Panerai announces a partnership with the German car tuner Brabus. However, the two brands are not linked by motorsport, but by a passion for life offshore. In fact, the mechanics from the German town of Bottrop also have the Shadow Black Ops sports boat series in their range. As the first result of this cooperation, Panerai now presents the Submersible S BRABUS Black Ops Edition. In addition to the unmistakable similarities to the Brabus vessels, the watch offers a number of technical features made possible by the company’s first skeletonised automatic calibre.
The case of this Submersible is made of the proprietary Carbotech, which gives the 47 mm watch a dark grey appearance. The rotating bezel can be used to measure the dive time, which bears a scale and a luminescent dot at 12 o’clock for this purpose. Meanwhile, the brand-typical crown bridge guarantees water resistance of 300 metres. The bridge also bears the Brabus lettering. Last but not least, the sapphire crystal case back allows a view of the mechanics.
The dial consists of a grid that reveals the movement. On the grey ring are the indices, which have luminous material. In addition, there are two skeletonised main hands accentuated in Brabus red. Meanwhile, the small seconds at 9 o’clock also integrates a day/night indicator. On the opposite side at 3 o’clock is a date display. The patented Optical Polar Date displays the information without obscuring the mechanics of the movement.
In addition, the watch offers a GMT hand which displays the hours of a second time zone. In honour of the partner, there is also a disc with the Brabus logo at 7 o’clock. Since the Submersible S BRABUS Black Ops Edition does not have a classic dial, the logo of the manufacture is printed onto the sapphire crystal.
For this Submersible S BRABUS Black Ops Edition, Panerai has developed the calibre P.4001/s, which is based on the P.4000. As the brand’s first skeletonised automatic movement, it presents itself through the dial and case back. It has two barrels that are wound by a decentralised tungsten oscillating weight. The power reserve is 72 hours. As a further technical refinement, the Manufacture has installed a stop-seconds mechanism with zero reset of the seconds hand. This makes it easy to set the time.
In addition, there is a power reserve indicator on the back. A rotating disc moves past an arrow to indicate the remaining days. This disc bears numerals with Super-LumiNova, which thus remain legible even in the dark. The all-black movement consists of 341 components and 31 jewels. On the rotor, the house places both their logo and the corresponding lettering.
The watch appears on a strap made of bi-material with grey fabric. It bears the Brabus logo and closes with a black titanium buckle. The manufacturer also includes an interchangeable strap made of Sportech with a Velcro fastener. The Panerai PAM01240 is a limited edition of 100 pieces.
