Best LUME around

Huttfuzz · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:33 am

So we all know that Breitlings Lume are good, but not great. What are, in your opinions, the brands that have diving watches with the best lumes?

Thanks for sharing.

Driver8 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:16 am

To be honest I personally wouldn't rate Breitling as having very good lume at all. The very best lume in my experience is found on watches by Omega, Panerai, Doxa, Lumtech and Seiko. Seiko's Lumibrite compound absolutely kicks Superluminova' backside IMHO.

Other than that you get into the realms of the watch manufacturers that use tritium filled tubes on the dial. Doxa made one watch like that, but Ball are probably the biggest exponents of "tube-technology". They can be very bright indeed.

Roffensian · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:50 am

As Driver8 says tritium tubes are going to be the brightest. The problem with that is that tritium begins fading immediately. It'll last a good while, but will be completely dead in around 30 years.

Huttfuzz · **Posted:** Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:36 pm

Thanks for the answer.

Appreciated.

MarkJnk · **Posted:** Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:13 pm

I've tried many... too many to admit to.

The best have been...
Omega PO Chrono
Doxa 5000T
Stowa Prodiver
Omega Ploprof 1200m
Seiko Monster
GP SeaHawk II (never owned it buy have seen enough pics to know it has killer lume)

Most of the higher end companies use good Superluminova or equivalent, the difference comes down to how much real estate they devote to lume. More = brighter. Breitling uses great lume, crisp, bright and long lasting, they just don't have large areas of it. The end result is the same, you can read the time all night long, you just can't read a newspaper by the light coming off it like my examples above.

dhalem · **Posted:** Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:25 pm

The lume on my UN Maxi Marine blows the Breitlings away. But as Mark points out, it has much larger lumed areas.

Huttfuzz · **Posted:** Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:56 pm

Good to know, and i love that UN of yours by the way! What a great dial!

Otto · **Posted:** Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:37 pm

Of the dive watches I have owned (including Breitling, Seiko and Oris, as well as those listed in my sig), the Panerai and the Planet Ocean lume are the best by a mile.

I also have 2 Luminoxes, which aren't as bright but they don't need to be charged with light, and they just don't fade at all. Open the watch box in the dark and they're all you can see

br549 · **Posted:** Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:33 am

I don't really have a dog in this fight since all I own are Breitlings and a few others that don't have lume so I really can't offer an opinion. I do have a thought and a question though.
I rememeber this thread from a few months ago concerning Lum Tech watches. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11132&hilit=lum+tec
Given the above statements concerning the amount of lume used then I would think these watches would pretty well win the lume battle hands down. I know several members here were either thinking about buying one or maybe already had one. What's the concensus on these. Is the lume as good as they claim?

Huttfuzz · **Posted:** Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:46 am

The PO has been on my wishlist for a while now...

DZar · **Posted:** Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:13 am

i think panerai by a mile....

Huttfuzz · **Posted:** Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:52 am

Yeah i wish i could have one, but i think they are so overpriced, even used, they don't lose much value.

Mellow Yellow · **Posted:** Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:36 pm

Is there a sensible way of upgrading the lume on a watch if you're not happy with it?

Jay · **Posted:** Thu Nov 26, 2009 4:55 pm

Most Panerai and the UN MMD are my fav's.

Driver8 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:59 am

Mellow Yellow wrote:

Is there a sensible way of upgrading the lume on a watch if you're not happy with it?

Not sure it it's a sensible way or not, but there are watch restorers who may be prepared to do a little reluming for you. In fact I wonder is a couple of the restorer guys in the Vintage section would oblige (for a fee of course!).

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