- Teresa Novellino

LAS VEGAS As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, Swiss watch brand Luminox has come up with a new ad campaign that leans on its reputation as a tool for U.S. military and law enforcement personnel to elevate watches from adornment to "gear" that the watch wearer simply can't function without.

In the advertisements, the watches are affixed to red pegboards, surrounded by other "essential gear" for a variety of professions. In an ad for the "Field Chrono Alarm," described as the preferred timepiece of SWAT teams worldwide, for example, the watch is front and center, surrounded by goggles, handcuffs and a telescope. Another ad for a dive watch features the timepiece itself surrounded by diving paraphernalia, including a weight belt and goggles.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners developed the campaign. And if it looks unlike other watch ad campaigns, that is very much the idea, said Luminox founder Barry Cohen. "Seventy-five percent of watch advertising is a talking head," Cohen said, citing brands that use celebrity models. "Another 20 percent of ads are of a watch itself, shown big, and another 5 percent are technical ads."

The advertising plan is still in the works, but it will begin with the trade to bolster the brand among its retail partners.

The company was striving to do something different and wanted a top-notch agency to help illustrate the brand, which has supplied watches to the U.S. Navy SEALs since 1994, and has also equipped SWAT teams, Air Force and Navy pilots, as well as sports enthusiasts and regular sports-watch lovers for two decades.

With the recession, the watch brand's price points have helped buffer the brand, which has also received an unexpected sales uptick in gun stores thanks to the recent resurgence in interest among Americans in gun ownership since the new presidential administration took over, said Patrick Stephenson, a regional manager for the brand.

In conjunction with the anniversary ad campaign, the brand has released two special-edition Anniversary Series watches: The new Navy SEALs 8800 Anniversary Series and the 6300 Anniversary Series. The two collections combined include eight models, all of which incorporate the brand's unique Luminox Light Technology (LLT), micro gas lights that are installed into the hands, hour markers and, in some watches, the bezels, and which are designed to stay illuminated for 25 years and are guaranteed to keep glowing continuously for 10.

--Nielsen Business Media