Panerai is five years into its partnership with Team Luna Rossa, the current holder of the Prada Cup, a companion race to the America’s Cup.
Qualifying for the 2024 America’s Cup, which takes place in Barcelona in 2024, begins this month, and Panerai is looking to get early wind into its sails with the launch of a 1,500 piece special edition of a new Panerai Luminor Luna Rossa in white, grey and red that carries the Luna Rossa name on its dial.
It comes in a 44mm polished steel case with a brushed-finish crown protector that houses a Panerai P.6000 hand-wound movement.
The highly legible watch uses grey SuperLuminova that glows green in the dark.
It is water resistant to 100 meters and is sold with two straps: one in dark gray fabric with a red stripe; a second in black rubber.
As the world’s oldest international sporting event still in operation, the Americas Cup needs very little introduction. The past 22 years have seen a fierce competition between the same four teams based in New Zealand, the United States, Switzerland, and Italy, and it’s of course the Italian team who have partnered with Panerai since 2017. With Panerai’s historic involvement with the Italian navy, it makes sense that they’re well-suited to Italian aquatic pursuits in other areas, and their Luna Rossa collection has grown to include a whopping seven watches. So far the collection has been blacked-out watches with scratchy sailcloth dials to match the high-octane environment of sailing, however the latest reference unveils a brand new simplified look.
For those who view sailing as more of a relaxing hobby, there’s definitely an air of refined adventure that previous models of the Panerai Luna Rossa collection have been a bit too aggressive to fit into. The new Panerai Luminor Luna Rossa brings a classical and elegant air to the collection with a spacious white dial and grey numerals. It’s impossible for it to be boring with the 44mm Luminor case imbued with pure Panerai character, and the pop of red on the petite seconds subdial is exceptionally vibrant.
The Luna Rossa connection can be seen printed below the pinion, as well as along the red stripe of the grey bi-material strap that helps the watch retain a sporty edge. There’s also a rubber strap included in black. Other than that, it’s an incredibly versatile Panerai that a more casual sailing fan could wear in any situation. Powering the Panerai Luminor Luna Rossa is the calibre P.9000, a manually wound movement with a beat rate of 21,600 vibrations per second and a generous three-day power reserve.
