Panerai’s luxury Luminor Series watches are a highly sought after timepiece that is iconic in both name and design. Made from the finest gold, sapphire crystal, leather, and in-house movement, the 18kt Luminor 8 Days Rose Gold Men’s Watch is a stunning example of Swiss engineering and design.

Size/Specs/Design

The 18kt Rose Gold Luminor GMT (also called the Luminor 8 Days GMT or the Luminor 8 Days 1950 GMT) Men’s Timepiece is a beautiful 44mm 18kt Rose Gold case with a hand wound movement, a cosmic power reserve, the highest-grade construction materials, and a design that glows as warmly as firelight.

This Swiss made luxury timepiece is a part of the famous Luminor Series by Panerai, and features some added attractions on the iconic round dial and 18kt cushion shaped case.

Power Source

The Panerai Luminor GMT uses a hand wind movement (manual winding), which utilizes an in-house made engine — the Panerai Calibre P.2002. This beautiful movement has 21 jewel and a power reserve of 192 hours (8 days), which is amazing. Such has been the amazement about this level of power reserve that a lot of companies have now started to copy the mechanism, with even fashion brand Emporio Armani watches releasing a model in 2018 with a 6 day reserve.

The Good

This 18kt Rose Gold Luminor GMT timepiece truly has it all — style, a design to envy, a unique dial, glowing gold construction, the perfect crystal, an incredible movement, and a genuine leather strap.

The 44mm case, polished bezel, fluted crown, and outer case backing of this timepiece are all made of solid 18kt Rose Gold, which offers a glowing design against the dark brown (nearly black) dial and the genuine brown leather strap. The dark brown dial is rich in color and reflects the luminous hour stick indexes and the 12 and 6 o’clock Arabic numerals well. With 18kt gold central dial hands as well as a beautiful 18kt gold small seconds hand, this timepiece makes excellent use of quality materials.

The dial face features a calendar date window at 3 o’clock which reflects the date of the month in Arabic numerals. At the 6 o’clock position lies a horizontal scroll window, which displays the power reserve left in the movement. Finally, the sub dial at the 9 o’clock position is an AM/PM dial.

The crystal used in this Panerai is a scratch resistant, anti-reflective Sapphire crystal that is stunning in any light. The case back also protects the Panerai Calibre P.2002, hand wind movement with a Sapphire crystal.

The Bad

This Panerai has a near-perfect design, functionality, movement, resistance to the elements, and quality materials. The one potentially negative aspect to this Luminor GMT is the thickness of the case. Since Panerai’s 18kt bezel, case, and case backing are different shapes, this stacked construction has a rather chunky case back. While it is definitely stunning, the thickness of the case is 18.7mm. This may be a bit too much watch for some wearers.

Functionality

The functionality of a timepiece starts with its movement. This Panerai’s manual winding movement uses a powerful Panerai Calibre P.2002 engine with three barrels powering this in-house piece. With a power reserve of 8 days (192 hours), this movement has incredible longevity when not being worn and has plenty of power to accurately and consistently track time via the main dial hands, the AM/PM sub dial, the calendar date window, and the power reserve scrolling window.

The Highlights

One of the magnificent aspects of the design of this piece is the variation in case construction. The 18kt Rose Gold bezel is as round as the black dial — however, as the bezel connects to the case, the case itself is shaped into a cushion with the iconic crown on the right-hand side. Turn this timepiece around and you will see the 18kt Rose Gold of the back casing, which has 12 sides enveloping a Sapphire Crystal Exhibition window. All of these shapes are integrated seamlessly and make this timepiece a wonder to look at from front to back.

Speaking of wonders, this Panerai has one of the most outstanding power reserves we have ever seen in a luxury piece — especially one with a hand wind movement. This 18kt Luminor GMT can offer you a power reserve of 192 hours (8 days). That’s exceptional. Equally exceptional is the water resistance, which is graded at 100 meters (330 feet).

The cherry on top is the 18kt Rose Gold fluted locked crown with a security lever. This fluted crown is Panerai’s iconic design feature that let’s anyone identify this watch from afar.

Pricing

The magnificent PAM00289 Panerai model known as the Panerai 18kt 1950 Luminor 8 Days GMT Rose Gold Men’s Watch, retails for $27,200, however you can purchase this model from online retailers for thousands less, completely genuine and unworn.