ZEISS delivering the premium, golden touch in lenses

ZEISS has developed its first premium-tier coating, setting new standards in cleanability, durability and clarity along with a new aesthetic ‘hue’.

How can I stand out and create that personal touch? It’s one of the big challenges of running an independent optometry practice in 2025, and a question many spectacle wearers have themselves.

Today, practices have access to a host of instrumentation, frame collections and lens designs that can give their business an edge while ensuring the patient walks out the door with a lasting impression.

Within that, many are discovering new opportunities with lens coatings that are meeting new demands for anti-reflection, smudge resistance and durability, while incorporating elements for aesthetic appeal.

ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV lenses, a new coating available to the Australian market from 1 April 2025, has been designed to address these requirements.

For the first time, it extends the company’s lens coating portfolio to the premium tier, offering “greater cleanability, durability and clarity” than its existing DuraVision coatings.

To boot, it features a subtle golden reflex hue “for a luxurious look”.

For practices it represents new upselling opportunities and ways to confidently help patients personalise their appearance, by matching the lenses with certain frame designs and skin complexions.

To understand the features and benefits patients prioritise in their lenses, and inform its new coating design, ZEISS conducted a consumer study with 19,800 participants across 18 countries.

Maintaining clear vision at all times came out on top, while smudge resistance and a lens that is easy and quick to clean were other important factors. Some expressed that if they must wear spectacles, they want them to enhance their individual look.

“It is of utmost importance for independents to be able to offer a premium coating today that will meet the expectations of their consumers,” says Ms Elmarie Pretorius, professional services manager for ZEISS Vision Care Australia & New Zealand.

“ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV allows ZEISS customers to offer a unique coating that offers exceptional clarity, durability and are easy to clean but also customise their look and style. It meets consumers’ expectations, delivering solutions that combine clear vision with bold, stylish design.”

Introducing ZEISS CleanGuard, a new technology, has helped elevate ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV as its new flagship coating.

This advanced surface chemistry features a modified molecular structure “that significantly increases contact angles of water drops and oil-like substances”. Compared to previous ZEISS coatings, this makes lenses up to three times faster to clean, adding a convenience factor for wearers.

Additionally, a patented anti-static layer repels dust and dirt. It means smears and smudges can be removed much faster and easier. It’s an improvement that 90% of consumers have also noticed and appreciated, ZEISS says.

Pretorius says R&D labs across many countries, including ZEISS’ South Australia facility, have played a part in the development and testing of CleanGuard technology and the ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV coating itself.

Durability has been a big part of the testing phase, with ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV lenses coming with big improvements in this area.

They are designed to stay scratch-free for longer thanks to multiple densely packed metal oxide layers combined with an extra hard coat to ensure high-level scratch resistance.

This gives ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV a notable score of 16 for the Bayer industry standard test for scratch resistance. To put this in perspective, a Bayer ratio above 10 is considered very high, the company says.

Shining in low lighting

While a golden residual reflectance on the lens surface can add a tasteful touch to the lens (more on this later), it also offers a better visual experience.

To demonstrate this, ZEISS refers to a scenario: Imagine an evening stroll or enjoying a drink in a bar with subdued lighting. In this and other low-light conditions, eye sensitivity shifts towards shorter wavelengths into the blue light spectrum – and for the human eye, seeing clearly gets harder.

Now, in such circumstances, the company says patients choosing ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV may perceive noticeably enhanced vision performance.

A new technology has elevated ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV into ZEISS’ flagship coating. Image: ZEISS.

The reason is that compared to lenses with blueish or greenish coatings – such as ZEISS’ DuraVision Platinum UV or DuraVision Chrome UV – ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV shows less reflectance in the specific light spectrum between 380-500 nanometers.

By reducing reflections on the lens surface, ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV offers higher transmission and hence clearer vision – especially when it gets dark.

With this in mind, who are the ideal candidates for the coating?

Pretorius says ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV can be recommended to any patient from single vision to progressive wearers. Those struggling in low light conditions would especially benefit “as the darker the environment the clearer the lens”.

“ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV shows up to six times lower blue light reflections. As a consequence, lenses appear less yellow and much clearer in see-through,” she says.

“The up to 90% lower yellowness compared to blueish ZEISS DuraVision coatings becomes explicitly visible in modern artificial LED lighting when looking at a white wall or bright monitor screens.”

A sign of sophistication

When consumers look for timeless, sophisticated eyewear, gold is a colour they often reach for.

With ZEISS DuraVision Gold UV, ZEISS has been able to incorporate an appetite for this colour into the lenses themselves.

Pretorius says the golden residual reflectance on the surface of lenses can significantly enhance their aesthetic appeal and complement various elements.

For example, she says they can beautifully complement frames in shades of gold, brown, and even black.

“The subtle golden reflection can also enhance certain complexions, including various skin tones and hair colours,” she adds.

“The golden reflectance can work well with specific sun prescription tints. And when using ZEISS PhotoFusion X lenses, the golden anti-reflective coating becomes more pronounced when the lenses are activated by sunlight. This feature can improve the aesthetic appeal as the lenses adapt to different lighting conditions.”