Panerai and Luna Rossa have been working together since 2019, and over that time the sailing team's watches have become a proving ground for the brand's modern sports pieces, taking in Carbotech, titanium, GMTs and chronographs along the way. With the 38th America's Cup heading to Naples, the partnership adds two more, and one of them does something the line has never done before. The Luminor Luna Rossa GMT PAM01791 is the first Luna Rossa watch to arrive on a metal bracelet.
A bracelet, finally
That sounds like a small thing until you remember that every Luna Rossa before it shipped on a strap. At 40mm the GMT is already among the more compact watches in the family, and the taper-shaped steel bracelet pushes it further toward everyday wear, giving it a sportier and more versatile character than the strap versions. The bracelet is not fixed in place either. Panerai's PAM Click release system lets it come off without tools, so the same watch can move from bracelet to rubber or textile in a moment, which is the practical heart of the whole design.
The dial and the second time zone
The dial is silver with a sun-brushed finish and red accents drawn from the Luna Rossa team colours. You see the red on the small seconds hand at nine and on the arrow-shaped GMT hand, whose shape is a nod to the sail of the yacht. A date sits at three. Power comes from the automatic P.900/GMT calibre, based on a ValFleurier movement, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a three-day reserve and a twelve-hour second time zone. Water resistance is 100 metres, there are sapphire crystals front and back, and the crown sits under the Luminor bridge that has defined the case since the line began. In regular production, it is priced at EUR 11,100.
The chronograph sibling
The second watch is the more purpose-built of the pair. The Luminor Luna Rossa Chrono PAM01768 uses a larger 44mm steel case and the same silver dial with red details, but adds a tachymeter scale that, working with the central chronograph seconds hand, reads average speed over a set kilometre directly off the flange in kilometres or miles per hour. It runs the P.9210, an automatic ETA-based movement with a Dubois-Depraz chronograph module, at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a 42-hour reserve. It also introduces a first of its own for the line, an elastic textile-and-rubber Velcro strap with a red central stripe, and ships with a spare black rubber strap. The chronograph is limited to 500 pieces, comes in a blue cherry wood box, and costs EUR 11,200.
Two ways into the same idea
What has always set the Luna Rossa watches apart from ordinary team editions is that they rarely feel like team editions, and these two keep that up while splitting the audience neatly. Both are unmistakably Luminor, with the cushion case, the oversized luminous dial and the crown-protecting bridge intact. The bracelet turns the GMT into the one you would actually wear every day, on the water or off it, while the limited chronograph is the collectible, boxed and numbered. For the full specifications, see panerai.com.
