Test: Officine Panerai Luminor Marina

[Seadweller4000]

After its resurrection in 1993 when Officine Panerai started selling watches to the italian public, the brand experienced an unbelievable success. Especially after joining the Richemont group and becoming an international selling watch manufacture, Panerai is really running wild on the global market.

It’s most distinctive locomotive, is probably the Luminor Marina with its famous half moon bridge over the crown. Belonging to Panerai’s classic collection, it is an homage to diving watches that were produced for the Italian and Egyptian Navy Frogmen in the early 1940’s. Actually, the origin Panerai wristwatch didn’t come with this crownguard feature. It was designed for the Italian Navy in 1936 by a small Italian company called “Guido Panerai & Figlio”, that later turned out as Officine (which means “workshop”) Panerai.

The first watches handed out to the Italian admiralty were oversized Radiomir cushion cased watches with Rolex movements fitted in. But I don’t think it is necessary to retell the brands military past here, as it would give me enough content to fill another test and it has been told more than once, already.

Just this: the brands role as a pioneer is an important one for the ongoing trend of large wristwatches. So when the first Pams hit the market outside of Italy, people were discussing these “tuna-cans”. But soon the advantages of large wristwatches were highly appreciated. A large dial together with a simple design make the instrument readout surprisingly easy – an ability on which military units rely on since mechanical watches are in use. And this is the origin of Officine Panerai.

It is hard to describe what makes this watch so special. Most important factor might be the reduction to pure simplicity. The large matte black dial has lots of open spaces. There are two different versions of this dial, one consists of two parts, a bottom plate which is covered by a thick lay of superluminova and a top plate that has the indexes and numerals cut out. Together they create a 3 dimensional appearance and are a pleasure to look at. This is called “sandwich-dial”. The other style is even more simplistic, it has the superluminova carefully put on top of the surface (“sausage-dial”).

(Picture courtesy of Slai)

The hands are well proportioned and the minute hand can be distinguished from the hour and at a glance.

The second hand is running at nine o’ clock, a feature that has its origin from a time when pocketwatch-movements were put into wristwatch cases. On the Luminor Base series, the display is reduced to minute and hour hand, which makes the watch even more puristic.

(Picture courtesy of V)

Over it all domes a single side glareproof sapphire crystal that almost perfectly aligns with the polished bezel. The whole case is polished, by the way, which makes the rather chunky cushion shape much more elegant. Only the distinctive crownguard is brushed on this particular model, giving a nice contrast.

The genuine uses an OP XI movement, a handwound movement that is basically a decorated and modified ETA 6497. The rather functional-looking original bridge has been reshaped to give it an elegant curve. The word "Panerai" is engraved many times across the surface of the movement. This is an unusual and welcome alternative to the Geneva Waves and cloud-pattern decorations that have became an almost standard combination on movements inside other luxury brands’ watches.

The edges of the bridges are beveled and polished. For several years, Panerai has replaced Unitas’ standard index assembly with a swan’s neck fine regulating system of its own.

It is not easy especially for watchmaniacs like us to justify 3.5k Euro for a watch that uses basically a pimped ETA Unitas 6497, though. Still, it is a pleasure to view the beautiful decorated movement through the transparent pane of sapphire crystal in the back, which screws "Oyster style" into the Luminor’s case. This detail too is an innovation in which the watch departs from its historical predecessor.

It is not a diving watch, though, as it is lacking of a diver-bezel and a dive-able strap. But it is pressure-resistant up to 30ATM. This is a very good rate for a non divers’ watch, in fact one of the best out there. And it is more than that. In fact, it is really a cult watch.

How good is the replica?

I got this watch from an American member in an unbeatable trade. The modder does not work on replicas anymore and wants to stay anonymous. I will respect this and not mention him.

Like on almost every watch, it consists of 3 parts: bezel, caseback and body. Last mentioned is polished and looks visually indistinguishable from the gen – at least to me.

I apologize to any Paneristi that might be offended by this statement, but you can believe me, I made my research on this watch and it was really hard to find a real “flaw”. I mean one like on a “sub case” with a wrong rehaut for example. The dimensions on the paper are correct anyway. As the bezel is not marked it is really not so distinctive, and easy to copy.

