Is lume actually useful to you?

Flex item only

Yes because I generally sleep with the watch on and wake up a lot, it helps me see the time

How?

With lume.

I generally wake up 3 or 4 times a night and I usually always see the time, so lume is useful to me.

For anything I'm actually going to use regularly, it's one of the deciding factors.

Do I have watches without? Yes.

Do they get worn often? No. (I own three. An Orient curator dress watch a Hamilton Thinline Tuxedo Quartz, and a Vostok "Driver" hand wound.)

Legibility, especially at night or in low light, through various ocular attachments or without, is very important for my uses.

Casio and Suunto make awesome tilt switches in their digitals, but you have to move your hand at just the right angle to get them to light up. When they do, they go out too fast. Or you have to shake your hand like you got stung.

Neither of which is handy if your hands are occupado with something else.

So no lume, hard pass.

Weak lume is workable, but strong is preferred. (Quick touch up with an led flashlight can help weak lume)

Now for pics, and I'm digging this trend of mixing two lume colors btws.

Mostly no. On a camping trip or something, maybe.

Wouldn’t you need to charge it first to see it?

I mean I don’t know, I am genuinely asking. Is there any lume that would last all throughout the night in dark?

My watch is close to my bed and when I wake up during the night, I check the time, so yes, lume is useful.

I need good lume because I work 3rd shift and tend to be outdoors most of my night.

In winter time my watches are under the sleeve, how I'm supposed to use it !!? ... well, I don't .

So your eyes need to adjust to the darkness for photoluminescent paint to be properly visible. It can take anywhere around 20min of darkness for your eyes to start seeing lume correctly.

Obviously individual eyes, the paint applied, and the level of light it was exposed to beforehand all play a role.

The gaw-100 is an exception to the auto light rotation trigger being tricky. Works every time for me where the 5610 does not

Yes, I am a bit insomniac, so it's good to be able to read the time at night (without disturbing my wife).

a good lume like that of Seiko and other Swiss ones, you charge them before going to sleep with the bedside lamp and the lume lasts all night

I don’t get enough time under the glare of that bright burning ball in the sky to even charge my Casioak. Lume may as well be a myth to me.

Can you name some watches that have that kind of lume please?

Seiko Monster Black Series

CWC MK2

Seiko Slim Turtle

Tudor Pelagos

Thank you. I will test some watches these days to see how actually usefull they are.

Yes, many, but not all. Then there's tritium . . . but that is a whole other thread.

Not useful tbh. I love seeing that initial burst of loom coming from outside, then I’m over it and couldn’t care less. Its nice to have strong lume though. Something pretty to look at when you’re bored. Light it up with your phone flashlight and it looks cool hehehe

I’m totally addicted to it. I particularly love to eat BGW9 as sprinkles on sorbet !

I don’t dive or anything so movie theaters is where I find the lume useful practically. Impractically, I shine torch on that and just watch it glow. Little things that make me happy lol

Yep, sleep with a watch on. Always have, since the late 1980's. So lume is important 👍🏻

I do

Nice blue or green lume is purely for aesthetic reasons. When I need real low or no light performance, nothing beats my Marathon Navigator tritium tube tech

Extremely helpful when breastfeeding/putting to sleep my son during the night. My Casio digitals just wouldn't do it as most of the time both my hands are occupied. A quick look at my 80€ Edifice that has lume is more the sufficient to keep track of time. Its lume is not great by any means, but in the dark room and thick hands the time is still legible enough.

I must admit, I'm genuinely surprised by the majority's view that lume is both useful and practical. It's clear that many find this feature valuable, and I appreciate hearing different perspectives. 🙏🏻

For me, however, I still struggle to see the utility of lume. While it's undoubtedly handy in low-light conditions, the need to remember to charge it detracts from its practicality in my eyes. Perhaps there's something I'm missing or haven't fully considered (perhaps never had a watch with that great lume), given the majority of comments and votes are in favor of lume.

I love Lume so much I pee sitting down and with the light off just to admire it on my Seiko. Help

I had this thought mNy a times. I think it's nice to have but for me it's not a deal breaker. IMO anybody needing a watch with loads of lume are gonna plan accordingly. Me personally, unless somethings change, my need to see my watch in the dark isn't necessary