Blue is the new hue for Bell & Ross’ sporty and aggressive BR X5 watch design.
It’s one thing to give a watch an entirely luminous case for nighttime use, but you have to fall in love with its appearance in daylight too. And for many watch aficionados, this is the sticking point when it comes to fully luminous case dials. You have to be able to wake up next to a watch in the morning and still like what you see, right? No concerns on that front with the Bell & Ross BR X5 Blue LUM watch, of course. This sports watch is a blue rendition of the model that launched last year, and these pale blue colours emitting aqua blue tones at night are a complete feast for the eyes in the dark.
Why Is Watch Lume So Cool?
We love watches with lashings of bright luminous material. What enthusiast doesn’t? You only need to watch one or two YouTube videos to see how crazy watch fans go over a touch of glow-in-the-dark paint on a watch dial. And that’s effectively what Super-LumiNova is. The material really came into effect during the 1990s, revolutionising an industry that was desperate to move away from radioactive substances like radium and replace it with something much safer.
“The Radium Girls” were the first to experience the horrifying side effects of exposure to radium – a radioactive material used for watch dials and clock displays in the early 1900s. Without going into too much detail, we can include headaches, fatigue, cancer and crumbling jawbones within this long list of symptoms. And to think these ladies on Panerai’s workbench would even lick the tips of their paintbrushes to get a finer point on the iconic Radiomir? Nevertheless, when the side effects were eventually realised, we moved on to less radioactive substances like Tritium – a material still used today, albeit inside tightly sealed gas tubes. Take a look at Ball watch designs like the Engineer II and II for more on that.
The photoluminescent technology that arrived in the 1990s was a relief for brands and any would-be-licking-paintbrush technicians since this material was safe to use. Super-LumiNova succeeded the earlier Lumi-Nova substance, both of which work in the same way – by absorbing light energy, storing it, and then releasing it as a glow. Its fluorescent qualities were a no-brainer for brands looking to keep legibility at the forefront of their tool watch designs. Of course, Super-LumiNova does not provide a continual glow like Tritium (which reacts with the phosphorus coating on the inside of the gas tube, releasing electrons and creating a cold light). Still, Super-LumiNova comes in several colours today and won’t make your teeth fall out. Should it be a deliberate consideration in every single watch? Absolutely not. Super-LumiNova on the dial of an elegant 18k gold dress watch would surely look out of place. But for tough, aggressive sports watches like the Bell & Ross BR X5 watch collection, it looks rather smart, especially when brands experiment with full lume dials and captivating luminous cases.
The New Bell & Ross BR X5 Blue LUM
Identical in design and construction to the Green LUM watch of last year, the new Bell & Ross BR X5 Blue LUM watch is a “blue” blueprint of the masculine sports design from the BR X5 line. In daylight, the case and dial appliques are a gentle powder blue, bearing residence on the wrist with a 41mm case diameter and a 12.8mm thickness. With the central portion of the case crafted from sandblasted grade 5 titanium and executed in a sleek black DLC coating, the watch is ergonomically designed for a lightweight feel. It exhibits a strong stealthy persona and packs in a 100-meter water-resistant capability, all the while, sandwiched between a bottom and upper section constructed from LM3D – a photoluminescent composite material. The material comprises quartz fibres and luminous material suspended inside a resin matrix. By night, the case elements glow in a rich blue hue, pairing with illuminating hour markers and hands against a rich matte black dial. Other features included in the construction of the Bell & Ross BR X5 Blue LUM watch include a screw-down crown and a sapphire crystal glass front with anti-reflective and scratch-resistant qualities. The back of the case showcases the working movement through a smoked sapphire crystal exhibition window.
Dial-wise – the BR X5 Blue LUM is just as impressive as the Green edition. The blue-coloured equivalent includes rounded baton-shaped hour markers (or pill markers) and straight, rounded central hour and minute hands. These are paired with a trim around the retrograde date display at 3 o’clock and a power reserve indicator on the opposite side of the dial. Although the whole point of these green and blue editions of the BR X5 watch collection is to celebrate luminosity, neither of the dials features the brand’s full-lume approach. But the aqua blue-coloured glow of the case and dial markings are exceptionally bright, proving particularly useful for activities during the night.
Propelling the glowing hands around the dial is the Calibre BR-CAL.323. This is a movement that is produced for the watchmaker by movement manufacturer, Kenissi. It runs at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour and produces a power reserve of 70 hours once fully wound. Suffice to say, if you were to leave this watch for a couple of days while alternating it with another favourite, you could return to it to find it keeps perfect time, even without the natural movement of the wrist. Kenissi movements are considered a solid step above your usual Sellita-based movements and offer an improved power reserve compared to standard entry-level watches.
To finish, Bell & Ross experts choose a ventilated black rubber band for this BR X5 Blue LUM watch. Perfect for active individuals, the strap will hold up under vigorous activity, enabling the skin to sweat and securing to the wrist with a black-coated deployant clasp.
If you’d like to learn more about the Blue LUM version of the new Bell & Ross BR X5 watch, you can email our sales team at Jura Watches on help@jurawatches.co.uk or call and place an order with us on 01335 453453.
