Palms-On: Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID PAM01800 Watch With Electrical Illumination

I take again my phrases that the fashionable luxurious watch business doesn’t make idea merchandise anymore. Idea merchandise are functionally and technically fascinating objects that discover new concepts however aren’t precisely meant for mainstream attraction. Whereas Panerai is making 150 examples of the reference PAM01800 Submersible Elux LAB-ID timepiece, this very a lot is a useful idea watch. It really works alright, and it positive is enjoyable, however this unusual and really massive timepiece feels extra like a real-world film prop than a software — which, on this $100,000-plus kind — somebody would possibly use in any kind of harmful real-world state of affairs. That’s a part of why a timepiece like that is a lot enjoyable to put in writing about: as a result of “they” made it, even whether it is arduous to think about what its pool of consumers seems like.

Fortunately, we lined the Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch intimately, else it could be very troublesome to glean from Panerai’s web site what the timepiece is all about. A product like this requires an unlimited clarification and there may be solely a skeletal product web page on Panerai devoted to the PAM01800. In our information article, you may be taught extra about what “Elux” meant to Panerai traditionally, and a bit extra of the technical particulars on how this product accommodates each a mechanical automated motion and a micro-generator designed to create sufficient battery cost to energy the backlight for as much as half-hour when absolutely charged.

Panerai isn’t the primary firm to mix an digital backlight system with a base mechanical motion, neither is it the primary to cost some huge cash to take action. Our information article concerning the Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID hyperlinks to our hands-on articles with a number of watches from Louis Vuitton and HYT which carry out comparable options and use an on-demand digital system to create a backlight to learn the time. Panerai does so in a very slick method the place hidden LED lights trigger the hour markers and palms to glow. It even managed to incorporate a light-weight on the 60-minute marker on the uni-directionally rotating diver’s type bezel. The impact works fairly effectively total, even when Panerai doesn’t appear to have created an answer to any critical utility or engineering challenges. I say this as a result of for those who want such a tool in your wrist (i.e. an analog watch with backlighting) in the true world, you may have loads of inexpensive choices from corporations like Casio and Timex. Even for those who want a deep-diving watch with an analog backlight, you may have choices. I suppose, for those who actually wish to cut up hairs, you’ll give Panerai credit score for creating the primary conventional mechanical diver’s watch with such a backlight system, however I’m undecided there are various purposes the place a watch like that is the one resolution to a diver’s visibility downside.

The Elux “Energy Gentle” system works reasonably merely. Contained in the watch, the motion has six mainspring barrels, 4 of that are devoted to energy era for the electrical backlight. As soon as absolutely wound, this technique will provide as much as half-hour of steady backlighting. There may be even a backlight energy reserve indicator for the battery cost over the 6 o’clock hour indicator. Presumably, to extend the cost you simply have to wind the crown in a specific course. On the left of the case is a security latch over the button that turns the Elux Energy Gentle on or off. Most wristwatch backlights solely stay on for just a few seconds, so the truth that this mild can keep on so long as you want (or till the facility wears out) makes it considerably distinctive. I have to admit it’s enjoyable to have the backlight on on a regular basis because it helps carry visible consideration to the dial, and who doesn’t like glowing palms and markers?

The motion contained in the Submersible Elux LAB-ID is the in-house Panerai P.9010/EL. The bottom motion is a Panerai staple, operates at 4Hz with 72 hours of energy reserve, and has automated winding. Being a Submersible type watch, the dial is comparatively clear, providing solely the time with subsidiary seconds at 9 o’clock. The thickness of the dial in addition to that of the general case will be attributed to the necessity for all the additional components such because the digital system, and the flexibility to feed mild/energy to varied areas. However, the watch remains to be very massive and is 49mm large. I didn’t have an opportunity to measure the thickness, however you may see within the photographs that it’s in all probability near 20mm. The watch isn’t designed to be any bigger than is important, however given what Panerai was making an attempt to engineer into the case, dial, and bezel, the general package deal merely wanted to be this huge. That makes it appear like a novelty watch when worn until you may have very massive wrists (or are sporting a really cumbersome wetsuit).

The Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID’s case tries to be as mild as potential being constructed from largely titanium and being water-proof to 500 meters. Little bare titanium will be seen save for the bezel. As a substitute, a lot of the case has been coated with a bluish ceramic materials. Panerai calls this “Ti-Ceramitech” and it appears much like a Cerakote coating, however considerably totally different. Panerai claims that the Ti-Ceramitech may be very scratch-resistant. Which may be so, however numerous issues scratch off on it. The granular floor texture of the Ti-Ceramitech is much like sandpaper – which implies that issues rub off on it fairly simply. So even when the case itself isn’t scratching, it does seem to want cleansing regularly. I perceive that Panerai wished to make this watch light-weight, sturdy, and in addition a bit totally different as there are various different massive titanium watches in the marketplace. Choosing this grayish-blue remedy colour permits the Submersible ELUX LAB-ID to really feel distinctive, they usually haven’t even restricted it to simply this watch. You will get the identical Ti-Ceramitech case materials on a few of Panerai’s Submersible Quaranta Quattro (44) Luna Rossa watches (for appreciably much less cash too regardless that they’re nonetheless high-end diver’s type watches).

As a enjoyable novelty product, the PAM01800 may be very cool and is simple to grasp and revel in by novices – as a result of who doesn’t perceive a light-weight? As an engineering problem, you may see that Panerai’s designs want to beat actual points that made it arduous for the watch to be sufficiently small, water-proof sufficient, and fairly sufficient. They had been capable of efficiently insert a brand new system into an present watch household – leading to a concept-style watch that’s each acquainted in addition to totally different. It’s not nonetheless sensible or groundbreaking, and the very excessive value level will restrict possession of a Panerai watch like this to the only a few. It might be cheaper to buy a roughly $10,000 – $15,000 Panerai Submersible and carry a UV torch in your pocket to cost up the Tremendous-LumiNova at your whim. In reality, the Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch dial has Tremendous-LumiNova on the dial, which the backlight evenly fees and stays glowing when the Elux Energy Gentle system is turned off.

Hooked up to the PAM01800 is an identical blue-gray rubber strap that enables the watch to be worn comparatively comfortably. The sheer dimension and value audacity of the Submersible Elux LAB-ID make you smile to see it, however maybe not essentially lust for proudly owning it as a tasteful timepiece possibility. For very well-funded “huge children,” this real-life idea watch goes to be a deal with to put on and exhibit to their timepiece buddies. Since our information article about this PAM01800 watch earlier in 2024, the value has truly went up. The present value for the restricted version of 150 items Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch is $100,500 USD. For extra data, please go to the Panerai web site.