At the annual SIHH 2013 trade show, the Italians officially introduced their Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic Titanium PAM 389 “diver.”
Despite being their first attempt at making a timekeeper possessing anti-magnetic properties, the new member of the Luminor Submersible collection offers an impressive level of resistance to magnetic fields of whole 40,000 A/m.
The feat becomes possible thanks to the special structure of its body that features a lightweight titanium “hull” with an internal “Faraday cage” made of purified soft iron.
The cage protects the in-house Panerai P.9000 automatic caliber from magnetic fields emitted by your fridge, the engine of your car, and even that fancy new iPad that you are holding in your hand at this very moment.
Since the cage completely envelops the caliber, the watch comes with a solid case back that won’t let you admire the nicely crafted and decorated mechanism. To sweeten the pill, the Italian watchmaker equipped the watch with a new unidirectional rotating diving bezel that features a scratch-resistant ceramic inlay.
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The opaque black part with its rivet-style minute markers nicely matches the brushed surface of the titanium body making it one of the most desirable diving watches to soon arrive on the market.
Rated for 30ATM, the watch not only comes with its signature screw-in setting crown with a rugged-looking crown protector, but also features lots of lume on the dial.
It covers not only the stick-shaped hour markers and open-worked hour and minute hands but is also applied to the small seconds indicator. Placed at the usual position at 9 o’clock, it is partly counterweighted by a small date window at 3 hours.
Measuring a whole 47 millimeters in width, the PAM 389 is not for an average office worker. However, it will be just right for a guy knowing a thing or two about free weights workouts.
The watch will go on sale later next year at a recommended price of €8900.
Frankly, I can’t tell you anything about the price in dollars: it looks like the world is again entering yet another stage of competitive devaluation, aka “currency war”, so it may cost as low as $10,500 and as high as $14,000. Only time will tell.*
UPDATE ON PRICE IN USD:
At this time, the watch has an MSRP of $12,400, which is expensive per se but is more or less in the same ballpark as other recently introduced Panerais three-handers powered by in-house calibers. Also, I am sure that there will be good discounts on these timekeepers that will make them even more attractive.
WWR’s Final Rating
Originality 3/5
Versatility: 4/5
Build Quality: 4.5/5
Ergonomics: 4.5/5
Overall Legibility: 5/5
Nighttime Legibility: 5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
See also: Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Bronze PAM 382
Photos: Panerai
Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Amagnetic Titanium PAM 389 specification
Price: €8900 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, Caliber Panerai P.9000, in-house, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 28
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 72 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date
Case and Crown: Titanium, brushed
Bezel: Titanium, polished, with opaque black ceramic insert
Shape: Cushion
Bezel shape: Round
Size: 47.00 mm
Case height: 15.50 mm
Crystal: Sapphire, anti-reflective
Back: Solid
Dial: Black
Hour markers: Luminous
Hands: Open-worked, luminous
Water resistance: 300 meters
Strap: Black rubber strap with titanium buckle. The strap comes with a second interchangeable strap, and a tool to change the strap and a steel screwdriver