Luminox is second to none when it comes to its familiarity with the outdoors. With impressive collaborations with the likes of the U.S. Navy SEALs (who has been an official partner for over three decades), the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue, and even Bear Grylls, the American watchmaker has garnered approval thanks to its robust, lightweight CARBONOX case material, long-lasting Luminox Light Technology with 25 years of dial glow, and all-around meticulous construction methods.
Last year, Luminox expanded its Pacific Diver range with a trio of chronographs and now it’s added a mechanical movement to the series for the first time ever. Let’s take a look at the Pacific Diver Automatic models.
While the introduction of an automatic movement to the brand’s flagship diver might seem like no big deal, it actually positions the Pacific Diver — the Luminox model most comparable watch to Omega’s legendary Seamaster — in a luxury range. For most utilitarian watches, quartz might be the way to go with its higher accuracy and resistance to shocks, lower overall maintenance, and longer power reserve, automatic movements are more in line with the spirit of the wristwatch.
Watchmaking began with mechanical movements, not being threatened by the cheaper, more accessible quartz timepieces until the 1970s. However, with the rise in enthusiasm for watches today, we’ve seen automatic and quartz cohabitating unlike ever before — although some brands may prefer one over the other. Of its 100+ references currently up for grabs on Luminox’s website, only 16 of them have automatic movements.
The new Luminox release consists of three models with nearly the same specs: XS.3101 (black dial), XS.3104 (blue dial), and XS.3101.H.SET (fully-lumed white dial). They’re powered by a Swiss-made Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement offering 38 hours of power reserve and viewable through the see-through caseback. On top of the 316L stainless steel cases with 200m of water resistance, the black and blue models have matching ceramic bezels, while the lumed white dial has a black bezel.
Unlike the other Pacific Diver releases available at the moment, the automatic models come in 42mm case sizes — somewhere in between the massive 44mm of the standard Pacific Diver and the 39mm of the Pacific Diver Ripple. Admittedly, this will still be rather large for some wearers but it’s also important to point out that Omega’s Seamaster is, you guessed it, 42mm across. The similarities don’t end there. All three of these new watches sport a very similar wave pattern across the dial, just like the Seamster also.
While the blue dive watch sports a classy stainless steel bracelet, the black and white dial versions feature black rubber straps. In fact, the black and white versions can be simply seen as the inverse of one another. Where the black model has white hour markers with blue-glowing lume, the white model has black non-lumed hour markers. Instead, the entire dial glows blue with fully-coated Super-LumiNova. Like the black and blue versions, the white model still features tritium-based LLT tubes around the outside of the dial, as well as lume surrounding the date window (although the date window itself isn’t illuminated so I’m not sure why this is necessary).
Case Size: 42mm
Case Thickness: 13mm
Case Material: 316L stainless steel
Water Resistance: 200m
Movement: Sellita SW200-1 automatic
Band: Steel bracelet (blue dial) or black rubber strap (white and black dials)
Limited Edition?: No
Apparently, Luminox figured that a fully-lumed dial with a rubber strap makes up in price for a standard dial with a stainless steel strap, because the blue XS.3104 and the white XS.3101.H.SET are priced the same at $1,395, while the black XS.3101 has a $1,295 price tag. Head over to Luminox’s website to learn more.
Previously featuring quartz movements, Luminox’s Pacific Diver range now gets automatic movements for the first time with a trio of models, including one with a fully-lumed dial.
