Officine Panerai has expanded its portfolio of timepieces, all of which originate from the robust, utilitarian models the Florentine company produced for Italian naval divers in the 1940s, to encompass a wide variety of complications, colorways, sizes, and case materials since its revival as a consumer brand in the early 1990s. The perpetual calendar, one of the most horologically ambitious complications, has been missing from Panerai’s regular range.
Panerai just launched a perpetual calendar version of their flagship Luminor model, and as one would anticipate, it’s remarkably different in form and functionality while being unmistakably Panerai in execution.
The Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar Goldtech (PAM00742) is one of two new timepieces outfitted with the Panerai P.4100 movement, a self-winding mechanical caliber designed at Panerai’s Laboratorio di Idee in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
The 44-mm case is made of Panerai’s own Goldtech alloy and includes the famous cushion form as well as the revolutionary Safety Lock crown protection technology, which contributes to the watch’s 50-meter water resistance.
The gold tones of the case and hands contrast with the sun-brushed blue “sandwich” dial, which is minimalist and eminently legible in its layout despite the multiple functions enabled by the perpetual calendar movement: hours and minutes, plus a GMT hand in the center; the day and date in a double window at 3 o’clock; and a combined small seconds/day-night indicator at 9 o’clock.
While the primary calendar indicators are reduced to a minimum on the dial, they are elegantly displayed on the reverse side of Caliber P.4100, which is viewable via a glass window in the caseback. The month, year, and leap year status, as well as the remaining power reserve, are all delicately depicted on the movement, which also has an off-center gold micro-rotor that winds the mainspring in two barrels for up to three days of power reserve.
The mechanism, which also reflects Panerai’s user-friendly approach to watchmaking, permits adjustments to the day, date, month, and year straight via the crown — no tools or correctors required — even at the end of a month or just before midnight. This caliber, like the rest of Panerai in-house calibers, has a stop-seconds reset mechanism and a device to halt the balancing wheel.
The Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar Goldtech comes with two deep blue bands, one in alligator leather with ecru embroidery and the other in rubber, both with brushed Goldtech trapezoidal buckles to match the case. A screwdriver is also supplied for removing the buckle and changing the strap.
