “Automatic 300m/1000ft” silk-screened on the sapphire crystal. Both editions are powered by the in-house P.9010 automatic calibre with a power reserve of three days.
The most marked difference with the PAM985 is that the latter features blue luminous material used for the indices and the skeleton hands, as well as the seconds sub-dial. This version only comes in a limited edition of 19 pieces.
The icing on the cake is the unique experience of being part of an intensive ocean-saving expedition with Horn to Svalbad, an Arctic archipelago north of Norway, and to sail among the ice floes of the Arctic – if you are lucky enough to get your hands on one of the 19 pieces.
Similarly, the 47mm Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition also comes with two novelties: one in basic titanium and another in black DLC-coated titanium. Made with professional diving in mind, the watches are water-resistant to a depth of about 300 metres. The basic titanium version is fitted with a unidirectional rotating features luminous white markers on a shark-grey textured dial with a seconds subdial at 9 o’clock and an hour one at 3 o’clock.
Engraved on the screw back are Néry’s signature and the depths of his last awe-inspiring record of 126 metres, on a single breath. A precision chronograph with flyback function, the Guillaume Néry Edition is operated by the P.9100 calibre offering a power reserve of three days.
The special edition in black with unique blue-green dial comes in just 15 pieces. Lucky owners will also get a trip of a lifetime to Néry’s home in Mo’orea, in French Polynesia, where they can dive with the freestyle champion and swim with the whales.
Two other 47mm models – the BMG-Tech and Marina Militare Carbotech – are also part of the novelties unveiled at SIHH 2019. Also available are two smaller models of the submersible at 42mm, in stainless steel and carbotech.
We have hundreds of ideas to enrich the Submersible
After last year’s 38mm Luminor Due, Pontroué was also quick to point out that the maison will not be dipping below those figures. “We don’t want to get a smaller family. The 38mm is the smallest for us, and even then it is still a big watch. In product, it’s the shapes. We have hundreds of ideas to enrich the Submersible,” he says.
Panerai also announced a new partnership with America’s Cup challenger Luna Rossa with a special Submersible collection for the team. The brand’s long history with the Italian navy and these collaborations are signs that, under Pontroué’s leadership, the brand’s ties with marine will remain unchanged.
“For jewellery watches, we already have brands like Cartier,” he says. “For us, we have the world of the sea, that is our outdoors. The water has to be the common denominator in what we do.”
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- CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué is making his mark by boosting the brand’s links with daring explorers and adventurers