Hands on with the Panerai Luminor Marina 1950 3-days PAM00422

Who could have suspected that when Panerai released the Luminor Marina 1950 PAM127 in 2002, it would become such an incredible popular watch. Although it wasn’t Panerai’s first 47 mm watch, it sure shocked many watch collectors. 

And lucky for those who don’t have $20k for a used special edition from 2002, Panerai has released a watch that maybe even looks better than the original. The Luminor Marina 1950 PAM422 with the in-house 3-days movement caliber P.3001.

The Luminor Marina 1950 3-days, or short PAM422, also measures 47 mm in diameter and has a similar domed sapphire crystal that gives the PAM422 (and several other Panerai models) a great vintage look.

Personally I also love they used creme-colored luminous paint for all markers and hands. The creme color adds a lot to the vintage look, but the luminous paint, applied on a disk beneath the dial, works much better than the aged tritium it should resemble. The dial is Panerai’s famous sandwich dial, meaning the markers (at every hour and four stripes around the seconds hand) are cut out of the dial, so the luminous paint can be seen through.

Other ‘vintage’ details are the engraved text on the dial and the model reference is engraved on the case at six o’clock. Another vintage design element that absolutely pleases me, are the gold hands. The ‘vintage’ strap makes the vintage look of the Panerai Luminor Marina 1950 3-Days complete.

The 47 mm PAM00422 has a power reserve on the back, showing how much of the 72 hours of power is left in the two mainspring barrels. Calibre P.3001 calibre is a large and robust manual wind movement, indicating hours, minutes, seconds and the power reserve on the back of the movement. It also features an seconds reset function, that makes it easy to set the time precise to the second.

Caliber P.3001 has two large bridges that together cover at least three-quarter of the movement. The Glucydur balance is held in place by a balance bridge; this provides more sturdiness than a balance cock that is only fixed on one side.

No word on the price yet, but it’s limited to just 2,000 pieces!

Its size of 47 mm in diameter can (almost) be considered normal these days but it was definitely HUGE when Panerai launched the infamous Luminor Marina 1950 PAM127 a.k.a Fiddy. And I guess I don’t need to discuss the very well-known (and patented) crown protecting device. Altogether a beautiful new release from Panerai, combining the most desired looks (PAM127 design elements and size) and the 3-days in-house movement, caliber P.3001.

Please visit the Panerai website for more information.

This article was written by Frank Geelen, executive editor of Monochrome Watches.