Description

Panerai was the first brand to use Carbotech – a composite material based on carbon fibre – and unveiled its 47mm Luminor Submersible 1950 ref. PAM00616 model in a striking, black mottled case. Although this was back in 2015.

From the brand that claims to be a “laboratory of ideas” (or in a more latin way: Laboratorio di Idee), it is not surprising that Panerai enjoys tinkering with high-tech materials from other industries. After all, since 1900 Officine Panerai consolidated its reputation producing high-tech, water-resistant depth gauges, sights, torpedo launchers, torches, wrist compasses, and eventually watches for the Italian Navy and patented its powerful luminous pastes (Radiomir and Luminor) to give these tools their cutting edge. Given its highly technical, top-secret nature, Officine Panerai was a natural leader in the materials science department.

The charm of Carbotech is that no two cases can ever be the same. It is lighter than ceramic or titanium, not subject to corrosion and hypoallergenic. A composite carbon fibre, Carbotech displays an uneven matte black appearance with the characteristic Damascene-steel or marbled effect. The case, the bezel and the bridge are all made from Carbotech which is produced with thin sheets of carbon fibres compressed at high pressure with a high-end polymer (PEEK), which binds the composite material making it stronger and more durable.

Developed and manufactured in its entirety by Officine Panerai in Neuchâtel, automatic calibre P 9.000 is fitted with two spring barrels, fed in turn by an oscillating weight that rotates in both directions, for a beefy power reserve of 3 days (72 hours). Offering time, date and small seconds, the balance wheel oscillates at 4 Hz (28,800vph). Covered by a screwed-in and blackened titanium caseback, two Italian frogmen commandos are depicted riding a Siluro Corsa Lenta (SLC) a slow speed torpedo used during Italy’s underwater naval missions in WWII.