I take back my words that the modern luxury watch industry doesn’t make concept products anymore. Concept products are functionally and technically interesting items that explore new ideas but aren’t exactly meant for mainstream appeal. While Panerai is making 150 examples of the reference PAM01800 Submersible Elux LAB-ID timepiece, this very much is a functional concept watch. It works alright, and it sure is fun, but this strange and very large timepiece feels more like a real-world movie prop than a tool — which, in this $100,000-plus form — someone might use in any type of dangerous real-world situation. That’s part of why a timepiece like this is so much fun to write about: because “they” made it, even if it is hard to imagine what its pool of buyers looks like.
Thankfully, we covered the Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch in detail, else it would be very difficult to glean from Panerai’s website what the timepiece is all about. A product like this requires a vast explanation and there is only a skeletal product page on Panerai dedicated to the PAM01800. In our news article, you can learn more about what “Elux” meant to Panerai historically, and a bit more of the technical details on how this product contains both a mechanical automatic movement and a micro-generator designed to create enough battery charge to power the backlight for up to 30 minutes when fully charged.
Panerai is not the first company to combine an electronic backlight system with a base mechanical movement, nor is it the first to charge a lot of money to do so. Our news article about the Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID links to our hands-on articles with multiple watches from Louis Vuitton and HYT which perform similar features and use an on-demand electronic system to create a backlight to read the time. Panerai does so in a particularly slick manner where hidden LED lights cause the hour markers and hands to glow. It even managed to include a light on the 60-minute marker on the uni-directionally rotating diver’s style bezel. The effect works pretty well overall, even if Panerai does not seem to have created a solution to any serious utility or engineering challenges. I say this because if you need such a device on your wrist (i.e. an analog watch with backlighting) in the real world, you have plenty of less expensive options from companies like Casio and Timex. Even if you need a deep-diving watch with an analog backlight, you have options. I suppose, if you really want to split hairs, you will give Panerai credit for creating the first traditional mechanical diver’s watch with such a backlight system, but I’m not sure there are many applications where a watch like this is the only solution to a diver’s visibility problem.
The Elux “Power Light” system works rather simply. Inside the watch, the movement has six mainspring barrels, four of which are dedicated to power generation for the electric backlight. Once fully wound, this system will offer up to 30 minutes of continuous backlighting. There is even a backlight power reserve indicator for the battery charge over the 6 o’clock hour indicator. Presumably, to increase the charge you just need to wind the crown in a particular direction. On the left of the case is a safety latch over the button that turns the Elux Power Light on or off. Most wristwatch backlights only remain on for a few seconds, so the fact that this light can stay on as long as you like (or until the power wears out) makes it somewhat unique. I must admit it is fun to have the backlight on all the time since it helps bring visual attention to the dial, and who doesn’t like glowing hands and markers?
The movement inside the Submersible Elux LAB-ID is the in-house Panerai P.9010/EL. The base movement is a Panerai staple, operates at 4Hz with 72 hours of power reserve, and has automatic winding. Being a Submersible style watch, the dial is relatively clean, offering only the time with subsidiary seconds at 9 o’clock. The thickness of the dial as well as that of the overall case can be attributed to the need for all the extra parts such as the electronic system, and the ability to feed light/power to various areas. Nevertheless, the watch is still very large and is 49mm wide. I didn’t have a chance to measure the thickness, but you can see in the images that it is probably close to 20mm. The watch isn’t designed to be any larger than is necessary, but given what Panerai was trying to engineer into the case, dial, and bezel, the overall package simply needed to be this big. That makes it look like a novelty watch when worn unless you have very large wrists (or are wearing a very bulky wetsuit).
The Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID’s case tries to be as light as possible being made from mostly titanium and being water resistant to 500 meters. Little naked titanium can be seen save for the bezel. Instead, much of the case has been coated with a bluish ceramic material. Panerai calls this “Ti-Ceramitech” and it seems similar to a Cerakote coating, but somewhat different. Panerai claims that the Ti-Ceramitech is very scratch-resistant. That may be so, but a lot of things scratch off on it. The granular surface texture of the Ti-Ceramitech is similar to sandpaper – which means that things rub off on it quite easily. So even if the case itself is not scratching, it does appear to need cleaning on a regular basis. I understand that Panerai wanted to make this watch lightweight, durable, and also a bit different as there are many other large titanium watches on the market. Opting for this grayish-blue treatment color allows the Submersible ELUX LAB-ID to feel distinctive, and they haven’t even limited it to just this watch. You can get the same Ti-Ceramitech case material on some of Panerai’s Submersible Quaranta Quattro (44) Luna Rossa watches (for appreciably less money too even though they are still high-end diver’s style watches).
As a fun novelty product, the PAM01800 is very cool and is easy to understand and enjoy by novices – because who doesn’t understand a light? As an engineering challenge, you can see that Panerai’s designs need to overcome real issues that made it hard for the watch to be small enough, water resistant enough, and pretty enough. They were able to successfully insert a new system into an existing watch family – resulting in a concept-style watch that is both familiar as well as different. It is not however practical or groundbreaking, and the very high price point will limit ownership of a Panerai watch like this to the very few. It would be cheaper to purchase a roughly $10,000 – $15,000 Panerai Submersible and carry a UV torch in your pocket to charge up the Super-LumiNova at your whim. In fact, the Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch dial has Super-LumiNova on the dial, which the backlight lightly charges and remains glowing when the Elux Power Light system is turned off.
Attached to the PAM01800 is a matching blue-gray rubber strap that allows the watch to be worn relatively comfortably. The sheer size and price audacity of the Submersible Elux LAB-ID make you smile to see it, but perhaps not necessarily lust for owning it as a tasteful timepiece option. For very well-funded “big kids,” this real-life concept watch is going to be a treat to wear and show off to their timepiece buddies. Since our news article about this PAM01800 watch earlier in 2024, the price has actually went up. The current price for the limited edition of 150 pieces Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID watch is $100,500 USD. For more information, please visit the Panerai website.
