Five of the Best New Luminous Watches
A century ago, if you wanted a watch that glowed in the dark you’d have been taking a pretty substantial risk, as the only known solution was radium paint. Once the health risks of working with a substance that literally rotted your bones from the inside were better understood (and once the nuclear programmes of the 1940s had furnished mankind with the necessary isotopes), the watch industry switched to tritium-based paints. But it wasn’t until the early 1990s that science finally arrived at an answer that wouldn’t trouble a Geiger counter.
Today, it’s easy to take the ability to read the time at night for granted – especially in circumstances when using your phone isn’t the best or easiest idea. But it’s worth reflecting on the fact that one of the hardest things for the watch industry to crack wasn’t some piece of fiddly mechanics or finely crafted decoration, but the same stuff kids stick on their bedroom ceilings.
The breakthrough was essentially about switching to passive luminosity (materials that are charged up by the sun), although some brands still do use radioactive tritium – in perfectly safe ways, we must add. Sealed within miniature glass tubes, tritium gas can provide the energy for a healthy, sustained glow without emitting significant radiation.
Now, the luminous properties of watches go far beyond the simple business of applying a little paint to the hour markers and hands. It’s a thriving area for creative experimentation, with watch brands and their suppliers able to infuse almost any substance with luminous material. Whole dials, rubber straps, even the thread used to stitch a leather strap can be given a glow-up. IWC recently debuted a concept watch with a fully luminous ceramic case – a first of its kind – by modelling it on the wrist of Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Here, we’ve assembled five more readily available watches that all make substantial and creative use of lume, as it’s commonly known. As you’d expect, they all have adventure and exploration in their DNA.
Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Carbo2 0 Oxygen Limited Edition, £7,900
Despite being a perfectly hardcore expedition watch – Montblanc even sucks out the oxygen to prevent the dial fogging up at high altitudes – this 1858 Geosphere also shows how lume can be more decorative, with a luminous outline of the Mont Blanc mountain engraved on the side of the carbon fibre case.
Ball Watch Roadmaster M Perseverer, £2,151
Ball Watch Company, originally best known for its timekeeping on America’s early railways, is renowned for its use of tritium gas tubes, which it embeds on watch hands and dial markers for a long-lasting glow. The Roadmaster M Perseverer is its take on a sleek 1970s-style stainless steel bracelet watch, with 80 hours of power reserve.
Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Eco ‘No Planet B’, £379
Like the above, this no-nonsense 200m dive watch uses tritium tubes but deploys them less overtly than in some of Luminox’s more gung-ho designs. Its other calling card? A fully recycled case and strap, made from 100% reclaimed ocean plastic. And it’s powered by a Swiss quartz movement.
Bremont Terra Nova 40.5 Date, £2,700
Part of an all-new look for the British brand, the Terra Nova moves the company away from its aviation roots and puts the focus on terrestrial exploration. The dial’s numerals are milled from solid luminous compound; the denser concentration of lume results in brighter and longer-lasting use.
Bell & Ross BR 03 Diver Full Lum Ceramic, £4,700
Bell & Ross has embraced the creative potential of lume for some years now, mixing tool watch practicality with its own sense of graphic, urban minimalism. This is the latest design to get a fully luminous dial, giving the whole watch a ghostly character.
You Might Also Like
