Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Foxfire — the flieger that lights up green, at €1,150–1,300

Photo: Stowa

A pilot watch blacked out to the last numeral — case, dial, hands — until the light drops, and the whole dial turns green.

Verdict

What it is

Read it in daylight first, because daylight is where this watch hides. The case is black-coated stainless steel over a matte, glass-bead-blasted surface; the dial is black, and so are the numerals. What carries the watch is what glows: hands, numerals and minute markers in green Super-LumiNova Grade X1, the pilot's triangle at 12, the date in green at 6. Stowa names it for the foxfire, the glowing moss of the Black Forest — per the maker, the hands and triangle glow hardest, the numerals more subtly.

The movement is a choice: the Sellita SW200 automatic at €1,150 in basic grade or €1,300 in top grade, or the hand-wound Sellita SW210, top grade only, at €1,300. The case runs 40mm across and 48.9mm lug to lug — 11.2mm thick as an automatic, 9.7mm hand-wound — with sapphire front and back, the caseback screwed down, on a black pilot strap at 20mm lugs.

Why it matters

Stowa is not borrowing the pilot-watch idea. Founded in 1927 in Pforzheim, it was one of only five manufacturers — alongside A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Laco and Wempe — commissioned to build the original B-Uhr observation watches, instruments made to be read at a glance in the dark. The Foxfire pushes that priority to its limit: most blacked-out watches tint their lume to match the theme and lose it, while this one makes a high-grade luminous compound the entire dial and accepts black-on-black daylight as the cost. The trade can be argued with. Nothing here is decoration — and that is rarer in the segment than it should be.

Specs

What to check before buying

• The movement choice is the real decision. The hand-wound SW210 drops the case to 9.7mm and loses the rotor; the automatic's top grade costs €150 over basic. The dial is identical either way — you are choosing thickness and winding habit, not looks.
• Daylight legibility is the trade. Black numerals on a black dial are low-contrast by design; the watch is specified around its night state. Study the photos with that in mind.
• Check the variant. Stowa lists this model by configuration — movement, grade, logo and date — so confirm the exact build on the product page before ordering.
• The price is in euros, direct. Stowa publishes no US dollar price. Any converted figure elsewhere is not the maker's; the record below is.

Price record

Want one?

1. In the shop: browse current stock — one-off pieces, and they turn over fast.
2. Hunting one? Join the Want List — tell us the maker and the budget; pieces like this surface in our trawl most weeks.
3. This one: at the source — See it at Stowa. Not our listing. See Disclosure.

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Spotted, not sold by us — this piece lives at Stowa's own store. Prices are a snapshot from when we spotted it. Disclosure

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Shop the pick

Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Foxfire

€1,150–1,300 — Stowa's own store, checked Sun Nov 8, 2026

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See it at Stowa

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