A Beginner’s Guide to Types of Watch Lume

Light in the world of wristwatches is typically relegated to one small, specific category: Super-LumiNova and its replicas. It’s typically daubed over a few thin surfaces on the hands and indices just to make a watch faintly readable in the dark. Thankfully, modern watchmakers are a creative bunch, and a few have experimented far and wide with the art of creating light. Here are some of the most superb examples of how watchmakers use light not just as a tool, but as one of the finest elements of their design.

Chemically Charged Lume

No surprises here, we’re starting off with the most “standard” category, the one collectors all know and love. Swiss Super-LumiNova was developed in 2007 as a ceramic-based compound. It absorbs and stores energy from UV light and then gradually emits it over time in the visible spectrum.

It’s easy to overlook the importance of this innovation, which despite its ubiquity now was a revolution at its release. Previous forms of chemically-produced light were radium and tritium paints, both of which emit potentially dangerous radioactivity if not properly cased. Likewise, the mixtures used in these isotopes break down over time, reducing their glow as well as their colour. Super-LumiNova, by contrast, not only has no dangerous effects but can also last just about forever without breaking down or losing its strength. I’d argue that it’s the single greatest innovation in the field of watchmaking of our century.

A few watchmakers, however, have not overlooked both the beauty and importance of Super-LumiNova. Here are their creations.

MING 37.05 Lunatic

Featuring the Malaysia-based brand’s gorgeous proprietary lume known as MING Polar White, the Lunatic puts a minimal glowing aesthetic on center stage. In particular, its moon phase, that most poetic of complications, is represented with a restrained “loading bar”, also fully illuminated. The Polar White, an incredible white-emission lume, is created by mixing emission colours across the entire visible spectrum. Beyond its chemical glow, the Lunatic also displays MING’s characteristic “Inversion” effect, which means that in the right lighting its rich black dial suddenly transforms to a mirrored silver.

Christopher Ward C1 Moonglow

The Moonglow is, above all, a celebration of the gentle shine of moonlight. A play on Christopher Ward’s original C1 Moonphase (a dress watch dripping with aventurine) the Moonglow creates a more futuristic aesthetic thanks to the use of a smoked sapphire covering the lower half of the dial. More significant than that for our purposes is the thick coat of green emission lume over both moon discs. Further playing on the theme of light, the C1 Moonglow surrounds its dial with Christopher Ward’s beautiful Lightcatcher case, known for its exquisitely polished bevels, and classic five-link Consort bracelet.

Studio Sarpaneva Midnight Sun

For Studio Sarpaneva, lume is not a tool. It’s a key element of the watchmaker’s artistic palette. The Midnight Sun is one of the most beautiful proofs of this concept. Meant to evoke the endless days of summer known to those living close to the Arctic Circle, it transforms from a subtle grayscale appearance during the day into a vibrant rainbow of colours at night. A whopping eight different emission colours of Super-LumiNova were used to create a beautiful nighttime scene reminiscent of a stained glass window. This is lume not just used to make a hand pop but as the true star of the show.

Tritium Micro Gas Tubes

Before Super-LumiNova came along and shook up the industry, tritium was king. A less dangerous radioactive isotope than its predecessor, radium, it can still be found giving a gorgeous, tanned patina tone to vintage watch dials. After SLN came along, tritium was kicked to the curb, until recently when it took on a new form not as paint, but as entirely contained gas tubes. These completely safe renderings of the material have been used to superb effect by several brands, as unlike conventional lume, they don’t require charging and constantly glow.

Ball Watch Engineer II Moon Phase Chronometer

Leave it to the brand known for railroad-grade tool watches since 1891 to be pioneers in the use of a material that always glows to ensure perfect visibility no matter what. This Engineer II is one of the most elegant examples of Ball’s mastery of tritium, featuring carefully arranged green emission microtubes that form numerals 12 and 9 alongside others glowing a gentle orange. Paired with a lovely luminous moonphase, it makes for a uniquely elegant and legible way to celebrate light in watchmaking.

Marathon 41mm SSNAV-D Auto Arctic Edition

Founded in 1939, Marathon has a history of military watches that serve their purpose faithfully without frills. Their pared-back use of tritium should come as no surprise then for the no-nonsense aesthetic of the SSNAV-D. Featuring green and orange emission tritium-tube hour markers, this watch is made all the more legible thanks to an arctic white dial and high-contrast hands. Apart from the dial, other thoughtful design touches like its asymmetrical case and raised bezel instantly reveal it as a refined tool for the adventurer and desk diver alike.

Three-Dimensional Lume

Most watches, as we’ve noted up until now, primarily use glowing material as a two-dimensional applicant over their hands or numerals. In most cases, the goal is to reduce the noticeability of the lume itself as much as possible, making it look like filler or like normal paint. And while that certainly works for the design of many pieces, others have chosen to take lume itself and put it on full display as a completely 3D and unique element. It’s always spectacular.

