One could buy a $2,475 silk and cashmere Christmas wreath from Loro Piana or set the holiday dinner table with Christmas crackers from Asprey of London, at $370 each. But for the aspiring plutocrat determined to make a suitably festive impression, there might be an alternative: Simply invite a few dozen collectors of contemporary watches over and then dim the lights.

Such has been the popularity of luminescent watches this year that a random sample could help a gathering achieve Rockefeller Center brilliance.

Consider the latest model from A. Lange & Söhne’s Lumen family, a Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon distinguished by its green-glowing sub dials, date and moon phase indicator. Or perhaps the recent Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept, a split-seconds chronograph model, capable of timing two concurrent events. Its case is made of what the brand describes as “chroma forged carbon,” a polymer infused with Super-LumiNova to produce swirling blue patterns with a bioluminescent look.

Any holiday soiree worth its canapés has to have one attendee that outshines the rest. In the watch universe this year, that would involve a face-off between IWC and Panerai.

IWC introduced a ceramic compound named Ceralume, showcased in a Pilot’s Chronograph model whose every surface emitted an after-dark glow. Panerai took a different approach with the Submersible Elux Lab-ID. Its push-to-illuminate party trick might be judged the horological equivalent of light-up reindeer earrings, but when you consider that the LEDs in its dial and bezel are powered by miniature generators with no batteries required, the comparison fades (unlike the watch, of course).