Do we really need lume?
I’ve been looking at the pictured watch a lot recently and wondering if it’s not a great do it all design. It’s a nice size, has lovely zaratzu details and the 100m of WR elevates it from just being a dress watch. Then I noticed the lack of lume. Actually, it turns out a lot of GS watches don’t have it. That bothered me. Surely a do it all watch needs lume? I’m now not so sure. While lume looks pretty, I have only ever been in one situation where it’s actually been essential for telling the time and that was deep in the Atacama desert. If I find myself camping in the desert again, I probably won’t be wearing a Grand Seiko.
What about you guys, do you find lume useful day to day?
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Jp
Welcome to my WatchCrunch profile.
Wimbledon, London, UK
Member since
Last active: 3 min ago
7.28” / 18.50 cm
For me, lume is a requirement, along with date. I have young children that get up at random times of the night and I find myself checking the time every time they, and I, are up. It'll be like that for the foreseeable future for me.
Plus, they're so fun to look at.
Nice, but not necessary. If you are voluntarily in a dark environment, you’d know what to wear…
It depends on the watch. A sports watch or a diver, I want blinding lume. If it's a more casual or dress watch I could care less.
Good question to think about! 👍
Yes it is a must for me, I don't like a lot of GS watches because if this. My favourite model to date is the sbge285 mistflake.
Watches with no lume = That one friend that doesn't like to drink at all so yall just zip coffee and tea during happy hour.
As has been mentioned, depends on the watch. Lume would look ridiculous on this one:
But on this one I think it’s really cool:
And it’s obligatory ofc on dive / tool watches!
For the GS you showed: a tiny bit of lume on the hands and markers would be fine, but no lume: absolutely fine as well / would not impact my buying decision.
Highly polished indicies are the lume of old & designed to capture low light situations.
It’s called a dress watch and their for grownups. : )
For me, lume is a requirement, along with date. I have young children that get up at random times of the night and I find myself checking the time every time they, and I, are up. It'll be like that for the foreseeable future for me.
Plus, they're so fun to look at.
A date complication is very useful! GS date windows always look a little awkward to me though. Unless a daydate, the date should always be at 6 imo
For me, lume is a requirement, along with date. I have young children that get up at random times of the night and I find myself checking the time every time they, and I, are up. It'll be like that for the foreseeable future for me.
Plus, they're so fun to look at.
When the kids get you up, do you not flick on the bedside light anyway?
It all depends, for some yes for practicals reasons. For me no, but it is nice to have. When buying it is not a consideration. I have looked at a few of the cheaper (!) Grand Seikos that have no lume. According to a fair few reviews people say that the hands are so reflective that lume is not strictly necessary. Suppose no lume is watch dependant. If it was the same watch with lume or no lume I would take the lume. But for me I cannot really say when I have actually needed it.
Indeed, lume is really significant to me as a woman. In my opinion, it makes the watch more beautiful, especially when it glows. I totally agree that it's unfortunate that not all GS models feature lume. Of course, everyone has personal preferences. There exist thousands of exquisite timepieces, and who knows, you might find another one appealing.
I have no issues with the lack of lume on my white birch:
I have always had watches with bad lume so never really phased me. I dont wear a watch when i am sleeping
It seems kind of like one of those things that has a practical use case for certain people in certain watches but is ultimately a minor spec for enthusiasts to bicker about and use to reinforce our good/bad opinions about a given brand or piece. Sorta like screw-down crowns, water resistance above 100m or even power reserves beyond 50 hours. It matters sometimes to someone but not nearly as much as we in the hobby want to believe.
As an owner of the lumeless SBGA413, I can confirm that the shiny is so shiny it acts like lume with very little light. Take with a grain of salt because my vision prefers night to day 😅
Wait till you get older. You'll be happy you have that lume.
I don't. Few of my watches have lume. Lume can be pretty and fun, but I rarely make practical use of it. There is almost always enough ambient light to read the watch. At night at home I have clocks that glow, or I could even ask Google to tell me. The few times when I could have used the lume, like in a movie theater, the lume wasn't charged anyway, so it didn't do any good. While lume might be nice to have, I don't get the obsession with it.
I don't get why 100m water resistance matters for that Grand Seiko either. It's on a leather strap, you're not going to jump in a pool with it. 50m, or even 30m, would be fine for any water its likely to encounter (and it would likely survive the pool). I wash my 30m water resistant SBJ249 under the tap all the time (makes it sparkle) and it's none the worse for wear.
Totally agree. Most of the time it is not necessary and by the time you are somehwere completely dark, its charge is depleted.
Disagree about the water resistance though. I like that it’s a watch you could take on holiday or on an adventure. You can always change the strap. Apparently their bracelet fits this watch too.
Lume is useful for when I am out and about at night on the bus or on the back passenger seat. I know that with enough polishing you might not need lume. BUT it is usually the watches on the pricier side that has that kind of polishing and do you want to flash that kind of watch at night in the dark?
But of course all of these problems can be resolved by getting a watch by this little company called Casio. You can get both lume and no-lume with most of their watches!
Press the light button: lume… take your finger off: no lume!
Genius!
I don’t know if the watch thieves are on to GS. They only like the kind of watches that get name dropped in rap songs.
For me lume is a nice to have and not really a requirement or deal breaker. If I wake in the middle of the night I never look at a watch I simply touch my iphone screen to wake it up and the time is easy to read. Much easier than trying to tell the time on a lumed watch.
Lume is a must unless it's a dress watch then it's excusable. But it's nice to see a GS without a damn power reserve indicator on the dial. Why ruin a good dial with such a stupid complication
Very true
I’ve been sick for the past week, upper respiratory infection, needed to know what time it is to take all this damn medicine in the middle of the night. Orient Ray II to the rescue
Was able to take all my medicine on time, at the right hour. 🍻
Hope you’re better,does orient use lumibright? Looks giid
Hope you’re better,does orient use lumibright? Looks giid
Meant to say good,not giid
Yes.
I have found lume in practice next to useless, unless it is really bright and long-lasting - like in a Lorus lumibright or a tritium watch. The reason is that when you need lume the most, you typically find that its charge has ran out. I rather have dress watches with highly reflective markers, as they even pick up light in gloomy confitions.
Hope you’re better,does orient use lumibright? Looks giid
I don’t know what they use, but I’m assuming so, this thing is legible all night. Incredible. I bought a $900 Certina once and this Orient kicked its ass. Sent that watch back.
Yes I need lume for my on calls and didn’t realise it didn’t have lume until I took a nap
Don't need it for a dress watch, that is for certain.
When it gets darker earlier I do find it useful. Or just get a watch with tritium tubes.
Lume is definitely overrated imo. There are a few microbrands with incredible lume, but for 99% of watches in every price point, it's a nice gimmick
That being said I do like the aesthetic of lume on a dial