A frosty new color addition to the military-grade MIL-SPEC 3500 comes in answer to the technical standards of the US Department of Defence – as do all Luminox watches, ever since the Swiss outfit was approached in 1992 by the Assistant Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Officer for the Navy SEALs.
Since then, by association, the watches’ dial’s 25-year-life-span tritium gas tubes have kept rescue teams, elite adventurers (Bear Grylls among them), steal-fighter pilots and first-responder units on time in all light conditions, worldwide.
So it’s always a welcome sight when Luminox comes out with a bold new rendition. Especially when it comes to the 3350, which to give it its full credit comes up to the tough ‘MIL-PRF-46374G TYPE III CLASS 1’ standard-issue brief.
The new edition to the series retains these uncompromising demands for build quality, including 300 metre water resistance through a clever construct of proprietary ‘CARBONOX+’ carbon epoxy and titanium rotating bezel. This gives the timepiece an incredible strength to weight ratio while also being highly resistant to saltwater corrosion.
‘Beneath the surface’ is the specialised ETA F06.412 quartz movement with upped battery life, as well as HeavyDrive and PreciDrive features. With HeavyDrive technology, the watch gets a counter-impulse once impacted which prevents the hands from skipping accidentally, and allows the delicate innards to tolerate unbalances significantly better than normal.
Meanwhile, ETA’s recently developed PreciDrive tech optimizes the time precision of the watch to +/-10 seconds/year deviation (dependent on wearing conditions). Thanks to an additional thermo-compensation unit, the motor pulses according to changes in the ambient and watch temperature.
$895, luminox.com