Review of the Lüm-Tec RR2 Automatic Watch
Walter Shillington is an avid collector of mechanical watches. His reviews focus on inexpensive but often intriguing Chinese timepieces.
Lüm-Tec RR2 automatic
Walter B Shillington
When it comes to watches, I am fanatical, acquiring at least one every month. To stave off bankruptcy, these purchases are normally limited to interesting but modestly priced timepieces. For my latest birthday, however, I decided to splurge.
I belong to Watch Gang. Each month they dispatch a timepiece that retails for far more than my $30.00 subscription fee. For one month, I upped the payment to $300.00. This was a risky strategy because I had no idea what brand or model Watch Gang would send.
Three weeks later, my brand new Lüm-Tec RR2 arrived.
Description
The watch arrived, packaged in a light-colored wooden box equipped with spring-loaded hinges. With the timepiece removed, the container weighs 13.4 ounces (381 grams). Felt-like material lines its bottom and interior.
Wiegand’s Lüm-Tec RR2 automatic weighs in at 3.24 ounces (92 grams). When you include the crown, this watch spans 47.5mm. It is 11mm thick.
A sapphire crystal hovers over a white face with blue Arabic numbering. The date indicator is located at the three o’clock position.
This timepiece’s Miyota 9015 movement is enclosed within a shiny 316L stainless steel case. Its caseback incorporates a small window, which allows a view of the movement.
A screw-down type crown helps to provide a water resistance rating of 100 meters.
My watch came attached to a thick brown leather strap. This band is equipped with specialized spring bars, which allow easy removal and reattachment of the strap.
The Manufacturer
The Lüm-Tec brand is owned by Weigand Custom Watch, LLC. Weigand is a family-run business based in Mentor, Ohio. They build custom OEM and ODM production and private label watches.
Lüm-Tec is considered Weigand’s showcase brand, demonstrating its capability to produce innovative timepieces of high quality. Generally, this company manufactures watches in limited production runs. My watch, for example, was the 93rd RR2 manufactured in a series limited to 100 units.
Specifications
- Brand: Lüm-Tec
- Model: RR2
- Condition: New
- Place of Origin: USA
- Gender: Male
- Display: Analog
- Movement: Miyota 9015 automatic
- Features: Day of month, screw-down crown, strong luminosity, and quick-release strap
- Band material: Leather
- Band color: Brown
- Band width: 22 millimeters
- Clasp type: Buckle
- Dial color: White with blue Arabic numbering
- Dial window material: Anti-reflective sapphire
- Case material: 316L Stainless-steel
- Case diameter: 47.5 millimeters, including crown
- Case thickness: 11 millimeters
- Weight: 92 grams (3.24 ounces)
- Water resistance: 100 Meters. Suitable for snorkeling
Visual Appeal
The Lüm-Tec’s shiny stainless-steel case contrasts nicely against the watch’s white dial face, and the use of blue numbering adds a suggestion of crisp cheerfulness. Although I could read the date, a larger window would have been appreciated. I really liked the old-style blued hands with their healthy coating of luminous paint.
This timepiece’s caseback incorporates a window, which allows the user to view the movement. I would have preferred a larger opening but, perhaps, this would have affected watertight integrity.
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The sturdy and comfortable brown leather strap goes well with this watch.
Durability
The 316L stainless-steel case incorporates a screw-down crown. This combination provides an excellent defense against corrosion and water ingress, and the anti-reflective coated sapphire crystal further augments this protection.
In order to provide bright and long-lasting luminosity, the hands of this watch received eight coats of Lüm-Tec’s Super-Luminova photoluminescent material. From personal experience, I can attest that this watch is quite readable after seven hours of darkness.
Lüm-Tec matched this timepiece with a Miyota 9015 automatic movement. The 9015 can be wound by hand, and its power reserve, according to specifications, is 42 hours. This movement includes a hacking feature which allows the user to halt the second hand by fully extending the crown.
The included strap is composed of thick leather and should wear well.
Warranty and Customer Service
I noticed that the movement’s rotor would rapidly spin counter-clockwise every time I removed the watch from my wrist. Concerned that the timepiece might be defective, I sent the watch-head back to the manufacturer.
Ten days later, I received a phone call from a technician at Lüm-Tec. She explained that the ball-bearing mounted rotor was free-wheeling, a perfectly normal event. During her tests, however, the technician discovered that the watch was running nine seconds slow. She had adjusted the regulator to the point where the movement now gained a measly three seconds each day. The watch’s seals had also been lubricated.
After researching the Miyota 9015, I concluded that the technician, who is far more of an expert than myself, was correct. The rotor of this movement winds the mainspring only when it swings in a clockwise direction. When it returns, counter-clockwise, the rotor is simply free-wheeling on its ball-bearing.
It is worth noting that, although Lüm-Tec provides only the standard one-year limited warranty, they do offer a free timing adjustment service.
Accuracy
When I first received this watch, it ran three seconds slow. Later tests at the Lüm-Tec repair facility concluded that it lost nine seconds each day. The timepiece was regulated to a point where it gained three seconds. My final tests determined the watch ran six seconds fast.
Why did the repair facility’s accuracy reading differentiate from mine? Most likely, it was due to the difference in temperature between sunny California and chilly Nova Scotia.
When wound fully, I found this timepiece would continue to run for 46 hours.
Overall Impression
The Lüm-Tec RR2 is a great-looking watch that covers all the bases. It is solidly constructed, water-resistant, accurate, and can be easily read in the dark. This timepiece is expensive but should last for many years. The Lüm-Tec RR2 is recommended.
This watch is the first timepiece I’ve reviewed that comes equipped with a quick-release strap. Is this an option that would convince you to purchase a watch? Please fill in the poll below.
© 2018 Walter Shillington
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