Nubeo Aluminaut Lume Grey Review

We have become very familiar with the sister brands Spinnaker and AVI-8 through numerous pieces we have reviewed from each brand. While Spinnaker is focused on dive watches and AVI-8 is aviation themed, they have a newer sister brand that combines both air and sea. The brand in question is Nubeo which is only a few years old and run by the Solar Time Limited group that runs both Spinnaker and AVI-8.

While Spinnaker and AVI-8 both tend to follow the guidelines of what a dive or pilot's watch is, Nubeo breaks the mold and combines dive watches with inspiration from space. This might seem like an odd pairing, but when you really think about it, the depths of the oceans and far reaches of space are the most extreme environments humans can find themselves exposed to.



When you think of extreme dive watches and timepieces meant for alien worlds, you can probably imagine that the designs from Nubeo are going to be bold. Many Nubeo watches are very large in size and also boast tremendous water resistance. No punches are pulled when it comes to dial and case designs either. All of the brand's current collections look like no other watches I can think of and each has their own unique design aesthetics as well.

Spinnaker and AVI-8 are well known for their amazing collaborations and Nubeo is no different. With a focus on space and technology, Nubeo's collaborators sound like a who's who in those respective fields. The list of current collaborators with Nubeo include Star Trek, NASA and Atari. Even those with the least amount of pop culture knowledge will know these house hold names.



Initial Thoughts

We have covered a few releases from Nubeo recently and I really wanted to get a watch in for review to see if their timepieces were as well built as those from Spinnaker and AVI-8. I asked Nubeo if they could send the fully lumed version of their recently released second batch of Aluminaut watches, which just came out in five new limited edition colors. Luckily the brand agreed to send the Lume Grey right over for us to review.

When the Aluminaut arrived, the first thing I noticed about the watch was its sheer size. I love bigger watches and own three watches over 46 mm. These watches are all crafted out of titanium or ceramic, so their weight is manageable. The Aluminaut on the other hand is made out of heavier stainless steel and comes on a full bracelet, which adds even more weight. On our scale, when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist, the Aluminaut weighed in at 270 grams. I typically prefer my watches around 100 grams or less, so this was on the completely other end of the spectrum. The Aluminaut also has a 50 mm case diameter with a lug to lug length of 55 mm and a thickness of 22 mm. This watch is not for the faint of heart.



The next thing I noticed during my initial time with the Aluminaut was the depth to the dial. The watch uses an extremely tall and heavily domed sapphire crystal which makes the dial seem miles away from the top of the sapphire. The Aluminaut also uses extremely tall hour markers which makes the cavity inside of the watch seem that much more cavernous. The overall effect is super interesting and gives the dial endless depth.

The usage of lume on the dial of the Aluminaut was the final thing I took note of during my initial time with the watch. The dial of the Aluminaut is fully lumed and appears off white in normal lighting and then glows a brilliant blue in low light. The large applied hour markers and hands are then coated with Swiss Newlite which glows green in low light. Even the crown is coated with lume which glows blue in low light. When all the lumed elements are combined the Aluminaut really gives off a great lightshow.



Before we get much more into the review, I have to say in its stock form on the stainless steel bracelet, the Aluminaut was too much for me weight wise. I'm already not a fan of bracelets on watches and the huge amount of bulk added by the bracelet would have been too much for me to comfortably wear. When I recently reviewed the Spinnaker x seconde/seconde/ Phantom White, the watch was packaged with a secondary Marine Nationale style parachute strap that I just fell in love with. Since then I have bought a ton of these straps in various colors for watches that I didn't really love the strap or bracelet the watch came with. I ended up putting the Aluminaut on a white fully lumed parachute strap and it was a game changer. All of a sudden the weight dropped to a wearable 172 grams and the watch felt much more comfortable on wrist. Being white in normal lighting and glowing green in low light, the parachute strap also fit in well with the lumed look of the Aluminaut Lume Grey. I purchased these straps from CNS Watch Bands for a great price if anyone is interested in them.

A Closer Look

Now that we've gone over the history of Nubeo as well as my initial thoughts on the Aluminaut, let's now move on to the technical specifications of the watch. The Aluminaut is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 50 mm. The watch has very short lugs and only adds 5 mm of length to the case diameter with a 55 mm lug to lug length. The short lugs are very evident when I was putting on the parachute strap and found I had to push rather hard to get the spring bars to catch with the strap between them and the case. On the stainless steel bracelet when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist, the Aluminaut weighed in at 270 grams. Swapping the bracelet out of the nylon parachute strap saved nearly 100 grams, resulting in a weight of 172 grams. The Aluminaut is a tall watch with a very thick and domed crystal, with a thickness of 22 mm and 23.5 mm when you add the parachute strap that passes under the case back. The thickness of the watch makes sense since the Aluminaut is water resistant to a staggering 1,000 meters.