The caseback has all correct engravings (if you’re puzzled about the meaning of the letters and numbers, here’s the answer, reading from top bottom: the ID-number of the case, the serial number, the number in the annual production and the maximal pressure resistance) and of course in its middle is the sapphire that gives view to the discontinued asian 6497 E-series movement. It is carefully engraved, unlike earlier versions on which the decoration was glued to and it has a dagger swanneck regulator. Some might say it is probably the best Panerai movement-clone ever made and certainly the most beautiful I ever owned, but still, an expert would be able to call it out instantly by the depth/finish of the engraving and the swanneck regulator.

I asked my friend to remove the caseback so I can take a shot of it without the sapphire in its full beauty. Let me tell you that he was impressed by the attention to the detail and the finish of an Asian Unitas. He would have never believed me they were that good already. It is clean and oiled btw.

Note that it really changes in appearance from different angles.

We placed it on his cool Witschi Chronoscope, the same machine Watchtime tests with, too. He is pretty proud of this thing so I thought it is nice to mention it.

The running results are really nice as well, please keep in mind that this watch never had been really regulated on a professional level.

Usually, you can identify a replica easily by the crownguard with its lever: the lever feels wobbly and does not press in the crown as tight as a genuine would do. Honestly, we had real trouble spotting a difference to a genuine Pam on the “legendary” GTG in Brussels. The lever sits really tight in the half moon shaped guard, but unfortunately not as centered like on a gen.

The pin that holds it in its place has been refinished and flattened to align with the guard.

The lever itself has been modified, too. It was shaped to fit the thicker crown and for a more gen like appearance.

The crown is pressed so tight into the seal inside the case, that it is really hard to turn it while locked. It is 2mm thick and 9.5mm in diameter (As I don’t have a slide gauge right now, it is rather hard to measure it EXACT. I will try to get the real dimensions of it for you, soon).

It winds comfortable between thumb and indexfinger, I usually charge the movement every morning even though the power-reserve would allow a longer time-period.

Together with the sealed caseback it gives this watch an ensured pressure-resistance at least up to 5ATM/5Bar, as the leak-checker proves.

Probably the most work on this custom built timepiece was spent on the dial. I am glad for this, as the dial is the most distinctive part on any wristwatch in my opinion.

The font was made ivory in a magic potion.

I have no idea, what was used to give the dial font a more ivory look, but it works! It looks so much nicer than the bright white standard rep font.

The indexes were carefully filled up with a Tritec superlume mix to meet a genuine sausage-dial luminosity. The advantage of this is of course the superb clearness over an out-of-the box replica sausage dial.

The disadvantage is that a sausage dial should have a L SWISS L under the six-numeral, this has of course a L SWISS MADE L, like on any sandwich dial. This is plain wrong, a glaring flaw even Paneristi usually do not know of.

I would never try to pass a replica as a gen anyway, as it is bad style in my opinion. And even worse, it ruins our hobby!

It is easily the best lume on all of my watches. It glows so bright you can read a book with it in the dark and I don’t exaggerate here. When coming out of the sun it already starts glowing in daylight. (Sorry, I suck at lumeshots!)

This one’s a lot nicer but not taken by me, I’m afraid. The watch, however, is the same…

Same goes for the hands which were lumed on par with the indexes. Especially the small second hand makes it easy to check if the watch is running in the dark, a nice feature on a hand wound watch. With no minute-scale, it is kinda hard to read out the exact minute or even second though. I think this is a tribute to the rather relaxed Italian lifestyle, where a minute or two don’t matter. I really like this attitude, by the way.

The hour and minute hand were shaped at the pinholes to sit better on the cannon pinion, which – of course – has been modified as well.

It is basically a high cannon pin that has been sanded down to align perfectly with the upper hand.

Over it all domes a single side glareproofed crystal with a light blue tint. Like on the gens it has more reflections, than a fully AR treated Breitling crystal, but in my opinion this is another tribute to the historic origin of the Luminor Marina series. This is why I won’t have it treated with K2222’s famous AR. I DO NOT RECOMMEND K2222 ANYMORE.

The watch came on a hand made dark brown thick leather strap, which was treated with olive oil. This treatment gave it a really smooth feel and a vintage look.

One nice thing on the luminor series is the idiot friendly strap system, you just have to unscrew the bar at the lughorns and you can change the strap. Even a sissy gen owner can do this… And naturally, gen owners are not as much into DIY as we are on the darker side.

