Quartz / Swiss
The new Luminox BlackOut SEAL diving watch combines rugged military styling with tritium lighting and really low price. Finally offered in a black-on-black guise, it may be perfect both for a person interested in a “stealthy” look, and a member of the law enforcement/military community who plans to wear the piece with a black tactical vest and night vision goggles rather than with a pair of trendy blue jeans. The only thing that compromises a little the overall menacing appearance of the timekeeper is the colored logo of the watchmaking brand, but I sort of find it kinda cute if you know what I mean.
If you are familiar with Luminox current design language, you will immediately see that the new watch belongs to the 3050 EVO Navy SEAL collection with its usual for watchmaker massive, deliberately rugged case with the only difference being the color scheme: almost all colored elements on the dial are now delivered in different shades of darker gray.
Made of carbon-reinforced polymer, the case is so light that sometimes you forget that you actually wear a watch on your wrist.
Luckily, due to the composite’s natural strength, you can afford yourself such a luxury without a risk of seriously damaging your watch. Even the mineral glass that covers the BlackOut’s face is made of an extra-hard material highly resistant to bumps and scratches (you should still bear in mind that this is not a bullet-proof glass: you CAN put a particularly nasty scratch on the crystal, if you buy this watch as beater and treat it as such.)
Like all Luminox watches, this one uses a set of tritium tubes on its hour indexes, as well as on hour, minute and second hands. There is also an extra tube on its unidirectional rotating bezel located precisely at 12 o’clock.
Compared to the usual Superluminova or some other luminous paints of similar chemical composition, the LLT tubes not only grow brighter (by at least an order of magnitude,) but also tend to last longer without losing its properties. Also, while Superluminova compounds need to be “recharged” every four or five hours, the radioactive tritium tubes usually glow for decades.
Available at an official price of $295 and equipped with a Swiss quartz movement (probably, the same Ronda 515 AIG 6 caliber that powers their Luminox Sentry collection,) the Luminox BlackOut SEAL seems to be one of the best affordable military watches on the market if you are into this kind of styling.
WWR Verdict
Originality 4.5/5
Build Quality: 4.5/5
Usability: 4.5/5
Overall Legibility: 4.5/5
Nighttime Legibility: 4.5/5
Value for Money: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
UPDATE: Here is a short video of a guy actually wearing the watch on his (‘skinny’ as he puts it) wrist. You can see that the watch is by no means small. However if you prefer the M65 field jacket to an Armani suit, the size of the watch will probably be not an issue here.
Enjoy the video below:
See also: Luminox Essential Gear Land military quartz watch
Photo: Luminox
Luminox BlackOut SEAL diving watch specification
Price range: From $295 (MSRP)
Movement: Swiss quartz
Complications: Date
Power reserve: Up to 45 months
Case material: Carbon-reinforced polymere
Case shape: Round
Transparent case back: No, solid metal
Case size: 44.00 mm
Case height: No data
Dial: Black
Hands: Black, luminous (tritium LLT tubes)
Water resistance: 200 meters
Strap: Black polyurethane on steel buckle
Crystal: Mineral
Back: Solid, with stamped US Navy SEALs logo