The Nubeo Aluminaut uses a severely double domed sapphire crystal that has an anti-reflective coating applied to it. Naturally there is some distortion when looking through the crystal clear sapphire at some angles which is fully expected for the thickness and shape of the sapphire. Underneath the sapphire lies the fully lumed dial, which is an off white light grey in normal lighting. There is the finest texture to the dial and when under UV light or low light, the dial glows a brilliant blue. Nubeo uses an interesting take on hour markers, with each hour getting an applied red marker set on the dial and then mounted above these red markers are slightly smaller markers that are covered with lume. This is not only interesting since it adds depth to the dial, but the minute and seconds hands can pass between the two hour makers. This might be the first time I've seen hour markers executed like this. The lume on the upper hour markers glow a contrasting green to the blue of the dial. 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock have added red dividing lines on the upper markers, with the line at 12 extending past the hour marker.

There are three centrally mounted hands on the dial of the Nubeo Aluminaut being the hour, minute and seconds hands. The hour and minute hands are oversized with the hour hand being an arrow and the minute being sword shaped. Both hands are outlined in red and covered with green lume. The running seconds hand is also red and has a large counter balance and round tip each covered in green lume. The center of the hand matrix is a large circle, which once again has green lume on it.



On the outside of the dial between each hour marker is a minute track printed in black with each minute represented by a black hash mark. Nubeo branding is printed at 12 o'clock and 1,000 M is printed at 6. Finishing off the dial is a white backed date window at 4 o'clock. I feel the date window breaks up the look of the fully lumed dial and probably could have been omitted from the Aluminaut. I know it's a divisive issue, but I don't feel the date window adds much here. Removing the date might have ended up with a ghost crown position from the NH35 movement, so maybe it's better that it stayed.

Moving on from the dial of the Aluminaut is the 120 click uni-directional bezel. The bezel insert is bluish grey in color with a brushed finish. The bezel features the traditional dive scale with each 5 minute period being marked with a large hash mark and 20, 30, 40 and 50 getting an Arabic numeral. Each minute from 1 to 14 gets a small dot marker. 0/60 is set with a large red marker. In low light all the bezel markers glow green to match the hour markers and hands, except the 0/60 marker which glows a contrasting orange. The bezel has a great feeling to its operation with a near spring like snap back when moving between each click. There is zero slop or back play to the bezel and every click gives off a rewarding audible click. The bezel also features large scalloping which gives amazing grip, more than likely even with dive gloves on.



Looking at the case of the Nubeo Aluminaut, all of its surfaces receive a brushed finish, really showing how much of a serious tool watch it is. Only some areas of the bezel and crown are polished. Looking at the profile of the case, you can tell just how thick the Aluminaut is. There is also a gentle slope to the lugs of the watch, which helps the watch form to the contour of your wrist. The lugs are also skeletonized, which look interesting, but also help reduce a bit of weight. On the left hand side of the case at 10 o'clock there is an automatic helium relief valve which is protected by a large blue guard that completely protects the valve from damage and debris.

On the right hand side of the Aluminaut is the large screw down crown located at 4 o'clock. As mentioned earlier, the scalloping and top of the crown are covered in lume which glows blue in low light. Like the bezel, the crown also offers a tremendous amount of grip. The crown is also topped with the Nubeo "N" logo and branding. Unscrewing the crown lets you manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one lets you advance the date and pulling the crown all the way out to position two lets your set the time and stops the seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and getting the crown to catch to screw back in takes no extra care to get it to catch.



Flipping the Aluminaut over shows off the screwed down display case back with engravings around the outside of the bezel with important information such as the individual limited edition number out of 120 total pieces made. The display window is done with a blue tinted crystal with a depiction of the Aluminaut submarine, which was the world's first aluminum submarine.

Through the display window you can see the Japanese made Seiko NH35 automatic movement topped off with a Nubeo branded winding rotor. The NH35 beats away at 21,600 vph (3Hz) and has a power reserve of 41 hours. Seiko rates the movement of having an accuracy of -20 to +40 seconds per day, but we have always seen this movement perform much better in the real world. On our timegrapher, the NH35 inside of the Aluminaut recorded an accuracy of +/- 0 seconds when averaged out over several positions. This makes the Aluminaut one of the most accurate watches we have ever tested, regardless of price.



