A history of phosphorescence

Luminous pigments for the watch industry have a long tradition in Switzerland. Starting from Radium paints early last century to fully environmental-friendly high-tech ceramics: Swiss Super-LumiNova® Grade X1 . The developments have taken huge steps. Nowadays, all the Swiss watch brands exclusively use Swiss Super-LumiNova®, which is fully produced by a family-owned company in Switzerland.

Until the early sixties, radium-luminous compounds were widely used by the timepiece and aviation instrument industry.

Realizing the risk of radium, we started in the late fifties to develop a new self-luminous compound which was activated by Tritium to replace Radium completely. With its very low radiotoxicity and leaving no direct radiation outside of the watch, Tritium luminous compound was considered to be a perfect alternative.

30 years later in the early nineties, Super-LumiNova®, non-radioactive and high performance phosphorescent pigments were developed and immediately introduced to the entire watch industry. After that, the production of radioactive luminous compounds was completely stopped.

 

Today, all exclusive and well-known watch brands use our Swiss Super-LumiNova® for their application on hands and dials. This 100% Swiss-made pigment  is not suffering any decay and guarantees full performance over the lifetime of the watch. Full night legibility of timepieces can be assured.