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Today’s Panerai is renowned for making large and in charge cushion-case dive watches, but the luxury Italian watch brand commands a long and fabled history. Back in 1860, Giovanni Panerai opened a boutique, workshop and watch-making school on the Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. Decades later, the brand would become an instrumentation supplier to the Italian Royal Navy, eventually providing dive watches. The first versions were equipped with a radium-based self-luminescence compound they called “Radiomir.” Later the brand deployed a tritium-based material with very low and harmless emissions called “Luminor.”
Officine Panerai’s contemporary pieces lean heavily into that history. But in the world of luxury watches heritage never comes cheap. A base Radiomir model will set you back more than $5k before tax and the most affordable model from their Submersible line starts in five figure territory. So, for those who dig the cushion-case diver watch design but don’t want to shell out quite so much skrilla and are looking for a good watch dupe, peek the Nivada Depthmaster collection. There’s variety of excellent watch alternatives to the Panerai Submersibles that’ll also work well underwater.
As a proper dive watch, the Depthmaster features a screw-down case-back and crown, a unidirectional rotating, and 1,000 meters of water-resistance secured by an automatic helium valve. The stainless steel case comes in a svelte 39mm and 47mm lug to lug, so you don’t need Schwarzenegger size wrists to rock one. The uncoated bezel and flat black dial adorned with ‘Pacman-style’ indexes help build a modern-yet-retro aesthetic. There’s also a date window at 3 o’clock for added functionality. Inside, the watch is powered by a Swiss-made Soprod P024 automatic movement with hacking seconds and a 38 hour power reserve.
Nivada Depthmaster is available on either brown or black leather, tropic rubber, stainless steel beads of rice or the classic flat link bracelet. So for those on the hunt for a killer, cushion case diver, consider the Nivada Depthmaster for some rugged steel style that won’t max out your plastic, and are a great watch dupe for a Panerai.
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