The Aluminaut has a lug width of 22 mm and comes on a stainless steel bracelet that weighs a substantial 112 grams when sized for a 7.25 inch wrist. The bracelet has a slight taper to it from 22 mm at the lugs down to 20 mm at the Nubeo branded clasp. The clasp has a flip lock, that once opened allows you to release the clasp when the two pushers are depressed. The bracelet is completely brushed to match the case, with no polished areas. There are no micro-adjustments, but there are three sizing positions on the clasp that can be changed with a spring bar tool. The bracelet is sized by removing and then adding in directional pins. The 22 mm lug width is rather standard, but since the lugs are so short, you have to use a very thin strap or curved spring bars to have a strap actually work with the Aluminaut. Even the very skinny nylon parachute strap I used had some issues fitting between the case and spring bars.

On The Wrist

Well here's the big one, the "On the Wrist" section on the Nubeo Aluminaut. When I first unboxed the watch, I thought there was zero way I could wear the Aluminaut and have it feel remotely appropriate. This is coming from somebody with a 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area that is 6'3 and weighs 200 pounds. I feel 40 mm watches are way too small and prefer watches with over 50 mm lug to lug lengths. I personally collect watches like the IWC Big Pilot and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and own and have owned various watches that are 48 mm in case diameter and nearing 60 mm in lug to lug length. For me the think this is saying something.



After sizing the bracelet of the Aluminaut to fit my wrist, I still had the feeling that the watch was too large to really wear. Instead of instantly writing the watch off and just giving it the minimal amount of on wrist time to write this review, I decided to see how it would do on a parachute style nylon strap. After fighting with the short lugs for a few minutes, I was able to get both spring bars in place and the parachute strap mounted. This strap is just under 1.5 mm thick and is smashed against the case, it doesn't even move when pulled on.

The parachute strap was a revelation for the watch in terms of wearability. Instantly the Aluminaut shed around 100 grams and the watch, while still heavy, was wearable. The parachute strap has endless sizing adjustments and I was able to dial the fit in so precisely that the watch didn't feel too tight, but also didn't dive around on my wrist being too loose with a top heavy case. Past that, the parachute strap also makes the Aluminaut appear to wear much smaller than the bracelet does. The downside is that the parachute strap, since it has to pass under the case back, adds 1.5 mm of thickness to an already thick watch. That is a trade off I would take for all the other benefits the parachute strap gives me with the Aluminaut.



I guess you could get used to the weight of the Aluminaut over time and it could be a daily worn watch, but in all honesty this is more of a weekend, trip of dedicated dive watch. At 172 grams on the parachute strap, the watch is heavy and over time you do start to notice its weight on your wrist. I know many smaller stainless steel bracelet sports watches weight around this much, but I'm not used to this much heft to a watch, so the Aluminaut was more pleasurable to me during shorter wearing sessions.

To test the legibility of a watch, I use a simple test where I see how easy it is to tell the time while driving at just a glance. In this test, divers with their high contrast dials and large markers do the best and skeletonized and complicated watches do the worst since they value design over legibility. The Nubeo Aluminaut aced this test since there is such great contrast between the off white dial and large bright red hour markers and hands. Adding some Arabic numerals might have helped the Aluminaut do better in this test, but only marginally and at a pretty strong aesthetic cost to the dial. With so much lume present on the dial and bezel of the Aluminaut, the low light time telling ability was one of the best we've ever tested as well.



The off white grey dial paired well with the slightly off white lumed parachute strap. The white strap really made the red of the markers and bluish grey bezel pop as well. This combination went well with my typical dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. When wearing the watch out to run boring everyday errands or to dinner and drinks, I noticed the watch got a lot of looks. I had a few people comment and ask questions about the Aluminaut as well. Given the size of the watch and being on a white strap, I wasn't too surprised by this. People were pretty much blown away by the size and really liked the depth to the dial and all of its lumed elements as well. Watch nerd friends of mine also got a kick out of the lumed crown. One thing everyone was shocked by was the asking price of the Aluminaut.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Nubeo Aluminaut Lume Grey retails for $510. For that price, you're getting an extremely rugged 50 mm case crafted out of stainless steel and a mind numbing 1,000 meters of water resistance. The watch also has a super nice fully lumed dial, a helium relief valve and an extremely accurate Seiko made NH35 automatic movement. Now is the time in our review where we look at other watches with similar features and specifications to see how the Aluminaut holds up value wise.



Up first we have the Piccard from sister brand Spinnaker which has a 45 mm case made out of stainless steel. The calling card of the Piccard is the massive domed sapphire crystal that makes the watch look like a true deep diving tool from the profile view. The Piccard is powered by the same NH35 movement found inside of the Aluminaut and has a little more than half of the water resistance at 550 meters. The Piccard is a bit more expensive than the Aluminaut at $550.

