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Photo: IWC
IWC Schaffhausen has unveiled its latest innovation, Ceralume, a proprietary luminous ceramic technology. This pioneering development allows the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer to produce fully luminous ceramic watch cases for the first time.
The breakthrough is achieved through a highly engineered and patent-pending process developed by IWC’s engineering division XPL, which homogeneously mixes ceramic powders with high-grade Super-LumiNova pigments. In dark chamber tests, a concept watch utilising Ceralume technology — as can be seen on IWC ambassador and motorsport star Lewis Hamilton’s wrist — emitted a bright blueish light for over 24 hours.
British race car driver Lewis Hamilton had the honour of wearing the first fully luminous ceramic Ceralume Concept Watch (Photo: IWC)
Decades of ceramic expertise
IWC has a rich history of innovation in ceramic watchmaking, spanning nearly four decades. Since introducing the world’s first wristwatch with a black zirconium oxide ceramic case in 1986, IWC has continued to push the boundaries of ceramic technology.
The company’s significant milestones include the creation of watch cases made from brown silicon nitride ceramic and black boron carbide ceramic, one of the hardest known substances. The introduction of a range of Top Gun models in striking coloured ceramic marked another significant achievement. Now, IWC is set to redefine the market once more with Ceralume.
“With the first fully luminous ceramic case rings, we underscore our role as a pioneer and innovator in ceramic watches,” says Dr Lorenz Brunner, department manager of research and innovation at IWC. “The development of Ceralume took several years. The main challenges we faced were producing watch cases with maximum homogeneity and meeting our exacting quality standards. To achieve these goals, we engineered a groundbreaking new manufacturing process tailored to the unique combination of ceramic powders and Super-LumiNova pigments.”
High-grade Super-LumiNova pigments are combined with ceramic raw materials in the manufacturing process (Photo: IWC)
Innovation that shines
The luminous effect of Ceralume is achieved by integrating high-grade Super-LumiNova pigments into the ceramic raw materials. Super-LumiNova, engineered by Swiss technology company RC Tritec, functions like a light storage battery.
It absorbs light energy from natural or artificial light, stores it temporarily, and then emits it as visible light. This cycle can be repeated indefinitely without causing the material to age or diminish its light storage capacity.
Creating Ceralume involves a highly engineered process. Conventional white ceramic is made by mixing zirconium oxide with other metallic oxides, forming a green body, which is then machined close to the final case geometry and sintered at high temperatures in a kiln. To make the ceramic glow in the dark, Super-LumiNova pigments are added to the mix of raw materials.
The first Ceralume Concept Watch is designed as a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 (Photo: IWC)
One of the key challenges in developing Ceralume was achieving a perfectly homogeneous mix of raw materials despite their different particle sizes. IWC’s engineers addressed this challenge by customising a dedicated ball milling process and adapting the parameters of the sintering and grinding processes to the luminous ceramic.
As a result, the first fully luminous ceramic Ceralume Concept Watch, designed as a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, was born. It features a case, dial, and rubber strap that are all enriched with Super-LumiNova pigments. The dial’s brass base is coated with a Super-LumiNova solution before the luminescent layer is printed. The white rubber strap is produced through an injection molding process and similarly infused with Super-LumiNova pigments.
