News · Panerai

Panerai finally takes its 1993 Luminor case down to 42mm

Three no-date Luminors bring the sharp-edged 1990s case to 42mm for the first time, with 500 metres and a three-day automatic from A$10,500.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 26 September 2026

• Panerai has scaled the Luminor case design first shown to civilians in 1993 down to 42mm, making these three the only 42mm models in its Luminor collection.
• Despite the smaller case, each is rated to 500 metres and runs Panerai's automatic P.980 calibre with a three-day power reserve and no date.
• PAM01710 and PAM01711 in steel cost A$10,500 or US$6,700, and the DLC-coated PAM01714 costs A$12,100 or US$7,700; none is limited.

If you have spent any time around Panerai people, you will know the argument by heart. The watches are wonderful, the history is real, the crown-protecting bridge is one of the great shapes in the business, and the sizes are simply too big for a lot of wrists. Panerai has chipped away at that over the years with its thinner Luminor Due, its Submersibles and a handful of 40mm Luminors, but the case that most people picture when they hear the name, the sharp-edged one from the early 1990s, has stayed at 44mm. Until now. The brand has shrunk that design to 42mm for three new watches, and it is calling them simply the Panerai Luminor 42mm.

Back to September 1993

Panerai was presented to the civilian public for the first time on 10 September 1993, with the Ref. 5218-201/A. The case for that first civilian presentation was adapted down from 47mm to 44mm, and it is that design the brand has now taken down again. Panerai describes it as having sharper angles, crisper edges, robust solid lugs and a curved crown bridge that follows the watch's profile, a compact, monobloc silhouette that grew out of the cushion cases of the 1960s. On the brand's photographs the edges look like they were cut with a fresh blade rather than softened by a polishing wheel.

What 42mm actually means here

It matters to be precise about the claim. These are not the first 42mm Panerais with a crown bridge, since the Luminor Due and the Submersible both come in 42mm, and they are not the smallest Luminors either, because Panerai already sells Luminor Marina and GMT models at 40mm. What they are is the first time the 1993 case has been offered at 42mm, and they are currently the only 42mm watches in the whole Luminor collection. For anyone who wanted the original shape without the original bulk, that is the gap being filled.

The steel versions weigh 126 grams and the DLC version 124, which tells you this is still a substantial watch, just one that now has a chance of sitting within the edges of a smaller wrist.

Five hundred metres in a smaller case

Water resistance is 500 metres, which is serious for a watch like this. Panerai tests each one at its Neuchâtel manufacture beyond that rating, by 25 per cent, using both air and water, and closes it with a screwed steel caseback engraved 500m. It is an overbuilt number for a watch most people will wear to lunch, and I would not have it any other way on a Panerai, because overbuilding is the whole point of the brand.

Three dials, matte and plain

There are three versions. PAM01710 is polished and brushed steel with a matte black dial, PAM01711 is the same steel with a green dial, and PAM01714 has a micro-sandblasted steel case with a DLC coating and a blue dial. All three have luminous Arabic numerals and hour markers, small seconds at nine o'clock and no date, and at night the lume glows green on the brand's own pictures.

I have gone back and forth on the green. On one hand it is the colour everyone has done for five years. On the other, a flat military green is genuinely at home on a watch with this much naval history, which is more than can be said for most of the green dials we have all been sent. I will take the black, because the 1993 design earned its reputation in black, but the blue on DLC is the one I think will surprise people.

A three-day automatic behind a closed back

Inside is Panerai's own P.980 automatic calibre, 4.2mm thick, with 23 jewels, 169 components and a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. It runs for three days on a single barrel, and it has a stop-seconds function and is tested in six positions. The caseback is solid, so you will not see the openworked rotor with its blue Officine Panerai engraving, which feels a little like hiding the good china. For a 500-metre tool watch it is the right trade.

Canvas, made for this watch

Each comes on a textile strap Panerai says it created specifically for this new Luminor, beige on the black, green on the green and blue on the blue, tapering from 22mm to 20mm with leather reinforcement around the holes and a trapezoidal buckle. It is the right strap for the watch, soft enough to wear all day and plain enough to let the case do the talking.

The price is where this gets interesting. Panerai's 44mm Luminor Logo, hand-wound and rated to 100 metres, costs A$10,000. For A$500 more, the new 42mm gets you an automatic three-day movement and five times the depth rating in a smaller case, which makes it one of the more sensible Panerais on sale.

Panerai Luminor 42mm pricing and availability

The three references are not limited editions, and all are listed on Panerai's Australian website. PAM01710 and PAM01711: A$10,500, US$6,700, £5,600, €6,500. PAM01714 (DLC): A$12,100, US$7,700, £6,500, €7,500.