Does rolex still use tritium??

[Od-SnG]

Years ago i had a datejust that had tritium on the hands. I was looking to get either a sub or a gmt, do they use tritium on these watches. Also if they dont what year was the switch?

[Stratton]

Tritium is no longer used. The switchover to Luminova was in 1998 and to Super Luminova in 2000.

[Trurolexer]

No.

[CoopJr]

Hey Verona, NJ! that's where I still have relatives, right off RT 23...the property taxes are killing them! Welcome to TRF!

[Tools]

Rolex used radium until about 1960.....Those babies still glow...

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by Tools

(...)Those babies still glow...

And so do the factory workers applying the Radium onto. If they still live, that is.

As I wrote in my contribution to the Rolex Watch Lume thread,

"Workers at the Rolex manufactory applied the Radium by hand; or rather by using a fine painting brush. To apply the Radium exactly to the places where it was supposed to be, workers would tend to lick the tip of the painting brush to get a sharper point, thus being better able to apply more accurately the Radium. This habit of licking the painting brush resulted in numerous cases of workers getting cancer, especially mouth cancer. But as stated, Radium was used up until 1960, where it was finally stopped being used due to serious health risks."

[SeniorDad]

My 1675 had a Tritium dial and hands set installed during a servicing at RSC Dallas in 1996.

It still glows. As brightly as any tritium dial Rolex I've ever had. The hands less so, but enough to tell the time if it's reallllll dark. Sadly, the luminous is cracked on the hands and they will have to go--at least according the RSC.

[Baptistman]

Originally Posted by SPACE-DWELLER

And so do the factory workers applying the Radium onto. If they still live, that is.

This habit of licking the painting brush resulted in numerous cases of workers getting cancer, especially mouth cancer. But as stated, Radium was used up until 1960, where it was finally stopped being used due to serious health risks."

If thats the case, i wonder if Rolex paid compensation to those workers

[mike]

As stated the switch from tritium happened around 1998 as the indestry in general moved to luminova. (Though there are still some that use tritium in glass vials).

Noteworthy: There was a period of time Rolex used dials marked with the tritium marking "SWISS T<25" with luminova as Rolex used existing dials already in the inventory. These dials, sometimes called "transitional" dials were used circa 98-03 and are considered by some a desirable dial to have.

Also noteworthy, some tritium dials still have some mild lume as over the years Rolex used different tritium/phosphor mixtures. Notably some gloss/trit. dials will show a weak lume (normally 60s perhaps early 70s).

Marker plots are comprised of three things:

1. tritium--a mildly radioactive substance (beta) that serves as the "exciting" agent for:
2. the copper phosphors ---that part which glows (tritium itself does not glow) and:
3. the bonding agent--that which holds it all together--about 90% of what you see.

[pwrslider]

Does anyone know the life expectancy of the T<25 lume?? Mines on a 91 Expy II....and the lume...well isn't gone...but I'm going blind trying to see it!

[BiG JeEzY]

When I had my tritium dial 1675 serviced in 2004, the hands and hour markers BARELY had anymore glow left in them, you could not see any glow unless the room was completely dark. So I would've considered it just about "burned out."

Now I have a superluminova dial on there which glows bright but its not a service replacement dial since it says "SWISS-T < 25" at the bottom. Service replacement dials would say "SWISS" instead. So I believe that the RSC kept the original dial on but just applied the superluminova on it instead.

[BiG JeEzY]

Originally Posted by pwrslider

Does anyone know the life expectancy of the T<25 lume?? Mines on a 91 Expy II....and the lume...well isn't gone...but I'm going blind trying to see it!

About 12.5 years roughly is the half life for tritium.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by Baptistman

If thats the case, i wonder if Rolex paid compensation to those workers

I don't think so.

Times were different back then.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by BiG JeEzY

About 12.5 years roughly for tritium.

12.5 years is the half life.

[BiG JeEzY]

Originally Posted by directioneng

12.5 years is the half life.

So that means that they will glow for up to 25 years then. Silly me.

I made the correction, thanks Eddie.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Originally Posted by BiG JeEzY

About 12.5 years roughly is the half life for tritium.

Originally Posted by directioneng

12.5 years is the half life.

Actually, it's more like 12,3 years half life.

Article about luminous materials.

[BiG JeEzY]

Here is another informative article about tritium that I found...

Article on Tritium watches.

And yes Bo you are right, the half life is approximately 12.32 years or 4500±8 days as stated by wikipedia.