Panerai PAM00510 Review – Panerai Luminor Marina 8-Days Hands-On

Just before SIHH 2014, I received this Officine Panerai Luminor Marina 8-Days reference PAM00510 for a review. A week of wearing this Panerai made me go back 10 years ago, when I first bought a Panerai Luminor Marina. A watch that I fell immediately in love with at the time, with its large case and thick vintage looking calf strap. This time however, the Panerai comes equipped with an in-house developed 8-days power reserve movement instead of the Unitas based hand-wound movement it had before. Let’s have a look at this PAM00510 that was introduced to us about a year ago, during the SIHH 2013 exhibition in Geneva.

I even quite well remember where I saw the Panerai Luminor Marina up close when I decided to pull the trigger on the purchase. It was in Antwerp, Belgium when I saw the Panerai Luminor Marina in 44mm at a dealer when I decided that I should go for it. The military looking large case, the large and luminous hour markers and the specific crown lock system were the most important ingredients for me to buy one myself. Looking at this Panerai Luminor Marina PAM00510 I wondered what exactly changed over the years. The watch has the same appeal to me except now it has an in-house developed movement and the dial has this extra ‘notification’ on the dial, telling me that it has an 8-days power reserve. Quite useful for a watch with a hand-wound movement and perhaps being not your only watch to wear during the week.

Turning the watch around, I started to look for a power reserve indicator, but did not find it. I guess that the power reserve is 8 days and you just have to keep hold of when it is about to run out of energy. However – and to be honest – I have the habit of winding a watch every day before putting it on my wrist, so I am sure that the watch is wound properly when wearing it. When you don’t do this every day or every other day, there is nothing to worry about with this PAM00510 as it two barrels to make sure it will have a full 8 days of energy.

Talking about the movement, this Panerai P.5000 caliber has a very clean appearance and finish. It matches the overall apparel of the Panerai Luminor Marina 8-days, a richly engraved movement with lots of gears and wheels to ‘observe’ wouldn’t fit the military look of the watch. In the end, this is the watch inspired on the original Panerai that Italian Navy used for military operations. Perhaps it shouldn’t even have a transparent case back, but since men who wear one are probably interested in mechanics or technical stuff, it is cool to at least be able to enjoy the mechanical hand-wound P.5000 movement when turning the watch around.

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