When it comes to luxurious dive watches, Panerai sits at the top of the list in terms of fusing both performance and style. Although the Italian brand has been around for over 150 years, its history with divers began when it made luminescent dials for Rolex in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the Italian Navy asked Panerai to develop the technology so the frogmen could have better visibility when arming warships underwater. Long after the war, Panerai began selling the Luminor to civilians, and in 1998 made a field-based version dubbed the Luminor Submersible.
Over the next couple of decades, the Submersible variants became extremely popular, eventually splitting off into their own line. Since then, Panerai has had some fun with these pieces, frequently changing up their case material and configuration, and occasionally giving them some aggressive designs. Today, the watchmaker has unveiled its burliest interpolations yet: the Forze Speciali and Forze Speciali Experience.
Few of the Submersibles have been given two totalizers, but both of these new timepieces have small seconds and chronograph hours subdials, each with a radar vector design to go with the “Time To Target” chart around the left side. Three pushers line the outside of the case, including flyback, countdown, and start/stop buttons. Housed in a 47mm DLC-coated titanium case, the in-house P.9100/R movement is built with 328 components and has a 3-day power reserve.
Boasting a green camouflage colorway, the Submersible Forze Speciali Experience is limited to just 50 pieces and sells for $57,500 on Panerai’s website. Meanwhile, the standard Submersible Forze Speciali sports a blue bezel and black caoutchouc strap. Given a less-limited production run, this piece sells for $29,300.
