Welcome to Dialed In, Esquire's weekly column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world since March 2020.

Just because summer is on its way out, that doesn’t mean were not still thinking 24/7 about dive watches. Panerai’s latest launch in its historic dive watch family is a Luminor Marina with a difference, one that fuses two signature Panerai elements together in the same watch. First, the 44mm case, which is made from Carbotech, a product of the house’s innovative research in new materials. Materials research from the brand’s Laboratorio D’Idee (literally, "Ideas Lab") has gathered pace, particularly over the past five years, such that it is becoming a market leader in out-of-the-box thinking.

Carbotech is a solid block of blackened carbon—thin sheets of carbon are put under great pressure and bound together with PEEK (or polyether ether ketone)—with a distinct veining pattern that varies depending which way you carve it. That makes each watch case unique. The material itself is lighter than ceramic or titanium, hypoallergenic, and not susceptible to corrosion. But it's not the only thing cooked up by the Laboratorio D’Idee.

Earlier this year, Panerai released a groundbreaking watch using almost 100 percent recycled components and another whose case was derived from volcanic rock. While some, by their nature, remain niche and expensive, the technological lessons learned in the struggle to make them will doubtless have a trickle-down effect in a world increasingly concerned by sustainability and rethinking our consumption of precious metals.

Panerai Luminor Marina Carbotech Blu Notte

Luminor Marina Carbotech Blu Notte

Panerai Luminor Marina Carbotech Blu Notte

€13,900 at panerai.com

The second distinctly Panerai element is a midnight blue sunray dial which the brand calls Blu Notte, a tone matched in its deep blue alligator strap with a trapezoidal blackened titanium buckle (a similarly dark navy rubber strap is also included as an option). The dial features the brand’s signature sandwich construction, where numerals and markers are cut out of the blue dial to allow the SuperLuminova to shine through. Under the hood is a manufacture P.9010 automatic movement, with twin barrels giving a steady release of power over three days. So, you can set it down for the weekend and still have some juice left come Monday. You know, in the unlikely event you ever want to take it off.