The Luminox Story

In 1993, Americans Richard Timbo and Barry Cohen decided to develop a watch with unique illumination. In cooperation with a Swiss physical institute and the Swiss watch industry, a wristwatch was built that was equipped with a power-independent illumination system. Thus Luminox, the ultimately brightest watch in the world, was born. All Luminox watches are entirely manufactured in Switzerland and meet the highest quality standards. For the watch's identity, the name LUMINOX was chosen, which highlights the significance of the extraordinary illumination system.

The milestone in Luminox's history was in 1994 when Luminox was contacted by an officer of a US Navy SEALs team to develop a robust dive watch for night operations for this elite unit. After 9 months of development, the Navy SEALs Series S-3000 was completed and first delivered to the US Navy Seals. Later it was introduced with great success in the civilian market in the USA. After selling several 100,000 wristwatches, in 1999 the Navy SEALs with a stainless steel case, Series S-3100, and in 2000 the Navy SEALs with a titanium case, Series S-3600, were added to the US Army's range and introduced to the US American market.

In 1999, Luminox was contacted by Edwards Air Force Base and informed that the Air Force greatly appreciated Luminox watches and wore them themselves during their bomber missions. The only thing they didn't like was that it was made for the Navy... So, development of a wristwatch for the US Air Force was immediately started. The S-3402 "Stealth" Pilot Watch is now worn by the pilots of the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth aircraft during their missions.

The Illumination System

Every Luminox watch contains small self-luminous Traser illuminating elements, manufactured by the world's leading Swiss physical institute for illumination components Mb-Microtec. These illuminating elements (borosilicate glass capsules) are firmly embedded in the hands, the hour markers on the dial, and additionally on the rotating bezel of Luminox dive watches. To ensure time readability at all times, even in complete darkness, the mark at position 12 on all Luminox models is designed with orange color and green color for the other positions.

Tritium Luminox wristwatches do not require an external light source to charge the color on the dial, as conventional luminous paint requires, nor do they require a push of a button to illuminate the dial, as is required for watches with electroluminescence.

The US Army recognized the superiority of the new light sources early on – their use is prescribed in specification MIL-W-46374F. The Swiss military also recognized the advantages of these light sources and equipped the night sight of the assault rifle with a light source.

Power-independent TRITIUM illumination system:

• No battery power
• No charging by daylight
• No button push
• The luminosity of Luminox watches surpasses that of watches with ordinary tritium luminous paint. And this is guaranteed for 25 years from the date of purchase.