It’s our first look at a bolder, brighter, more modern take on Panerai’s totemic icon, the Luminor Marina.

For several years now, Panerai has been on a mission to modernise its watch offering: blessed with ultra-recognisable designs in the Radiomir and Luminor families, it has been adding in-house movements (built at a new manufacture, opened in 2017) and experimenting with new materials. You may remember the Lab-Id, a proof-of-concept watch released in 2017, boasting a 50-year guarantee thanks to a whizz-bang frictionless movement. It also had a forged carbon case, black dial and bright-blue luminova numerals.

Now, three years later, that Tron-esque aesthetic has trickled down to the mainstream collection with the launch of PAM01661. This is the sixth watch Panerai has created with its “Carbotech” case material (that’s layers of carbon fibre pressed together with a resin called polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and forged into a solid block, from which the case is milled, science fans), but it’s the first one outside of the Lab-Id that seems to really nail the look and present a thoroughly 21st-century version of the Luminor Marina.

That has a lot to do with the blue luminova we mentioned: black and blue is a very popular colour combination right now (you can probably send some of the credit for this in the direction of Mr George Bamford). This is the first time Panerai has used it on the Luminor line, as well as the first time it has incorporated its time-honoured “sandwich”-style dial construction technique into a Carbotech model. Simply put, that means sandwiching the luminous material between two plates, the upper of which has the hour markers and numerals stencilled out of it. It improves luminous performance, as the strength of the glow is relative to the thickness of the material; most luminova on watch dials is painted on whereas this is a whole, solid slice of the stuff. It also adds depth and texture to the dial in a manner that Panerai has made its own for decades. 

That carbon case has other advantages beyond its looks, too: it’s light, meaning that you can rock a 44mm Panerai that weighs just 96 grams. It’s powered by the in-house P.9010 calibre, with a three-day power reserve, and as you’d expect from a watch rooted in diving history, it has 300m water-resistance.

Panerai Luminor Marina Carbotech PAM01661

Materials: Carbotech case with titanium back; textile strap

Diameter: 44mm

Height: 14.5mm

Water-resistance: 300m

Power reserve: 72 hours

Price: £11,100