Case size for the two Recon watch collection is slightly different. The Recon Point Man is 45mm wide and the Recon NAV SPC is 46mm wide. Each comes in a “carbon reinforced” polycarbonate case – which is a strong form of plastic. The watch industry takes itself very seriously so you rarely see the term “plastic” used for parts which are in fact plastic. Even fancy names like polycarbonate and polyurethane aren’t fully spelled out. Instead you get terms like “PC” or “PU.” Though our favorite pretentious term for a plastic component is “resin.” Anyhow, the polycarbonate cases on the watches make them light, but the caseback is still in steel.
An interesting design element on the dials are the hour markers from 9 to 12 o’clock. Luminox puts them in a different orientation, which oddly enough you don’t tend to notice at first glance. This section of the dial also gets a special color. I don’t know if there is a purpose for this or if it is just meant to look cool. The Recon watches do make good use of color though, and feel a bit more designer than Luminox’s typical tactical fare. Of course, being a Luminox, the dial and hands contain Swiss MB Microtec H3 tritium self-glowing gas tubes for excellent darkness illumination.
Aside from the compass on the NAV SPC, the real difference between the two watches (well there is the size difference) is that the Recon NAV SPC has a 24 hour GMT hand. It isn’t a huge GMT hand, but it is easy enough to spot and offers the ability to track a second timezone. Also, the inner 24 hour scale on Luminox watches has now been put to another use. Both the Recon NAV SPC and Point Man watches contain Swiss Ronda quartz movements (also with the date).
Durable and water resistant to 200 meters, the Recon watches have yet another feature that watch lovers will prefer. Many watches at this price point in the Luminox line (such as the Navy SEALs watches) have mineral crystals, but these have sapphire ones. There are a few reasons for potentially preferring mineral, but we tend to prefer sapphire crystals for their overall scratch resistance . The sapphire crystal is further AR coated.
Which the new Recon NAV SPC only comes on the PU strap, Luminox offers the Recon Point Man with a really nice NATO-style strap that is a bit thicker than most out there. We really like that NATO strap actually, and it is available in either olive green or gray. The Luminox Recon NAV SPC as shown is the ref. A.8831.MI, and we expect most of these newer NAV SPC models to be in the 8830 range (there is also the A.881.KM with the metric scale). The Recon Point Man collection is the 8820 series and shown is the ref. A.8823 (A.8823.MI) in gray and blue, and the A.8825 (A.8825.MI) in green, and the A.8821 (A.8821.MI) in red and white. Retail price for the Luminox Recon Point Man is $425, and likely to be just a bit more for the Recon NAV SPC watches. luminox.com
