INTRODUCING: The collector’s complication – Panerai’s Luminor 1950 8 Days Equation of Time Titanio

Richard Cantley

With the release of the Luminor 1950 Equation of Time 8 Days GMT Titanium Panerai is placing one of haute horlogerie’s most misunderstood complications into the classic Luminor package. Primarily known as one of the archetypal tool-watches, this latest release plucks the Luminor from the depths of the ocean and puts it in the planetarium.

Panerai keeps this Luminor at 47mm which is exactly what people expect from the 1950 collection, and because of this it has wrist-presence above and beyond the typical 44mm Luminor models. But In this instance, great size does not equal great weight, as the case is titanium rather than stainless steel. The dial is offered in either a brown (PAM 656) or blue (PAM 670) sun-brushed finish and features the usual luminous sandwich treatment on the Arabic numbers and hour markers. The brown is nice, but for us the metallic blue is a great touch that widens the playing field for the Luminor styling. A slightly convex sapphire crystal rounds it all out and the movement is visible through another sapphire crystal on the back of the case. Panerai put every millimetre of the watch to use, even adding a power reserve to the caseback.

Panerai use the manually-wound P.2002/E to power the watch. The in-house movement offers a hefty 8-day power reserve, coming from three barrels. You will likely need all that power because there is quite a lot going on here behind the scenes. First, you have a date indication with the month at 3 o’clock as well as a small seconds and a GMT function in addition to an AM/PM indicator. And finally there’s the most intriguing aspect about this watch though, the equation of time (EOT).

Excuse us, as we’re going to get a little scientific here, EOT denotes the difference between the actual (solar) passage of time versus “conventional” time that we live our lives by on a daily basis. There are only 4 days per year that are truly 24-hours long. Every other day varies by as much as 16 minutes and 25 seconds. Those inclined to keep track of this discrepancy can now register it with a simple glance. Do you need this information? No. Is it cool? Most definitely. It’s over-the-top and clearly geared towards the serious collector. Practicality isn’t the point here though, the EOT demonstrates Panerai’s technical capacity. And on that front the PAM 656 and 670 more than delivers.

Panerai Luminor 1950 8 Days Equation of Time Titanio Australian pricing and availability

Panerai Luminor 1950 8 Days Equation of Time Titanio available in two versions, each limited to 500 pieces, the brown-dialled PAM 656, and the blue-dialled PAM 670, both $29,400.