Moving on we have the Pro Sea Diver 1000M Expedition from Deep Blue which has a 44 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The Pro Sea has the same 1,000 meters of water resistance as the Aluminaut and is powered by a similar Seiko NH34 automatic movement, but with an added GMT complication. The Pro Sea is also a little bit more expensive than the Aluminaut at $599.



Next up is the Seahorse from Pantor which has a 45 mm case made out of stainless steel. The Seahorse also has its crown at 4 o'clock like the Aluminaut and boasts the same 1,000 meters of water resistance. The Pantor is powered by a similar Japanese made Miyota 9015 which has a slightly faster beat rate, but with a few less hours of power reserve. The Seahorse is a good bit more expensive than the Aluminaut at $829 though.

Finally we have the Prospex Tuna SLA041 from Seiko which has a 52.4 mm case made out of titanium and steel. The Tuna is massive and also has the crown located at 4 o'clock like the Nubeo and the Pantor. It shares the same 1,000 meters of water resistance with the Aluminaut as well. The Tuna does run a much more advanced automatic movement based off of a Grand Seiko movement with 50 hours of power reserve. The Tuna was much more expensive than the Aluminaut when it launched a few years ago at $4,500.



Looking at these above four watches you can see just how great of a value the Nubeo Aluminaut is. The Aluminaut is priced the lowest and offers specs that are equal if not better to all the watches except the Seiko Tuna, which has a superior movement, but costs many times more. The market for affordable 1,000 meter dive watches is tiny, and the Aluminaut looks to be the giant in that segment.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Nubeo Aluminaut for me? In its original spec being on the full stainless steel bracelet, the watch really isn't for me. The main issue with the watch on the bracelet is the substantial weight you get when combining the huge watch head and the beefy steel bracelet. This ends up making a watch that is nearly three times heavier than watches I prefer to collect and wear. Moving the watch over to the parachute strap did make the watch drastically more wearable to me though. While 172 grams is still heavy, it's doable for me. The extremely short lugs made the lug to lug length of 55 mm just fine as well, with the case no overhanging at all.



The Aluminaut has a very interesting design to it though. A few tweaks could make the watch near perfect for me though. Changing the case material to titanium would make the watch instantly 30 percent lighter, which for a watch of this size is essential, at least for my tastes. Maybe sizing the watch down to 46 to 48 mm and dropping a bit of water resistance to say 500 meters would also allow for a slightly slimmer case at say 16 to 18 mm. If those changes could be made, I think the Aluminaut could be a very interesting personal option.

As it stands, the Aluminaut is still a very fun watch to wear for shorter periods of time. It definitely looks like nothing else in my collection or any other watch I've come across in recent memory. The separated hour markers that allow the minute and seconds hands to pass between them is really an interesting touch. The skeletonized lugs also grab my attention every time I look at the watch as well. Finally I'm always a sucker for a fully lumed dial. The luminous material on the crown is also a nice little easter egg.

Would I then recommend the Aluminaut to somebody looking for a super sized dive watch with specs to match? I'd say I don't really see a reason not to recommend the Aluminaut to a collector looking for that type of watch. The word of caution I'd have would be about the thickness and weight of the watch. If they're used to watches with over 20 mm of thickness and like the feel of a very heavy watch, the Aluminaut really can't be beat. For just over $500, you're getting all the specs you could ever ask for from an extreme diver paired with an automatic movement that read all zeros in terms of accuracy when we put it on a timegrapher. If the thickness and weight were a concern, I'd say try the watch out and go into it with the knowledge that Nubeo has a 30 day return period if the watch just doesn't work out on your wrist. There are only 120 watches being made for each color with some already sold out, so if the watch seems interesting to you, I'd see about ordering one sooner than later.



I'd really like to thank Nubeo for sending us this Aluminaut to review. The watch was a great example of the quality and ruggedness Nubeo can produce in a watch, just like what I've come to expect from Spinnaker and AVI-8. I would be interested to review a more pedestrian watch from the brand in the near future though, since I feel a lot of this review and my thought process had to do with the sizing and weight of the Aluminaut. The watch has really piqued my interest in Nubeo though and I can't wait to see what out of this world creations they put out in 2026.

For more information about the Aluminaut Lume Grey please visit : Nubeo

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: NB-6115-77

Retail Price: $510

Case Size: 50 mm

Lug to Lug: 55 mm

Thickness: 22 mm

Weight: 270 grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: 120 Click Uni-Directional with brushed Bluish Grey Lumed Insert

Strap: Stainless Steel Bracelet

Movement: Japanese Made Seiko NH35 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Date

Power Reserve: 41 Hours

Water Resistance: 1,000 Meters