One could buy a $2,475 silk and cashmere Christmas wreath from Loro Piana or set the holiday dinner table with Christmas crackers from Asprey of London, at $370 each. But for the aspiring plutocrat determined to make a suitably festive impression, there might be an alternative: Simply invite a few dozen collectors of contemporary watches over and then dim the lights.
Such has been the popularity of luminescent watches this year that a random sample could help a gathering achieve Rockefeller Center brilliance.
Consider the latest model from A. Lange & Söhne’s Lumen family, a Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon distinguished by its green-glowing sub dials, date and moon phase indicator. Or perhaps the recent Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept, a split-seconds chronograph model, capable of timing two concurrent events. Its case is made of what the brand describes as “chroma forged carbon,” a polymer infused with Super-LumiNova to produce swirling blue patterns with a bioluminescent look.
Any holiday soiree worth its canapés has to have one attendee that outshines the rest. In the watch universe this year, that would involve a face-off between IWC and Panerai.
IWC introduced a ceramic compound named Ceralume, showcased in a Pilot’s Chronograph model whose every surface emitted an after-dark glow. Panerai took a different approach with the Submersible Elux Lab-ID. Its push-to-illuminate party trick might be judged the horological equivalent of light-up reindeer earrings, but when you consider that the LEDs in its dial and bezel are powered by miniature generators with no batteries required, the comparison fades (unlike the watch, of course).
Ask watchmakers why we are suddenly surrounded by radiant watches and their answers range from the philosophical to the almost political.
“When you see lightness — whether it is day or night — you are happy,” said Carlos Rosillo, the co-founder and chief executive of Bell & Ross. “At the moment, it might be that the world is a little sad or depressed, and I think it’s important to give light.”
In 2023 the brand introduced the BR-X5 Green Lum, with a titanium case and an outer shell and bezel insert made of a quartz fiber composite that emitted a ghostly green glow. This year, it was followed by the Blue Lum model, whose cyan composite case looks as if it had been produced in a fairy tale ice palace.
Small independent watch brands have been pioneering an expressive, experimental approach to luminous dials for years, so they could add some additional brightness to a seasonal selection.
“We’ve been integrating luminous material as a design signature since we started seven-plus years ago,” Ming Thein, the founder of Horologer Ming in Malaysia, wrote in an email. “There is an element of whimsy and escapism — a mechanical watch has not been a necessity for a very long time, but instead serves the purpose of bringing a little joy to the wearer every time they look at their wrists.
“It’s probably also a bit of nostalgia, too,” he continued. “There were a lot of fun uses for glow-in-the-dark things while the current generation of collectors was growing up, be it Hot Wheels or those stars that you stuck on your wall as a kid.”
Ming debuts this year included the 20.01 Series 3, which used a borosilicate dial with 600 laser-etched cavities, each filled by hand with luminous pigment, to create an intricate spiral pattern of lume. There also was the 37.02 Minimalist, with pure-white luminous pigment, a rarity in the industry.
Despite their apparent simplicity, luminous watches are often the results of groundbreaking material innovation.
To create the Arcanaut Bonehead watch, James Thompson, the brand’s co-owner, filled a lightweight, rigid and irregular lattice of aluminum foam — typically used to strengthen hollow aeronautical components — with an opaque resin. He then milled the combination into discs and laid them over a layer of Super-LumiNova for an effect he described as looking like bone marrow, or sunlight streaming through foliage.
“My 8-year-old son, Alfred, wants a Bonehead for Christmas because it just makes him smile,” he said from his workshop in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Mr. Thompson, whose career has included collaborations with several other watch companies, said retaining a sense of childish wonder has been key to his process. “When I first started getting attention from some of the brands, I thought ‘OK, the fun goofy stuff got you to the big boys’ table, and now it’s time to go buy a tie and act your age’.”
But, after awhile, he realized he didn’t fit the corporate mind-set. “Now, for the soul of it, the wink, the hook of a watch,” he said, “I absolutely bounce ideas off my kids all the time.”
Given the sleigh-load of dazzlingly bright watches that have captivated watch fans this year, maybe he is not the only one.
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