Patina...a related question

[southtexas]

Didn't want to hijack Kevin's thread, but something jedly said caught my eye.

As I understand it, a lack of exposure to UV makes tritium darken at a more rapid pace. Is that correct?

Let's say a watch is 40 years old. It spent its first 10 years traveling, and living life. Then it gets put away in a safe for the next 30 years.

Over its life, it develops a nice even yellowish creamy patina on hands and markers.

Suddenly, it's brought out of the safe and into regular daylight and daily use again.

Generally speaking, will this cause the patina to:

lighten?

Darken?

Get loose and fall off?

Or--The effect will be unknown since they all react differently and there are too many variables?

Inquiring minds want to know........

[jedly1]

in general terms lighten ...though degree is unpredictable ,and varies from mix of luminous compound to luminous compound and also from starting point.

..and lock a watch in safe for 30 years you'll generally be in the yellow to orange scale as your starting point , its much more likely you'll see a noticeable change coming back up from that starting point than from a mid tone starting point ....i.e the darker the starting point , the more noticeable the change will be ....

think of it like teeth whitening...you'll get a few shades up from wherever you start ..and the degree of sucess of that will depend on how much exposure you get and how susceptible you are to the process....

[CrownMe]

Hijack all you want my friend. It's all about Patina so why not. Nice to learn as much as possible on the topic. Gotta keep the Reds looking sharp

[southtexas]

Very interesting, thanks.

Might be a loaded question, but (generally) how long does it take (consider normal wear) before you start noticing a reversion back to lighter shades?

Must you wear it regularly for years before it changes, or can it begin to occur rapidly (say months)? Is the "lightening" process proportionate in time (ie correlative) to the original darkening process?

[jedly1]

again.,.there is no answer as such ..just a very big generalisation ...


in my experience 'generalising' ...darkening takes years ...lightening if its going to happen is perceivable in months....

but there are so many variables its untrue , not least the kind of UV exposure ( is it b or c for example) you open it up to ....if i spend 30 minutes in the sun here in melbourne i will burn to a crisp on a sunny day ...it takes 2-3 hours to do the same in the med or the Caribbean..does that variance in type of uv exposure come in to play ?

i've had some watches I've plonked on the window sill for just a few weeks in summer and its been clear to see ...other I've done the same and after couple months you can see absolutely zip..or so small imperceivable...but always most noticeable on those i KNOW have come straight from a long period in the safe (or sock drawer).....

so no ..your average watch with average mid patina worn in the average place isn't going to suddenly turn white.

[southtexas]

Thanks for the reply. Always interesting to hear the thoughts of guys like you who have such wide experience.

[CrownMe]

Thanks for the info Jed

[crowncollection]

great info as always Jed

[Rick-O]

Originally Posted by jedly1

think of it like teeth whitening...you'll get a few shades up from wherever you start ..and the degree of sucess of that will depend on how much exposure you get and how susceptible you are to the process....

Did someone mention teeth?!? Happy New Years Jed!

[MitchSteel]

Thanks, Jed, very interesting.
I had an interesting tritium experience, not with a Rolex, but an older Sinn 142.Bought it used, from the mid 80's, the trit markers and hands were creamy in colour, I wore it in rotation for three years, and I've noticed it turned greenish.I had it put away in a safe for almost two years, it turned even darker, anyway I wore it again on and off for a year until I sold it off.Towards the end, the markers turned back to creamy colour.Now that's very interesting.
I'm sure the lyme material used was different from other manufacturers, but ti turn back to off white? Crazy!

[Cc1966]

Thank you Jed for sharing your knowledge on this subject, much appreciated.