Technically speaking, the replica Panerai was meaningful not just for its debut screen time, but for its build, as it exhibited the brand’s first ceramic bezel in a Luminor model, and it was the first anti-magnetic fake watch made by Panerai. It’s quite a handsome look – introducing a fashionable, industrial dive watch vibe to the austere, minimalist aesthetic that’s defined the Panerai design language for the last 60 years or so.
Some of those features repeat in 1389, which could greatly be called an update to an existing reference, instead of a completely new one. Like the original, 1389 is built with a titanium case and equipped with an iron dial, and a soft iron Faraday cage encasing its movement beneath, rendering it impervious to the many modern dangers to mechanical watches. Hell, it even comes on the same band as before – Panerai’s excellent 26 x 22mm accordion rubber dive strap that looks as though it was designed specifically for this reference all along.
Otherwise, the situation has changed since 2014. The applied hourly indices are now a razor’s edge thicker, the running small second’s hand at 9:00 is now a cheerful shade of blue, and the luminous application to the hands and indices is now two-tone – the minute hand glows blue to match the bezel pip, while all other markings glow green.
Most notably though, the new 1389 has been updated with the Panerai’s newest automatic caliber: the P.9010, which comes with the same double-barreled, 3-day power reserve as its in-house manufactured predecessor, but now adds an independently adjustable hour hand – a feature that’s becoming increasingly common on many modern Panerai models, and a boon for frequent fliers.
The one thing that remains the same between the 389 and 1389 is that this is still, a huge watch at 47mm. Yes, it’s rather lighter than a comparable 47mm PAM00372 in stainless steel, but the weight savings do little to reduce the watch’s visual presence, which threatens to overwhelm at most angles. At present, like most Panerai fake models, 1389 does have greatly downward-turned lugs and a considerably conservative lug-to-lug measurement. But neither of those amends are quite enough to overcome the wearing limitations for all but those who’ve never skipped ‘arm day.’
That said, if you love the undeniably cool aesthetic of 1389, there’s always the more traditionally-sized 42mm PAM682, but you miss out on the anti-magnetic capabilities and ceramic bezel, together with the ability for the dial to double as a serving plate in a pinch. It’s funny to say that it’s clear that the rest of the industry has been responding to a return to smaller sizes, down from the 45 and 47mm replica watches that once dominated fake Panerai’s modern collection.