Benetti B.NOW 52M: A New Standard for Open-Ocean Living
Photo Credit: Benetti
Picture a morning off the Amalfi Coast — the sun barely above the ridgeline, the Tyrrhenian glass-flat and rose-colored. Your crew has set the Oasis Deck for breakfast: a 12-seat table faces the horizon, the pool shimmers to port, and the folded wings extend the stern wide enough that the sea feels less like a backdrop and more like a floor you're standing on. You are not anchored in a marina waiting for the experience to begin. The experience is already this.
That is the premise of the Benetti B.NOW 52M — a yacht built around how serious owners actually want to live on the water: time with family and friends, unhurried passage-making, and a sense of space that larger vessels rarely deliver at this level of intimacy.
The B.NOW 52M was revealed at the Monaco Yacht Show in September 2025 and represents the evolution of Benetti's record-selling B.NOW 50M — a platform that generated 21 contracts, an absolute record for a yacht in this size category. The new model adds just 1.5 meters of length, but that modest dimensional change translates to 20% more aft deck area and 30% more Oasis Deck® space. Benetti did not build a bigger yacht. They built a meaningfully better one.
Who It's For
The B.NOW 52M is designed for the buyer who has owned yachts before — possibly stepping through a progression from 30 to 40 to 50 meters — and now knows exactly what they want. You are in your mid-forties to early sixties, financially successful, and you approach yacht ownership with the same directness you bring to any significant investment: clarity over flash, substance over status.
You entertain regularly and want a yacht that accommodates 12 guests without the logistics feeling like a military operation. Crew should move invisibly, dining should be properly set, and guests should have the kind of privacy that turns a week on the water into something they'll talk about for years. You also want range — the freedom to leave the Mediterranean crowd behind and make passage to Croatia, Montenegro, or the Aegean without range anxiety interrupting the itinerary.
This is a purpose-built long-range motor yacht with the design intelligence to feel like a private residence at sea.
Design & Layout
The exterior is by RWD, the studio behind the entire B.NOW family — a profile of soft curves, lowered bulwarks, and what RWD calls "refined fashion plates," a form language that is contemporary without being trend-dependent.
The Oasis Deck® is the defining achievement. Spanning 15 meters from stern to saloon doors, it covers 130 square meters — a number that earns its own moment of reflection. At this scale, the space functions less like a deck and more like an outdoor room. A 12-seat dining table faces the horizon on centerline. A bar sits to starboard for aperitifs. The pool, enlarged from the 50M's footprint, sits flush with the deck and features a retractable sliding cover that converts the pool area to a level terrace for evening events or marina arrivals. Fold-out wings extend outward over the water, creating a 270-degree connection to the sea that is architecturally unique in this class.
Inside, Valentina Zannier's interiors are structured around a principle that distinguishes the 52M from virtually every yacht in its category: the decision to separate and relocate the formal dining area to the forward main deck, where full-height glass on both sides delivers panoramic bow views. What would typically be the master suite location is instead given to a private dining experience that rivals any shore-side restaurant. The owner's suite, accordingly, is moved to the upper deck — 1,184 square feet of dedicated private space, split equally between bedroom and alfresco terrace, with no external staircase connection and therefore genuine privacy.
The main deck saloon delivers a 157-foot (48-meter) sightline from aft-deck doors to the bow lounge, one side entirely in glass. A widebody design eliminates the external starboard passage, enabling this architectural move while creating perceptibly larger interior volumes. Floor-to-ceiling glazing and increased deck heights amplify natural light throughout. The Sundeck offers a dining table for 12, forward and aft sunbathing areas, and a sky bar — a self-contained outdoor level that transitions naturally from afternoon solarium to evening venue.
The forward main deck, previously used for tender storage on earlier models, can be configured as a wellness terrace or gym. The garage has been enlarged to accommodate a 7-meter (23-foot) tender.
Performance
Two MAN V12 engines producing 1,400 horsepower each drive the B.NOW 52M to a top speed of 15 knots, with a cruising speed of 11 knots. At 10 knots, range extends to 4,500 nautical miles — comfortably transatlantic-capable. Fuel consumption at economical speed sits at approximately 89 liters per hour, reflecting the efficiency of the sub-500 GT hull and shaft-line drive system.
Hull construction is steel, with an aluminium superstructure and fin stabilizers fitted as standard. The gross tonnage is registered at 499 GT — a deliberate engineering choice that keeps the yacht below the MCA Large Yacht Code's 500 GT commercial threshold, translating to meaningful operational and crewing simplifications for private owners. Provision for hybrid battery systems is built into the engineering package, positioning owners for zero-emission harbor operation as port regulations tighten.
Ownership
The B.NOW 52M is priced on application — standard practice for new-build projects in this segment. Buyers should work with a capital figure in the range typical for a new-build 50-meter steel motor yacht from a tier-one European shipyard. Annual running costs for a yacht of this size and crew complement — 10 crew, fuel, insurance, maintenance, berthing — generally track at 10% of asset value, a figure that should be part of the ownership calculus from the outset.
What the B.NOW 52M offers in return is provenance. Benetti was founded in 1873 in Viareggio, Italy — more than 150 years of continuous shipbuilding under one name. From the 86-meter Nabila built in 1979 (which appeared in a James Bond film) to a trio of 107-meter gigayachts launched within 100 days in 2019-2020, Benetti's engineering pedigree is not theoretical. It is documented, delivered, and afloat.
The B.NOW family's 21 contracts for the 50M represents benchmark-level demand in a market where five or six sales constitutes a successful production series — and it substantially reduces the uncertainty that attaches to buying from a yard without that history.
First delivery is scheduled for Q3 2028, which means buyers contracting now are acquiring with a relatively defined timeline and the ability to influence specification in ways that later-position buyers will not have.
The Benetti B.NOW 52M is the rare yacht that delivers against every category it competes in: volume for its length, range for its class, outdoor living at a scale that changes how you use the boat, and a builder whose name requires no translation in any port in the world.
For complete technical specifications and to configure your new build, explore the full data sheet at YachtSpecsDirect.com.
To learn more about the full Benetti range and current availability, visit mintedyachts.com/benetti.