Officine Panerai introduces a brand new material at SIHH 2015: Carbotech. A composite material based on carbon fibre, never before used in the world of watchmaking. As well as providing exceptional technical performance, carbotech has an uneven, matt black appearance, which varies according the cutting of the material: the result is that each example is unique. It makes its debut with the Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Carbotech 3 Days PAM 616.
The structure of carbotech is designed to enhance both the aesthetics and the performance of the material, which is used to make the case, the rotating bezel and the lever bridge which protects the winding crown. To form the plates of carbotech from which these components are made, thin sheets of carbon fibres are compressed at a controlled temperature under high pressure together with a high-end polymer, PEEK (Polyether Ether Ketone), which binds the composite material, making it even stronger and more durable. The carbon fibres used are very long, so as to ensure great aesthetic uniformity, and the sheets are superimposed and pressed together in such a way that the fibres of each layer are set at a different angle to the ones above and below it. With this structure, the mechanical properties of carbotech are much higher than those of similar materials or of other materials used in the world of watchmaking, such as ceramics and titanium: carbotech is lighter than these and much more resistant to external solicitations, as well as being hypoallergenic and not subject to corrosion.
The dial of the new Luminor Submersible 1950 CarbotechTM is black with applied hour markers, the date window is at three o’clock and the small seconds counter marked by Panerai blue details is at nine o’clock.
The PAM 616: Luminor 1950 Submersible Carbotech
The screw in caseback, which helps to ensure the watch’s high degree of water-resistance, is made of titanium with black treatment and it is engraved with elements characteristic of the Panerai brand: “Florence 1860”, the city and year of birth of Panerai watchmaking, and the image of a Slow Speed Torpedo (SLC), the notorious “pig” on which in the 1940s the commandos of the Italian Navy sailed through the depths of the sea on their missions while wearing instruments made by Panerai.
The Torpedo: Caseback featuring the SLC aka the PIG
The technological heart of the Luminor Submersible 1950 CarbotechTM is the P.9000 automatic calibre, developed and made by the Officine Panerai manufacture in Neuchâtel. The movement, 13¾ lignes in diameter, has two spring barrels giving a power reserve of three days, and the oscillating weight rotates in both directions. To ensure accuracy when setting the time, the movement has the device which stops the balance wheel while the hour hand moves forward or backward in increments of one hour, without interfering with the progress of the minute hand. The oscillation frequency of the balance is 28,800 vibrations per hour.
Identified by the reference PAM00616, the new Luminor Submersible 1950 CarbotechTM is fitted with a black rubber strap, personalised for the first time by the OP logo in Panerai blue.
First Time: First Carbotech case and first time the OP logo appears in blue on a strap
Specifications from Press Release
MOVEMENT:
Automatic mechanical, P.9000 calibre, executed entirely by Panerai.
FUNCTIONS: Hours, minutes, smallseconds, date, calculation of immersion time.
POWER RESERVE: 72 Hours
CASE:
47 mm, made of carbotech Caseback: Titanium
WATER-RESISTANCE: 30 bar (~300 metres)..
DIAL:
Black with applied luminous dots and
Arabic numerals. Date at 3 o’clock, seconds at 9 o’clock.
