Luminous hands and lume

Super-LumiNova is the luminous material on the hands and indices of most watches today: a phosphorescent pigment (strontium aluminate) that charges in light and glows in the dark. It is not radioactive and does not wear out — but it fades during the night, so it glows brightly for the first few hours and faintly by five in the morning. A minute under a lamp charges it again.

Older watches used radium or tritium paint, which glowed on its own; today that is rare — a few watches have small tubes of tritium gas. Whether a specific item has luminous hands is listed in the specifications ("luminous"); on dive watches it is standard, see dive watches.

If you have a question about a particular watch, ask Nord, our assistant, at the bottom right — or write to us.