Panerai has a well established relationship with the Italian Navy, or Marina Militare, that stretches more than a century, and has given us some of the brand’s coldest watches and instruments. These creations are generally at the pointy end of the functional stick, but they carry many of the aesthetic hallmarks we associate with the Italian brand, so they are generally large, simple to use, and easy to read. This week, Panerai is building on this relationship with the pair of Marina Militare references, the PAM01697 and PAM01698, and they bring the brand’s modern sensibilities to light in a new, kind of old-school way.
The new references share the same basic architecture, with one being offered in brushed steel, and the other in Panerai’s proprietary Carbotech material. The material, with a name straight out of an ‘80s action flick, is made from compressed carbon fiber sheets along with a PEEK polymer for maximum rigidity. Both use a grey and sage green palette with a level of gradation happening within the dial, paired with green canvas straps. If seeing smaller, polished cases and sunburst dials from Panerai makes you uncomfortable, these are the watches meant to get you back in the door.
Panerai’s core competency has always been tools developed for specific purposes, and that has largely been shaped by their relationship with the Italian military. Historically speaking, at least. In recent decades the brand has become more of a fashion brand, leading the large watch trend and making no apologies along the way. Lately, Panerai has taken further steps to appeal to much broader crowds, further diluting that core strength in some ways. That said, they are still plenty capable of leaning into the tactical instrument realm, and that’s exactly what we find here.
What I find compelling about these newest releases are the treatment of the hands, and the overall color scheme. The large, almost broadsword hands are only really filled in at their tips, with a hollow outline at their base, which is of course lined with lume. It lends to the instrument vibe of the rest of the watch and doesn’t overpower the dial texture in the process. The base dial is somewhat subtle, fading to black at the perimeter, and using a rough texture throughout. The running seconds hand resides at the nine o’clock position, with an anchor motif set within, and this is balanced by a date placement at three o’clock.
These are kind of all purpose military watches, but they bend toward divers in a big way, with 300 meter depth ratings, and chunky bezels with matte ceramic inserts. The design of the bezels, including the inset discs to mark the cardinal points (a feature on all their modern Submersible designs) is a weak part of the design to my eye, and one that brings plenty of tension to the otherwise straightforward design, which is kind of Panerai’s thing. I like that Panerai are pushing their design DNA in different directions, but this execution misses the mark of their historic ethos. But it’s a small detail, and the rest of the watch seems up to snuff by every other metric.
Both of these new watches from Panerai use their automatic P.900 caliber, which is mercifully hidden behind an engraved caseback honoring the Marina Militare relationship. The steel PAM01697 is priced at $12,500, and the Carbotech PAM01698 is priced at $19,500. Both are 44mm. Panerai