What Watch Does Bear Grylls Wear?

Featured image: James, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bear Grylls wears the Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master Series as his signature timepiece — a co-designed Swiss quartz watch built with a forged Carbonox case, tritium gas tube lume, and 300-metre water resistance. The watch was created specifically for extreme environments and carries Grylls’s input on its design from the outset.

The Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master Series

Luminox and Bear Grylls announced their partnership in 2019, culminating in a range of co-designed models under the Survival Master banner. The collaboration made sense: Luminox has long supplied watches to US Navy SEALs and other special forces, and Grylls spent three years in the British Army’s 21 SAS reserve. A Swiss watchmaker built around military-grade lume and a former soldier turned television presenter shared an obvious common ground.

The core models are the XB.3741 (black silicone strap) and the XB.3749 (orange natural rubber strap with an integrated compass). Both are built around a 45mm Carbonox case — a proprietary Luminox material made from forged carbon composite that is lighter than titanium and more resistant to scratching than stainless steel.

The defining feature of any Luminox is the tritium gas tube lume. Rather than a phosphorescent paint that must be charged by light, the tritium system emits a consistent soft glow for up to 25 years without any external activation. For a watch designed to function in caves, at the bottom of a waterfall, or during a night crossing, this matters more than a bright date window.

The movement inside is a Swiss Ronda quartz calibre driving a 12-hour chronograph. Purists who prefer mechanical movements will find this underwhelming, but the choice is deliberate: a quartz movement won’t stop at altitude, requires no daily winding, and survives the kind of abrupt shocks that can damage a mechanical rotor. The case back is engraved with Grylls’s signature and the motto Never Give Up.

Water resistance is rated to 300 metres — well beyond recreational diving depth — and the crystal is AR-coated sapphire. The XB.3749’s orange strap houses a usable strap compass, a small but practical addition that fits the watch’s survival brief.

Spec	Luminox XB.3741 / XB.3749
Case size	45 mm
Case material	Carbonox (forged carbon composite)
Crystal	AR-coated sapphire
Movement	Swiss Ronda quartz, 12-hour chronograph
Lume	Luminox tritium gas tubes (up to 25 years)
Water resistance	300 metres
Strap — XB.3741	Black silicone
Strap — XB.3749	Orange natural rubber with integrated compass

Bear Grylls on Television: Casio on Man vs. Wild

Before the Luminox partnership, Bear Grylls’s on-screen watch life was dominated by Casio. During Man vs. Wild — which ran from 2006 to 2011 on the Discovery Channel — eagle-eyed viewers routinely spotted Casio timepieces on his wrist. The brand’s combination of quartz reliability, multiband atomic timekeeping, and low replacement cost made it a sensible choice for outdoor television production.

The Casio AW-80 appeared across the show’s early run, as did various G-Shock models in later seasons. These are not glamorous choices, but they are functional ones: a G-Shock absorbs the kind of falls and impacts that survival television demands, and a smashed watch during a remote shoot doesn’t require an insurance claim. Casio’s outdoor lineup — the same family that feeds into the military watch market — was a natural fit for the production environment.

The choice also reflects a broader truth about adventure watches: the brand on the dial matters far less in the field than the construction beneath it. Grylls’s later Luminox partnership elevated the visual identity of his wrist considerably, but the Casio era demonstrated that any watch keeping accurate time and reading midnight without a torch is doing its job.

Off-Screen: The Breitling Emergency

Away from the camera, Bear Grylls has been photographed wearing the Breitling Emergency — one of the most genuinely functional watches in the luxury segment. The Emergency is built around a dual-band personal locator beacon transmitter: in the event of a genuine survival situation, the wearer can deploy the antenna and transmit on the 121.5 MHz aviation frequency and the 406 MHz satellite search-and-rescue frequency simultaneously.

The watch is not a prop. It is registered to its owner with the relevant aviation authorities, and false activation carries legal penalties in most jurisdictions. This makes it one of the few luxury timepieces that could, in a real emergency, save a life — which explains its appeal to someone whose career is built around demonstrating what happens when things go wrong in the wilderness.

