Feeble lume

[Offshore]

Hello - first post.

So, new Explorer 2 (226570)

It's a fantastic watch, The accuracy is out of this world. I've owned it for a month and have not had to alter the second hand yet. It feels great too and it's just the right size for my wrist (which is 7.5 inches)

All good then. Well yes, apart from the feeble lume!

The colour is bright and really pops but it just doesn't last. For comparison I have a Hamilton Khaki Field and I have always been able to see the hands in pitch darkness even after several hours (albeit faintly) With the polar though there is nothing visible if it hasn't seen the light for a while.

It's surprising as the marketing would suggest the opposite!

Any similar experiences? Does the lume need some time to 'run in'? Perhaps the Hamilton just has exceptional lume!

[derekhayden]

On my 126570 the lume didn't last very long either.

[Driver8]

Originally Posted by Offshore

Does the lume need some time to 'run in'?

No

Originally Posted by Offshore

Perhaps the Hamilton just has exceptional lume!

Maybe it does.

[brandrea]

Rolex lume is overstated

[inadeje]

Originally Posted by Offshore

Hello - first post.

So, new Explorer 2 (226570)

It's a fantastic watch, The accuracy is out of this world. I've owned it for a month and have not had to alter the second hand yet. It feels great too and it's just the right size for my wrist (which is 7.5 inches)

All good then. Well yes, apart from the feeble lume!

The colour is bright and really pops but it just doesn't last. For comparison I have a Hamilton Khaki Field and I have always been able to see the hands in pitch darkness even after several hours (albeit faintly) With the polar though there is nothing visible if it hasn't seen the light for a while.

It's surprising as the marketing would suggest the opposite!

Any similar experiences? Does the lume need some time to 'run in'? Perhaps the Hamilton just has exceptional lume!

OP, welcome to the forum and congrats on the new Exp II. Yes, there are 100s of threads about the seemingly deficient lume chosen by Rolex. Its properties to sustain luminosity has always been a sore point. I have some gym beater dollar seikos and other cheapo watches that trounce Rolex in both the luminosity and duration of their lume. I don’t get it either…I mean surely this lume isn’t an expensive component. Surely, Rolex could either buy or create the worlds most performant lume? Either that or contact Seikos supplier

[rmwill]

Lume can be too bright and attention grabbing. I think Rolex got it right on my 226570. I can glance at it on the night stand and see the time perfectly all night. Only I need to see it.

[burnthesehills]

I recently posted a thread on this topic. You can search it to review comments on lume.

IMO, Rolex lume is overrated and nothing to write home about. My Breitling was much better in this one area but even then the lume dissipated quickly.

Pretty much across the board with any watch, I have found (non tritium based) lume to be great for about 15 minutes tops. Then it fades and is barely perceptible.

But great watch you have there!

[watch3r]

Whenever I wake up in the night, I can pretty easily tell the time on my 226570. When this comes up, I always have two thoughts:

1) I usually wear it outside for a decent amount during the day, so it gets charged in the sunlight over a long period of time which seems to last longer than a quick "charge" from holding it under a lamp
2) my bedroom is quite dark

I've noticed the hardest setting to tell the time is in situations where there is enough light that my eyes don't adjust, but not enough light to illuminate the face of the watch. If, however, the lume was bright enough to be seen in this setting, I feel like it would be a blinding beacon in a fully dark room.

[Annan]

My TAG Heuer Aquaracer has the brightest, longest lasting lume of any watch I've ever owned. None of the Rolexes I have owned come close.

[Strad]

I liked the SuperLuminova more than the Chromolight.

[Chewbacca]

We need radioactive lumes back.

[physicist]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

We need radioactive lumes back.

I totally agree!

[DramaTurtle]

2 Things:
- Tudor Pelagos lume is incredible. Annihilates Rolex lume on all their watches.
- Seiko lume is actually insane and right alongside the Pelagos in brightness/legibility.

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by physicist

I totally agree!

Seriously. What was the big deal? They’re selling watches to people for 300m depths without diving credentials but a Radioactive lume is all a sudden the risk!!!????

Smarten up Rolex!!!

[subtona]

Originally Posted by Offshore

Feeble lume

yes!
said most luminova watches.

with luminova there is only one way to succeed... larger luminescent surface area on the hands (and markers but as the movado museum watch illustrated, there is really no use for the markers in telling time.)

if you are looking for the best options, here are my top three from experience and after owning a 1991 tritium dialed submariner through its extra radioactive visibility period and the following decline.

1)the aquanaut 5167 is my favorite for its incredible lume, especially for such a modest size watch.

2)Panerai: large watches large hands and markers.

3)Tudor: took great design elements of Rolex and in many ways made significant improvements. compare the hand size of a BB58 to a similarly sized modern Submariner and you will instantly understand.

[Oystersteel92]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

We need radioactive lumes back.

https://shop.ballwatch.ch/en/luminosity

Way cheaper than Rolex. Watches ready to be ordered and shipped ONLINE. No AD games baby!

[DJ2020]

+1 for the Breitling lume, Mine will dim somewhat in the 1st 30 minutes or so. But then it will hold for hours.

[springbar]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

Seriously. What was the big deal? They’re selling watches to people for 300m depths without diving credentials but a Radioactive lume is all a sudden the risk!!!????

Smarten up Rolex!!!

Tritium doesn't last long-term. All my tritium Rolexes have dead lume.

