Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID PAM01800 Watch Review
The Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID perpetuates the watch brand’s reputation for crafting divers’ watches that confer an extraordinary degree of dial luminescence. However, set aside any notion of tradition, this latest watch overflows with tech. Mark McArthur-Christie takes you on a journey of discovery as he explains the mechanical ingenuity of the P.9010/EL caliber and the Italian-Swiss firm’s use of space-age case materials.
Panerai watch
When you think of Panerai, what springs to mind? For most collectors, the first two things are ‘Jeez, that’s huge!’ and ‘Lume. HOW MUCH lume!?’ Hardly surprising, given the firm started out making no-nonsense diving watches. Underwater, where keeping track of how long you’ve been down matters very much indeed, a watch the size of a saucer with bright hands and numbers is just what you want. Forget fussy little 40 mm things, you need a serious bit of kit you can see.
But it’s not just watches that need to glow in the dark. Any measuring instrument from a ship’s clock to a gunnery range scale depends on clear, low-visibility legibility. And when things either can’t use a separate power source to generate light because they’re too small or just too complicated, you need a self-generating light source.
Panerai – a history of making lumetastic watches
Thanks to Mr & Mrs Curie discovering radium’s properties in 1898, Panerai was able to come up with a self-illuminating compound – Radiomir – that was a heady mix of radium bromide, zinc sulphide, and mesothorium. No wonder it glowed in the dark – it was kicking out enough radiation to wilt household plants at 50 yards. Bright as heck but you really wouldn’t want it on your chips. As the dangers of radioactivity became clearer, the firm moved, in 1949, to using the Tritium-based ‘Luminor’ compound. Still radioactive and bright, but at least it didn’t make your jaw fall off. Ever since, Panerai has become known for producing distinctly lumetastic watches.
Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID – case dimensions
But this new Submersible, with its clever lighting tech, is a bold move even for traditionally heavy-on-the-grr-factor Panerai. For a start, the new Elux’s case is 49 mm wide. That’s the sort of diameter normally reserved for things that say ‘Wedgwood’ when you turn them over. Near as spit, it’s 22 mm thick. Duplicate the case depth by sellotaping a stack of nine £2 coins to your wrist.
Panerai has form for this sort of thing, mind. The Lab-ID Luminor 1950 Carbotech ran a 49 mm case diameter and it generated a lot of positive comments, so for hardcore Paneristi, the size probably isn’t going to be an issue.
But the remarkable thing about this watch isn’t its size, it’s the lighting tech it uses to become visible in the dark. Again, as we’ve seen, this is something the firm knows a bit about – and not just from its archive watches. The LAB-ID from 2017 used a deep black dial covered with carbon nanotubes. These were developed to absorb light and reduce reflection to a minimum, to point up the contrast with the blue hour markers and hands. Three years later, the LAB-ID Luminor PAM01700 turned up with a dial and hands using a new generation of Super-LumiNova; Super-LumiNova X1 that’s bright enough to get squirrels out of hibernation.
Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID – new lume system
This new lume system is completely different (although the watch does still feature even-brighter-than-XI SuperLuminova X2 as a backup) because it doesn’t take and store light to emit later, it converts mechanical energy into electricity and thus light. In other words, the movement and its lighting system are both powered by clockwork. So – and forgive the heresy – a little like the wind-up radios masterminded by inventor Trevor Baylis, but a great deal smaller and a lot more sophisticated.
Panerai P.9010/EL caliber
The movement – the P.9010/EL – has six mainspring barrels as part of its 363 components. Two of them look after powering the movement to 28,800 vph (4 Hz). The remaining four barrels run the light display. As you’d expect with a case this size and so many barrels, it’s a beast of a movement. It’s 13 3/4 lignes (so about 31 mm across) and a whopping 10.80 mm thick, so only 2 mm thinner than an entire Datejust, case and all. But if you’ve got more barrels than Hook Norton Brewery you need somewhere for them to go.