Breitling has long positioned the Emergency as a professional tool, originally developed for military and commercial aviation. For Bear Grylls, it fills a different kind of role than the Luminox: where the Survival Master Series is a branded partnership built around his identity, the Emergency is a quietly serious piece of equipment used on its own terms.

The Luminox Partnership in Context

Celebrity watch collaborations are common, but they vary enormously in depth. Some attach a name to an existing model and ship it with a booklet. The Luminox Bear Grylls range appears to have involved more genuine input: the survival-focused strap compass on the XB.3749, the Carbonox material selection, and the survival-brief positioning are consistent with feedback from someone with real field experience rather than a licensing arrangement.

Grylls is not the only figure associated with celebrity watch choices rooted in function rather than status. But he occupies an unusual position in that his primary audience — people who watch survival television rather than read watch enthusiast publications — is not a typical horological market. The Luminox collaboration reaches that audience with a watch that fits their perception of what Grylls would actually wear.

Other watches linked to Grylls over the years include the Bremont ALT-P and the Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar. These sightings are reported across enthusiast sites but have not been formally confirmed as partnerships by either Grylls or the brands concerned, so they are best treated as individual timepiece choices rather than endorsements.

Affordable Alternatives for Bear Grylls Watch Fans

If the Survival Master Series is beyond your budget, there are several watches that capture what it represents. Luminox’s own Navy SEAL Foundation Series (ref. 3501) uses the same tritium gas tube system and a comparable case size at a considerably lower price point. It lacks the Bear Grylls branding but delivers the same always-on lume that makes the collection distinctive.

For something closer to the Casio era of Man vs. Wild, the Casio G-Shock Mudmaster GG-B100 is a natural starting point: GPS-linked, mud and dust resistant, and solar-powered. It won’t pass for a Luminox, but it represents what a working outdoor watch looks like today at an accessible price.

Both sit in a category of genuine tool watches — built to perform rather than impress. If the appeal of a Bear Grylls watch is its function-first philosophy, either of these gets that message across without the premium attached to a co-designed signature model.

FAQ

What is Bear Grylls’s signature watch?

Bear Grylls’s signature watch is the Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master Series, co-designed with Luminox. The core models are the XB.3741 with a black silicone strap and the XB.3749 with an orange rubber strap that features an integrated compass. Both use a Carbonox case and Luminox’s tritium gas tube lume system.

What watch did Bear Grylls wear on Man vs. Wild?

During Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls was frequently spotted wearing Casio timepieces — including the AW-80 and various G-Shock models in later seasons. These were chosen for their durability and low cost during remote outdoor filming, not because of a brand partnership.

Does Bear Grylls wear a mechanical watch?

The Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master Series uses a Swiss Ronda quartz movement, not a mechanical calibre. This choice reflects the demands of the field: quartz movements don’t require winding, are unaffected by altitude changes, and are more resistant to shock than automatics with a rotor.

What is special about Luminox tritium lume?

Luminox uses self-powered tritium gas tubes rather than photoluminescent paint. The tubes emit a low-level glow continuously for up to 25 years without needing to be charged by light exposure. This means the watch is legible in complete darkness at any time — a meaningful difference in genuine survival situations.

Has Bear Grylls worn any other notable watches?

Bear Grylls has been photographed wearing a Breitling Emergency, which contains a built-in dual-band personal locator beacon. The Bremont ALT-P and Tissot T-Touch Expert Solar have also been linked to him in enthusiast coverage, though these appear to be individual choices rather than formal partnerships.

Is the Luminox Bear Grylls watch still available?

The Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master Series has been available through Luminox’s authorised retailer network since the partnership launched in 2019–2020. Specific models and colourways have been released over time; Luminox’s website maintains the current lineup of available references.

Sources

• Luminox — Bear Grylls Survival Master Series product information
• aBlogtoWatch — Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Master 3749 review
• ProfessionalWatches.com — Bear Grylls and the Breitling Emergency
• Gear Patrol — outdoor survival watches
• Breitling — Emergency II technical specifications