Panerai kicked off its partnership with French champion free diver Guillaume Néry in 2019, releasing a celebratory special edition as part of the high-profile 2019 relaunch of its Submersible divers’ watch collection. This year, Panerai introduces another very exclusive timepiece in collaboration with Néry, this one hailing from the historically inspired Luminor Marina family. Here’s what you should know about the Luminor Marina 44MM Guillaume Néry Edition, this week’s Watch to Watch.

The watch’s 44-mm case is made of sandblasted DMLS titanium; the initials stand for Direct Metal Laser Sintering, a technology that shapes titanium using a 3D printing process. Furthermore, the case features a rubberized coating on its bezel, crown, and the lever of the trademarked, safety-locking crown protecting bridge device. Like many other technical innovations that Panerai has brought into modern watchmaking, this specially developed case is a product of the manufacture’s Panerai Laboratorio di Idee.
The black dial that lies under the accentuated convex sapphire crystal has a degradé effect that evokes, according to Panerai, “the shades produced as sunlight filters through the depths of the sea.” The sandwich-structured dial features the characteristic large Arabic numerals and bar indices, small seconds display at 9 o’clock, and date aperture at 3 o’clock; green Super-LumiNova coats the numerals and indices as well ...