I’ve not managed to get a proper look at the movement yet, so can’t comment on finishing, design or materials, but I do know that it hacks, has 55 jewels and Incabloc protection. And did I mention the six barrels?
The four lighting barrels are designed to act as what Panerai calls a ‘microgenerator’ to convert torque into electricity. The microgenerator measures 8 x 2.3 mm and uses a clever combination of coils, magnets and a minute (small, not 60 second) stator (the wire-wrapped spinny thing you find in an electric motor) rotating at 4,800 rpm.
This energy then powers lighting for the dial, including its own lighting power reserve indicator, and indexes. So far, so clever. But the generator also powers lighting for the hands and the bezel marker at noon. Bear in mind the bezel sits outside the case body and you realise quite how neat this is – even neater to do it whilst delivering 500 m of water resistance.
Those four barrels will keep everything looking all Blackpool for 30 minutes. Even then, the firm has thoughtfully coated anything that moves in Super-LumiNova X2 so you still won’t struggle to see the time in the dark. In fact, just throw your torch away and use your watch to light the way when you take your dog out for its last walk at night.
So how do you turn it all on? Simple. See that shrouded, hinged button on the caseside at 8 o’clock? It pivots at the top revealing a blue button that matches the dial writing, power reserve and second hand. Just give it a push and enjoy the show.
Even given two-thirds of the watch’s barrels are dedicated to powering the lighting circuits, the movement will still run for three days without fuss or winding.
Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID – Ti-Ceramitech™ case
After all that, Panerai isn’t about to plonk its new movement in any old case and call the job done. They’ve used the appropriately exotic Ti-Ceramitech™ (that’s titanium with a ceramic coating to you and me). The board is watching the office letterbox as there’s yet another patent pending for the tech in the Elux.
The ceramic gets on the titanium substrate thanks to plasma electrolytic oxidation, which is posh anodising that coats the titanium in thick layers of ceramic. The technique gives the watch an appropriately Charles Atlas level of hardness, despite being 44% lighter than steel. It also has a fracture toughness ten times higher than traditional ceramic.
Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID – dial
The dial and hands are large – and clear – enough that you’ll be getting thank-you letters from the occupants of the ISS. If you look closely, you’ll see that although the hour and minute hands are both illuminated, the minute hand picks up an edge of blue from the sub-seconds dial.
Yet in normal daylight, you’d not know that this was one of the most technologically interesting watches to hit the market this year. Sure, it’s mahoosive, but the design is clean, clear and legible. It’s only when you hit the button on the side that the tech shows itself. I’m not quite sure how, but this 49 mm watch manages to be unobtrusive.
Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID – closing remarks
For final cool points, as if it needed them, Elux has been around since 1966 and has seen plenty of military action. In fact, Elux panels have been used to make luminous pathways and signage for helicopter landing on the decks of military ships in the Italian Navy, very useful for night landings or when visibility is poor. Beat that for pub boasting facts.
Panerai is only releasing 50 of these a year over three years and they’ll be £76,800 (RRP as of 22.6.2024). We can see the first year’s production run selling out very quickly indeed. At least if your dealer has one in stock, you won’t struggle to see it in the window.
Further reading
Technical specifications
- Model: Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID PAM01800
- Case: blue Ti-Ceramitech™ case, diameter 49 mm, height 21.9 mm, water resistance 50 ATM (500m), sapphire crystal to the front, screw Ti-Ceramitech™ case-back.
- Functions: hours, Minutes, Small Seconds, Power Light function, Linear Power light reserve indicator, calculation of immersion time, stop-seconds for precise time setting.
- Movement: P.9010/EL caliber, self-winding movement, frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 55 jewels, power reserve 3 days for time indication and 30 minutes for on-demand Power Light Function.
- Strap: blue rubber bracelet, STD, 26/22 Trapezoidal Titanium pin buckle.
- Price: £76,800 (RRP as of 22.6.2024)