By now, you should be familiar with the P99 lineup from Traser (and if you’re not, we reviewed the quartz version here), as it’s had a number of variations introduced for it. Recently, they put another variant out there with an interesting trick up its sleeve: the Traser P99 Iris.
Traser P99 Iris: what it is
I will admit – when I saw the subject line of the email announcing this watch, I thought it was going to be something being released for Mother’s Day, perhaps something with a dial color in more of a pastel hue. Turns out, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The iris of the Traser P99 Iris is a mechanical iris, allowing you to completely obscure the dial of the watch. Turn the bezel a quarter turn counter-clockwise, and the blades slide in, covering the dial. Quarter turn the other direction, and the blades retract.
Why would you want this feature?
That’s a very valid question to ask – why in the world would you want to close off the dial? While tritium tubes bring the always-on lighting to our wrists, there are cases where that might not be preferable. If you ever need to turn down the lights, or turn them off, there’s no way to do that with a tritium tube. That is, unless you’ve got the Traser P99 Iris. Here, you can easily “turn off” the tubes.
Now, you might be saying, tritium tubes aren’t THAT bright. And sure, compared to light-absorbing lume fresh from the sunlight, that’s true. But tritium keeps a constant glow. And, as it turns out, the Traser P99 Iris also features traser’s brightest tubes to-date.
Wrapping things up
If you’re wanting to jump in on this dichotomy of brighter tritium tubes that can be turned off with the twist of the bezel, you’ll want to move a little quick on these. Only 300 examples are being produced, with three minor variations within the line. On the textile strap, you’re looking at $990, while the rubber strap bumps the price up to $1,060. Check out the trio that make the collection directly over at traser.com
Traser P99 Iris Tech Specs
- Luminous elements: Super Powered trigalight self-luminous technology on the hour marks, trigalight self-luminous technology on dials and under the traser logo
- Movement: Swiss made quartz
- Size: Ø 46 mm
- Glass: Anti-reflective sapphire crystal
- Case: PVD-coated stainless steel
- Dial:
- Black
- Day and date window at 3 o’clock
- Strap: Textile and rubber strap
- Water resistance: 10 atm / 10 bar
- Price:
- USD 990.00 with textile strap
- USD 1060.00 with rubber strap
