Panerai Luminor 1950 Submersible 3 Days Automatic – PAM 00305

For a brand apparently addicted to creating identical luxury watches, the Submersible range is something of a departure. Panerai's Luminor 1950 Submersible still has the telltale Luminor case, with that U-shaped diver's crown guard in place (more on that shortly). But it replaces the near-ubiquitous leather strap with some very bulky, tough-looking rubber. And those signature Panerai numerals are gone, replaced with lumed indices at 12 and 6, and pips for the rest.
Panerai is a luxury watch brand that works, perhaps more even than Rolex, on the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' principle. The Paneristi, as its fans like to call themselves, know what they like. And what they like are big, muscular watches with beautiful retro faces, rendered in designs virtually unchanged since they were created for Italian naval personnel in 1936. The only real difference is in the quality and price of the materials that go into the creation of each piece: steel becomes titanium, and an appropriate level of finish denotes that these are no longer simple diver's watches . They are now sought-after accessories for a particular type of man about town.
Look at the fanbase, and you begin to understand the watch. Every Panerai is a pretty massive proposition, which would dwarf the wrist of a 7-stone weakling. But with hardcore fans like Sly Stallone and Jason Statham, the 7-stone weakling is not the target audience at all. These are big watches for big arms, and they make one hell of a style statement with a broad-shouldered suit. You'll find more Panerais in the lockers of expensive Hollywood gyms than you will in the whole of, say, Harvard.
The Panerai Luminor 1950 Submersible 3 Days Automatic is, as the name suggests, a serious diver's watch with a decent power reserve (72 hours). Its 47 mm case is in titanium, with a knurled bezel in which a luminous reference pip is set. Slightly oddly, the bezel also marks the 15- and 45-minute positions, but not with lume. Use this luxury watch in its intended underwater environment, and you won't see those markers. But they do add some symmetry to the watch when it's on the wrist and out of the ocean.
The crown guard is designed to press the crown firmly down when in the locked position, keeping it firmly bedded against its waterproof seals. This has the effect of increasing overall waterproofness as well as protecting the crown from accidental manipulation during dives. The bezel rotates unidirectionally, anti-clockwise, which means it's impossible to accidentally set the dive counter to register that you've been submerged for a shorter time than you really have.
The case is water-resistant to 300 m, as it should be on a serious dive tool, and the glass is sapphire crystal. The dial, which presents a slightly more modern appearance than non-Submersible Panerai models, is black with green lume.
So where does the Luminor 1950 Submersible fit, in the pantheon of Panerai? While it looks to be more modern than the standard Panerai, this is still quite retro for a full-on dive piece. The hefty bezel and sparse dial give this luxury watch a 70s feel, making it seem like the kind of piece a real-life James Bond might have worn on a mission. While the thick rubber strap and titanium buckle bring it bang up to date. It is, in other words, a true slice of retro modernity: and about 40 years closer to the present than your standard PAM.
I love Panerai, and I love this watch. Now all I need are about 1,000 hours in the gym. No pain, no gain…
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Images Credit – Officialwatches.com vedere di piu rolex e Hermes Cape Cod