Christopher Ward C60 Trident Lumière

An exceptionally acclaimed dive watch from collectors and critics alike, and the winner of Oracle Time’s 2024 dive watch award, the C60 Trident Lumière uses solid blocks of Globolight XP lume for its numerals, hands, and even logo. This means light now radiates not only outwards towards the wearer, but also from the sides of each component. As such, more light is allowed to fall on the surface of the dial itself, making even non-lumed elements of the dial visible in the dark. Apart from its luminosity, the watch also features a helium escape valve and 300m of water resistance, as well as a COSC-certified Sellita SW300-1 movement for accuracy. I’m not much of a diver, but if that changes, this is the watch I’m picking to go with me.

Hautlence The Vagabonde x Black Badger

Hautlence puts three-dimensional Globolight XP on full display in this limited-edition collab with Black Badger, a lume artist and engineer. Orange lume plots create a beautiful maze-like pattern surrounding the centre dial, which itself is white by day and a beautiful blue by night. The maze itself pays homage to Hautlence’s delightful Labyrinth, a “watch” that actually is the world’s most expensive maze game on a wrist and doesn’t tell time at all. The Vagabonde, you’ll find, is simultaneously more practical and far more luminescent, which of course makes it perfect for our purposes. Plus, under the hood is a movement worthy of the beautiful dial: Hautlence’s caliber B30, an in-house automatic movement assembled by H. Moser & Cie’s watchmakers. Just try not to get lost in that maze of light.

Electrical Lighting

If you thought tiny glass tubes filled with radioactive material were the craziest it gets, hold on to your seats. A select few spectacular watches have pioneered the use of fully electrical lighting without the use of any batteries. Powered entirely by traditional watch barrels and a dynamo system, these mechanical watches use micro-LEDs to illuminate their dials on demand. Unmatched for brightness and flair, these are not just artistic uses of light, but some of the most superb concept watches ever made.

Panerai Submersible Elux LAB-ID PAM01800

Inspired by a historical Panerai patent for Elux, a lighting system for naval systems, the Elux LAB-ID features a whopping six total barrels, four of which drive a micro dynamo, which in turn lights up a total of 160 micro-LEDs. On a single wind, the Elux LAB-ID can glow continuously for up to 30 minutes, as indicated by a power reserve bar at 6 o clock. Most impressive of all is that Panerai have managed (I can only imagine by some feat of mechanical alchemy) to connect both the hands and the dot on the bezel to this same electrical system.

De Bethune DB28GS Swordfish

De Bethune have carved out a name for themselves as not only one of the first true independent watchmakers of the modern era but also the pioneers of a particular style of horological art. This is perhaps most true of all of the stunning DB28GS Swordfish, which features an instantly striking colour palette reminiscent of a wetsuit. But the Swordfish’s true boast is an electrical illumination system that radiates from each cardinal point on the dial. This complication was developed in-house by DB in 2019 and is, just like the Panerai, entirely mechanical. Yet the two watches diverge here: while the Panerai uses LEDs to evoke an effect similar to lume but more brilliant, the Swordfish employs bright white lights to maximize visibility with a truly unique appearance. Either in or out of water, this is a watch sure to turn heads and serve you faithfully.

Lume as Material

Lume has a certain beauty all its own, it’s true, but the effect is elevated to another level when paired with other materials. Whether a part of the case or a multi-part dial, a clever inclusion of Super-LumiNova creates a totally unique effect that only the finest watchmakers have learned to master.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Split-Seconds Chronograph GMT Large Date

A member of Audemars Piguet’s ultra-high-end Royal Oak Concept collection, the Split-Seconds Chronograph GMT Large Date can only be compared to a concept car. Read: hyper-exclusive, meant to push the bounds of watchmaking can do, and generally destined to end up as the belonging of some well-heeled rapper or overpaid athlete. Thankfully, the rest of us are at least able to admire from a distance. While a watch of this caliber does have a lot to break down, the most relevant detail here is the beautiful inclusion in its carbon-fibre case of traces of blue-emission lume. As such, when exposed to UV light the case will glow in organic patterns following the natural layout of the fibre. It’s a design more than worthy of the spectacular mechanical innovation under the hood, which powers a date, GMT, and rattrapante chronograph.

GoS Skädi

One of my personal favourite timepieces, the Skädi is quintessential GoS, the brand known for its use of Damascus steel and a beautiful Viking aesthetic. Named for the Viking goddess of winter, its dial pairs a fully-lumed baseplate covered with a translucent slice of mother-of-pearl. This means that when exposed to light, the dial begins to shine through the marbled, cloudy texture of its translucent colour, patterning the light. The effect evokes the sheen of the Sun reflecting off a fresh bed of snow. Plus, it’s made to pop all the more by the restrained colour palette of the rest of the watch, which uses yellow gold and Damascus steel coated with black PVD. To complete the piece’s Viking theme, the caseband and lugs are engraved with a Viking knot pattern. But nothing beats the effect of that dial. It’s almost enough to make me like the cold.