The Seiko SNZF07K1 - There she glows!!!

I have always been fascinated by all things that glow in the night. There wer 2 major nuclear accidents that I remember from my childhood, the 3-mile island accident in Pennsylvania and the Chernobyl Nuclear meltdown in Ukraine. Both of these left indelible marks on the landscape and I always wondered what happened to the creatures that reside in the area. I dreamt of glow-in-the-dark rabbits and fish. My younger sister had those little stars that she stuck on top of her bed and these glowed when she slept.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. It glows fiercely in the dark and was employed by the military for their watches. Good examples are the Panerai Radiomir and the Hamilton military MIL-W-46374 with the H3 mark on its dial. Due to its radioactive nature (with a half-life of 15 years) and the dangers this posed, watch manufacturers stopped using this and started using luminescent paint.

Seiko went one step further and developed lumibrite which is a fluorescent luminous paint. Of course, most watches these days especially diver's watches have glow-in-the-dark indices (the hour markers on a watch's dial). Again, Seiko did something better. They made a watch with a lumibrite dial that just glows and glows even after brief exposure to sunlight. The result is the Seiko SNZF07K1, a watch that eerily glows like nothing else. (By this time, the Orient watch company which is now owned by the Seiko corporation also put out a similar model.)

I got a sample myself as I just couldn't help but fall in love with the glow-in-the-dark dial. It is just out of this world! Here are some photos:

as with most Seiko watches, it is the chapter ring that makes the dial seem larger than it is

How's the build quality? It's not bad. It is an inexpensive watch as it is part of the Seiko 5 line with a water resistance of only 100m. It is an automatic watch powered by the 7S36 movement with 23 jewels. I am estimating that the power reserve is only above 30 hours. The case reminds me of the Seiko tuna, a heavy duty diver's watch that is a grail watch for a lot of Seiko fans out there.

the crown is easy to grip

the case is solid

And now... here is what we've all been waiting for... the glow-in-the-dark dial.

glow and glow and glow and glow and glow and glow and glow and glow

And of course, I have to compare it to other watches so here you go.

the watch is too obvious - don't wear it in the cinema!

I hope you enjoyed this post. This watch is just too fascinating. Well, it's not the watch but the dial that I love. Now I'm wondering how long the glow will last for before it starts corroding.