Luminor Marina

Luminor and Marina, two names that bring to mind Officine Panerai’s specialist vocation, the construction of watches designed to be worn often, if not continuously, underwater, and for that reason equipped with an extremely luminous dial.   

Created during the Second World War, the Luminor design was a development of the first  professional diver’s model in history, the Radiomir, the watch selected by the Italian Navy  for its underwater commandos from 1938. In contrast with the Radiomir, the Luminor used a luminous material for its dial based on tritium rather than radium, but the greatest and  most substantial difference was the system for making the winding crown water-resistant.  

The Radiomir had a screw-down crown and, since it needed to be unscrewed and screwed up again every time the watch was wound or adjusted, after long use the crown could become worn, running the risk of letting in water. To solve this problem, Panerai designed a completely new device consisting of a lever inserted in a bridge fixed to the case. By moving the lever upwards, the crown was released so that the watch could be wound and the hands adjusted freely; but when the lever was moved down again, it applied pressure to the crown, pushing it against the case itself and compressing the seals to ensure a degree of water-resistance that was otherwise impossible to achieve.   

From then on all the Luminor models had the bridge and lever device which, continuously improved over time, can now protect the watch at depths of up to 300 metres and is capable of withstanding even greater pressures, as is demonstrated by the tests to which every example is subjected.  

The Luminors were originally made with a long die-cut leather strap and the engineers of Officine Panerai have had to work hard to give the new bracelet the special “suppleness” that is characteristic of leather. This objective has been achieved by the particular way in  which the links are shaped; they are asymmetrical and formed with a double-curved  surface, so that they are rounded longitudinally, as well as across. This detail means that the bracelet is not only pleasant to the touch, but also very comfortable to wear, due also to the fact that the width of the links reduces from 24 mm wide at the case to 20 mm wide  at the closure; and, from an aesthetic point of view, it looks like an integral part of the case.   

But there is a further sophistication: the links have a brushed finish, but at the points of contact the steel has been mirror-polished, so as to provide a contrasting finish similar to  that of the caseband and the bezel. The new bracelet does not replace either the previous one or the traditional straps of alligator or rubber; it is easily interchangeable with them,  giving the client a wide choice.  

Contained within its case 44 mm in diameter, the Luminor Marina has the classic Panerai dial, with the large Arabic numerals and hour markers that are exceptionally visible at night. The baton hands are also covered with the luminous material Supernova, as is the leaf hand of the small continuous seconds dial, this dial being positioned at 9 o’clock, as in  the historic Luminor models. The anti-reflective sapphire glass that protects the dial is 3.5 mm thick to withstand great depths.