Tritium hands

[gerard88t]

Hi,

Is it advisable to put a bonder on the lume of NOS trit hands before installing on the watch? I feel it is, but would like others take on the subject.

Thanks!
Gerard

[redshirt1957]

Originally Posted by gerard88t

Hi,

Is it advisable to put a bonder on the lume of NOS trit hands before installing on the watch? I feel it is, but would like others take on the subject.

Thanks!
Gerard

Bob Ridley has applied some sort of bonder to the tritium hands on my watches, when needed, during service. I cannot tell the difference and, of couse, I trust Bob 100%.

[abr68]

Hi Gerard,
To be honest I don´t get your question
Best
Axel

[gerard88t]

Thanks.

And Axel I will be installing a set of the trit hands I got today on my 16800 at service time (bummer is I see it was serviced in 2007 so it will be getting an unneeded service). Since trit is so fragile I want the back side where lume is, bonded with a clear coat bonder. That way it ensures 0 flaking and other bad stuff that can happen to tritium over time inside a watch.

[abr68]

Originally Posted by gerard88t

Thanks.

And Axel I will be installing a set of the trit hands I got today on my 16800 at service time (bummer is I see it was serviced in 2007 so it will be getting an unneeded service). Since trit is so fragile I want the back side where lume is, bonded with a clear coat bonder. That way it ensures 0 flaking and other bad stuff that can happen to tritium over time inside a watch.

Gerard,
For sure it is up to you whatever you want to do but as written in my response to your question there is and should be NO NEED to get a NOS hand set touched in any way....
It destroys some authenticity and also value is going that way.
Just leave it as it is and maybe go that way in some decades when there is a need for...

[Balboa]

This seems like a very sensible idea to me. It will not effect the look or function in any way but should eliminate or at least slow down the flaking of the material. A cosmetic issue mostly, but it will also keep loose material from finding its way into the movement.

What it will not do, of course, is extend or preserve the luminosity. Watch hands of the same age whether they are installed on a watch worn every day or hands that have been stored in a sealed package, have lost their luminosity at the same rate.

This is one of the limitations of using tritium which has a relatively short half life of about twelve years. Watches that use tritium are now getting old enough that the luminosity is pretty much gone. There is no fix for this. One of the newer synthetics could be applied to the hands and markers to restore useful luminosity, but in many cases loss of value and authenticity will preclude using such a fix.

Mark

[Tools]

Originally Posted by gerard88t

Hi,

Is it advisable to put a bonder on the lume of NOS trit hands before installing on the watch? I feel it is, but would like others take on the subject.

Thanks!
Gerard

I think that bonding is a good idea if you feel that there is some degradation of the Trit. It will stabilize it and keep it from flaking or deteriorating further..

Bonding or stabilizing pigments is a time honored way of preservation of masters paintings and any other aged pigment (which the tritium is) and preserves the value rather than allowing it to continue in decline..

However, your question is about applying it to NOS parts, which should not be exhibiting any problems... I do not see it as a way of stopping anything because the original bonding agents in the NOS pigments is still sound, so adding a sound compound to an already sound pigment accomplishes little.

[gerard88t]

Thanks everyone! Great, helpful answers. Now it's up to me. I guess I will leave them as they are.