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# Panerai Releases A 42mm Fully Specced Luminor, Their Most Important Watch In Decades
- URL: https://www.itsabouttime.email/panerai-releases-a-42mm-fully-specced-luminor-their-most-important-watch-in-decades/
- Published: 2026-09-23T17:18:08.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-23T17:18:08.000Z
- Author: Vuk Radic
- Tags: News

When Panerai started selling to the public in 1993, the Luminor ref. 5218-201/A was one of the two watches in the catalogue. It measured 44mm, already down from the 47mm military cases. And it's kind of what people imagine when they think of Panerai – the proto-Panerai, so to say. The brand has since gone through ups and downs, endured a lot of ridicule and a fair share of embarrassments. And while I can easily pull off the 47 Luminor, a lot of people struggle even with the smaller 44mm variant, despite these watches traditionally wearing much smaller than the numbers might suggest. Sure, Panerai made smaller versions of the same shape, with the iconic flip down crown guard, but these had a lot of unnecessary and ridiculous concessions, like a water resistance of 50 meters. Silly. Now, however, Panerai is releasing a 42mm variant of the Luminor, one that's fully capable (in three variants: PAM01710 in black, PAM01711 in green and PAM01714 in blue with a blacked-out case) and, most surprisingly, quite interestingly priced. This just might be the most important watch Panerai released in a decade. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/09/Luminor-42mm-2.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/09/Luminor-42mm-3.jpg)

The case is 42mm wide and 13.8mm thick, in brushed and polished steel for the black and green models and matte black DLC for the blue. I know, this still sounds like a massive watch to a lot of you, but hear me out. There's two things you should consider. First: the cushion shape and relatively stubby lugs make Luminors wear much smaller... I wish we had an official lug-to-lug measurement. Second, and way more important: a Luminor must have a lot of presence on a wrist. That's the whole point. 13.8mm is also a lot of thickness, but on top is a heavily domed sapphire crystal, so that has to take up a lot of that thickness. The Luminor basics are all here: sloped bezel, squared-off flanks, the crown-locking bridge on the right. Then we have the water resistance: 500 meters. That's more like it.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/09/Luminor-42mm-5.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/98/15/981552fd-1b67-4d3c-8ad7-fc38a52bf9fb/content/images/2026/09/Luminor-42mm-4.jpg)

Sure, I know this is a reference to the old ref. 5218-201/A, but I would have loved to see a sandwich dial here. Instead, you get large printed numerals and markers in beige Super-LumiNova on a grained matte dial, black sword hands with lume inserts, a recessed small seconds at nine, and that's the lot. The "L Swiss Made L" signature at six marks the switch from tritium to Super-LumiNova. I assume that a sandwich dial will come later, for sure. There are three dial color options – black, green and blue for the black DLC case.

Inside is the Panerai calibre P.980, built on a ValFleurier base. It's automatic, runs at 4Hz, holds 72 hours from a single barrel and hacks when you pull the crown. It's sad that we need to point that out, but this is Panerai, so you never know. Each model comes on a color-matched canvas strap with a trapezoidal steel pin buckle, DLC-coated on the PAM01714.

Now, the price. I've gotten numb to Panerai pricing, as they are know to release a relatively unremarkable watch and priced it at close to €10,000\. For no good reason. Well, this one is much more reasonable. The Panerai Luminor 42 PAM01710 and PAM01711 are priced at €6,500, and the PAM01714 at €7,500\. All three join the permanent collection. I think this will be a massive hit for the brand. See more [on the Panerai website](https://www.panerai.com/hr/en//search/selections/luminor-42-panerai?ref=itsabouttime.email).