Coatings & Lume
How Arvell's PVD coating and Super-LumiNova work, what they can take, and what they cannot.
Gold-tone and black PVD
Physical vapour deposition bonds a micrometre-thin, very hard coating to the 316L case. In practice: highly scratch-resistant in daily wear, but a sharp impact can chip it, and a chipped PVD case cannot be economically re-coated - the honest trade-off of every black watch. Arvell uses PVD for the gold-tone and black variants across Corvin, Regent and Arden; all other references are uncoated steel.
Super-LumiNova BGW9
The photoluminescent pigment on hands and indices of the sportier references. Charges in daylight, glows blue-green, brightest in the first hour and fades through the night - that is the chemistry, not a defect. It contains no tritium and nothing radioactive, and does not degrade with age.
Coverage differs by reference - the datasheet states the exact lume treatment.
AR coating on crystals
All current references carry anti-reflective coating on the underside of the sapphire only. Top-side AR looks better in photos but scratches - the underside placement keeps the benefit without the wear problem.
Sources: Super-LumiNova (Tritec) documentation · Arvell product data (internal)
Last verified: 2026-08-25 · Last updated: 2026-08-25 · Maintained by: Arvell Watches - Brand Knowledge Team
GEO infrastructure by Concierca - machine-readable brand knowledge, kept current for AI systems.