Radium has been illegal for sixty years, which is a good thing. It's dangerous and should stay out of the supply chain and waste stream.

Rolex should use whatever magic material Seiko uses. It works.

[csaltphoto]

Originally Posted by springbar

Tritium doesn't last long-term. All my tritium Rolexes have dead lume.

Tritium T100 lasts 50 years. At least. IMHO Rolex ought to figure out a way to incorporate it in a way that works with their aesthetic principles. Yeah, gluing a gas tube onto a hand probably wouldn't cut it but they have some imaginative folks there. Get busy and make it better. It wouldn't matter really but they go on and on about Chromalight, which frankly is no better than any other glow-in-the-dark paint in the industry. It's not like some other player has figured out how to store photons better but the volume of the material does matter.

It's like the "Superb Chronometer" thing. Many, even higher end watches, don't really advertise heavily their accuracy expectations. Rolex does; prints it on every dial. So hit it, no excuses.

[springbar]

Originally Posted by csaltphoto

Tritium T100 lasts 50 years. At least.

Tritium will lose 94% of its luminous flux in 50 years. That's completely dead.

75% was already gone after only 25 years.

A tritium watch purchased in the late '90s has irreversibly lost 75% of its brightness. 2 full stops.

That's best-case. I have a tritium Rolex from the late '80s whose lume was invisible by the turn of the century.

Originally Posted by csaltphoto

It's not like some other player has figured out how to store photons better but the volume of the material does matter.

In my experience, another player--Seiko--has figured out how to store and re-emit them better.

[Radbloke]

Frontside or backside?

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by Oystersteel92

https://shop.ballwatch.ch/en/luminosity

Way cheaper than Rolex. Watches ready to be ordered and shipped ONLINE. No AD games baby!

Honestly not a bad watch but the biggest pita to search for because all you get are literally watches in the shape of balls or website that are nsfw.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Offshore

Hello - first post.

So, new Explorer 2 (226570)

It's a fantastic watch, The accuracy is out of this world. I've owned it for a month and have not had to alter the second hand yet. It feels great too and it's just the right size for my wrist (which is 7.5 inches)

All good then. Well yes, apart from the feeble lume!

The colour is bright and really pops but it just doesn't last. For comparison I have a Hamilton Khaki Field and I have always been able to see the hands in pitch darkness even after several hours (albeit faintly) With the polar though there is nothing visible if it hasn't seen the light for a while.

It's surprising as the marketing would suggest the opposite!

Any similar experiences? Does the lume need some time to 'run in'? Perhaps the Hamilton just has exceptional lume!

The main problems with the lume on Rolex watches the hour plots and hands have quite small surface area compared to many other watches.Small surface area the smaller the glow will seem,larger surface area the greater the glow will seam.But for myself lume glow is far down my list in priority in any watch.

[Gab27]

FWIW, I think part of it is the specific color hue of Chromalight.

SuperLuminova C3 has better visibility IMHO, although I like the color hue of Chromalight more.

After around an hour or so in the dark, though, tritium tubes are king.

[Gab27]

Originally Posted by springbar

Tritium will lose 94% of its luminous flux in 50 years. That's completely dead.

75% was already gone after only 25 years.

A tritium watch purchased in the late '90s has irreversibly lost 75% of its brightness. 2 full stops.

That's best-case. I have a tritium Rolex from the late '80s whose lume was invisible by the turn of the century.

In my experience, another player--Seiko--has figured out how to store and re-emit them better.

I am not an expert on tritium, but I believe tritium tubes may be different from what Rolex was using? I have tritium tubes on another household device that is around 15 years old (the tubes themselves are probably older as I am sure they sat a while after being manufactured). It is clearly not at bright as it was when new, but still very visible. I believe the half life is 12.5 years. So, even when it reached the half life, the tubes I have are still emitting quite a bit of visible light. On a watch, they would still be very visible. That said, is 20-25 years a reasonable service interval prior to a dial replacement? - I guess we could debate if the even longer lifespan of Chromalight outweighs the potential better functionality of tritium at the expense of hue and dial lifespan?

So do contained tubes perhaps age better than how Rolex originally used tritium?

[faldoc]

Lume in my SubC seems decent.

About the same brightness as the Super-LumiNova in my Longines Spirit Zulu Time.

My 1986 Rolex 15038 tritium is essentially gone, barely visible in the darkest room with complete dark adaptation. This watch is a dress watch I really don’t rely upon for lume.

[Yacht-Master]

All my Seiko divers are crazy bright and last all night.

This one is best and stays all night.



All luminova glows bright at first, but dims. The best ones stay lit all night.

[Kap007]

The lume on my 116900 is totally fine. There isn't a lot of it, but it lasts through the night. I hit it with my flashlight on my phone for 90 seconds before I hit the rack. It fades of course, but I'm able to read it throughout the night while it is on my wrist.

[NachoNeal]

I only care about lume when I'm traveling.
And rolex barely gets me through the night with their feeble lume.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Chewbacca

Seriously. What was the big deal? They’re selling watches to people for 300m depths without diving credentials but a Radioactive lume is all a sudden the risk!!!????

Smarten up Rolex!!!

I suppose all the watchmakers would be thrilled about that in this modern age with the health and safety issues around the better radioactive lumes.
Then there is the radiation burns issues from the hands one can find on the dials of watches after they've been sitting idle in a drawer which is evident on some vintage watches that adds another dimension to interest around patina.