Additionally, the novel deployment of âlumeâ has become something of a power play in luxury watchmaking: Itâs only a couple of weeks, for instance, since IWC announced a concept watch that is entirely aglow, while instances of lume as an aesthetic medium, rather than something functional, have abounded in recent years.
But where Panerai is going with the Supermersible Elux Lab-ID, we donât need lume. Instead, a host of LEDs illuminate the watchâs functions, powered by electricity generated in the movement.
A push-button on the left side of the case switches the lights on; pressing it again turns them off. And that simple concept is something the brandâs special projects team, which operates under the moniker âLaboratoriao di Ideeâ (shortened to Lab-ID), has spent eight years bringing to fruition, says Pontroué.
âThey have a brief which can basically be written on a stamp: It has to give the time, and it has to have patents,â he says, stating that patents themselves are the ultimate goal, as much as the product that emerges. âItâs the only project where we have no idea of the deadline. We know it can be very expensive, and the failure rate is very high. But itâs not merely about introducing something new for Panerai, it must also be groundbreaking for the industry.â
The first of four patents for the Submersible Elux Lab-ID (weâll call it the Elux for short) relates to its activation button: A safety device protects it from both impact and water pressure. âWithout this, the pressure of the water when youâre diving could push it down inadvertently, so a component underneath it protects that,â says Anthony Serpry, Paneraiâs head of R&D, who heads up the Lab-ID skunkworks.
Serpry says his team has around 150 projects on the go, but only a few will see the light of day. One more of these is the watchâs blue-ish case material, which is also patented. A form of ceramized titanium that the brand has named Ti-Ceramitech, it comprises a titanium alloy thatâs subjected to plasma electrolytic oxidation (applying a high pulse of current within an electrolytic bath), which generates a thick, scratch-proof layer of blue ceramic across the surface. âThe patent is covering the material development and especially the titanium alloy composition, to reach the blue color,â says Serpry.
But the real business here, of course, is the light show. A handful of high-end watchmakers have previously experimented with mechanically powered light-on-demand, among them HYT, De Bethune, and the jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels, but with limited resultsâa dull glow for a few seconds.
Paneraiâs tech, on the other hand, lights up scores of micro-LEDs throughout the watchâs display, with a stated capacity of 30 minutesâ glow time. In fact, the illumination should last as long as the wearer keeps moving: The Elux is a self-winding watch, and the oscillating weight that winds up its movement also winds the mechanism to make it glow.
It does this by packing in extra barrels, which are the cylinders that contain a watchâs mainspring, its store of energy. Most mechanical watches have one of theseâthe Elux has six. Two power the timekeeping; the other four generate electrical energy via a minusculeâbut powerfulâdynamo device.
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