Jean-Marc Pontroué, 55, the CEO of Panerai, is a runner. And on his running playlist is electro music duo, Daft Punk. “One of my favourites, they help me accelerate,” he jokes, calling in from his office in Geneva. No surprise then to find the French musicians on Pamcast Italian Colors, the new playlist the Italian luxury watch brand launched earlier this week on Spotify. But this time, the idea is to get Panerai fans (or as they are known, the Paneristi) to slow down and soak up all things Italian. On the playlist, Daft Punk’s is the documentary song, ‘Giorgio by Moroder’, with Giovanni Giorgio, who made the soundtrack and scores for films like American Gigolo and Scarface. Italy, as Pontroué points out, has culture, churches, beaches, mountains, artists and a lot of colour. And Pamcast, their new digital storytelling platform, he says, will “provide stories that we live every day in Italy’’.
During his two years at this 160-year-old Florence brand known for its military watches, oversized diameters and bronze watch cases, Pontroué has made significant changes, pointing to experiences and exclusivity. One of them sees select limited-edition watches offering clients access to free-diving, commando and arctic exploration experiences that money can’t buy. With brand ambassadors like extreme adventurer Mike Horn or free-diving champion Guillaume Nery, and even the Italian Navy. The last, a bootcamp with the Italian Special Forces near La Spezia in Italy, had participants (and buyers of the Panerai Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech, limited to 33 pieces) shooting MP5 machine guns and ziplining across a gorge. Pontroué was on that trip. “The Paneristi know the brand better than me and I asked myself, what is the next level for these lovers of the brand?” he says.
But this year, he insists, the focus is on the Luminor, “the passport of Panerai” which is in its 70th year. There will be at least 10 new products, one of them being the 36th America’s Cup-inspired Luminor Luna Rossa GMT, which features technical sail fabric. New high-tech materials are being promoted, and the CEO gives us a closer look at his Luminor with the Fibratech (an extremely light composite tested in the aerospace industry) case and Carbotech (a carbon-fibre composite) for the bezel. Innovation at Panerai is often inspired by other industries, be it automobiles or racing boats, he admits.
That said, Pontroué is aware of the importance of creativity and clear messaging. “It is part of the mission of the brand to enchant the world and we are still in the entertainment business. Also, we are the only pure watch player coming from Italy, and want to speak more about that compared to other watches that have Switzerland as a key story,” he concludes.
The Luminor Luna Rossa 44 mm is priced at ₹8,19,000.