However, the strap fits this watch perfectly and it is the right combo to wear at the Indianer Jones 4 preview. It looks sturdy, elegant and stylish at the same time. The polished case gives a flashy touch, but the brushed bulky crownguard with the vintage leather make it look tough enough to beat up some Nazis or Ebay-Scammers.

Looking at it right now, feeling the attention to the detail and of course all the work and time that were obviously spent in it, makes me somewhat proud to own it. Of course it has flaws, it is not genuine. But I enjoy wearing it in the sun, grin at the L SWISS MADE L, knowing it is a custom built one out of a few. And it will always glow for me when I take another walk on the dark side… This is our game and I love it.

Have a very nice day!

[phaedo]

Awesome review! You are really setting the bar for reviews at the moment, the great ones just keep coming from you! Keep up the great work.

[Sir-Lancelot]

That was an amazing review, but yours always are. Gold star and a Zing for you my friend!

You are a true asset to this forum and I would like to thank you for taking your time to share this with me.

As for your time piece.........beautiful. I wish it were mine. You should be proud.

Wear it well.

[rolli]

great review.

my watchmaker did the same work for me.

it's always to see with pleasure how it goes.

rolli

[Toadtorrent]

Awesome again. Another inspiring review!!!

I love how you show the work being done in progress so we can validate how things are done...you read about mods, but it's nice to see them photographed and documented.

Thanks for the great read. I almost missed my plane to finish reading this!!

[sssurfer]

Hoping not to be too boring: Awesome review!

It absolutely lets your enthusiasm about the matter perspire.

[dluddy]

Fantastic Review SD

Thanks for taking the time to make such a valuable contribution to the forum

[k2222]

i can't imagine how SD4K is doing it, this is writing amazing style, i never seen anything like that before, even in gen. catalouges or forums. Briliant work!

[Stephane]

One more incredible review/test.

As someone said, you put the bar so high, I doubt it will ever be reached

SD, you must be joking ...come on, tell us.

You lie to us: you are working for a professional magazine and you are a watchmaker in fact, aren't you ?

Anyway, I learned a lot in this test, like in your previous ones, and can't wait for your next one

Congrats and many thanks

Cheers

Stephane

[V]

Yeap.. Amazing review... Thanks

[Star69]

cool review !!

thanks a lot !

if you have a steady hand - i would even try to repaint the L SWISS L -

hope to see the watch soon

cheers,

Frank

[robertk]

Great review!

[Watchmeister]

Fabulous review.

[TeeJay]

Absolutely awesome review

BTW, La Dolce Vita is one of my favorite films

[Tom Hawkes]

"However, the strap fits this watch perfectly and it is the right combo to wear at the Indianer Jones 4 preview."

This is exactly what I was thinking. If Indy had to choose a watch it would be a nice handwound PAM on a rugged thick leather strap..

[lazarini]

Wohooooo smoking good

great work my friend !

Laz

[Rolexman]

Man you're on a roll.... Seawolf and now the 111? Great job. Really good read and crisp pictures.

[Cats]

Incredible what a great review.

Keep them coming it was fun to read it.

Carpe Diem

Cats

[P4GTR]

What a priceless review. Its so enjoyable to read.

Forum names start to stand out with threads/posts like this. You find then that you gravitate towards their posts to see what they have to say. So, I look forward to coming back for more SD.

What a beautiful watch it is too, dare I say the watch speaks for itself.

It actually does speak volumes, through your apparent affection of it.

I'd say you deserve a gen for that review, but you don't need it!

[pubus]

111h was my first replica... Its still my daily beater and still looks same way It did 2 years ago

fantastic review many well known pictures as well as many new (stunning straight movement shot!!!)

if its still on, I vote for this one to be the Post of the Month Award

Cheers

[fishgodeep]

Time well spent on the watch and the review ...both are excellent!!

[promotersf]

Wow, it's moments and contributions like this that remind me why I love RWG more than any other forum. Our members are true watch enthusiasts and we have a real passion for watches. Anyone can join a Rolex, Breitling, Panerai, etc forum(I have, and go often to check on things), but to me RWG is home. This is where my enjoyment of watches comes full tilt.

Thanks for the wonderful contribution!

[Seadweller4000]

Wow, I am overwhelmed. So many nice replies!

Thank you all!

[rocky78]

Awesome review, just Awesome! And superb 111!

Thank You SD!

[FxrAndy]

Bravo Ken Bravo!