Tritium SWISS - T < 25

[redshirt1957]

Wife bought me a TT GMT II L series and as expected the lume was no longer active. I checked the lume in a totally dark room after 30 minutes so the rods in my eyes would adjust. Kind of boring waiting the 30 minutes. No big deal as the loss of lume gave me some assurance that the hands and dial were original. I realize that Tritium SWISS - T < 25 means the tritium level is less than 25 milliCurie. Now for the reason for this post and I realize I am setting myself up to be seen as a loon.

At night I sit outside and read and am kept warm by two propane heaters. It has been around -2 degrees C at night and I keep the heaters up high. During one of my reading sessions I must have been sitting to close to one of the heaters as the watch got too hot to wear for a couple of minutes. Only thought I had was of cooking the oil in the watch. Went to bed that night and got up around 2:00 am to take care of business and I noticed that the lume was back. Is this possible? I don't think so, but the lume is back for now.

[smith one]

hmmm... Tritium doesn't recharge..must be just residual
glow. Anywho glad your happy.

cheers
Kevin

[Tools]

Watches have a couple of different ways go glow.

1) Photoluminescent paints, where the phosphor paint is excited by light and therefore 're-chargable"

and

2) Radioluminescent paint, where the paint mixture includes an exciter, usually tritium (although radium and strontium have been used). Tritium is a low energy Beta emitter and the energy of the Beta rays cascades into the phosphor causing it to glow.

In theory, it is possible to cause radioluminescent paints to momentarily glow if enough energy is imparted into it to simulate the Beta bambardment of the original radioactive element..

You cannot re-charge the Tritium. The half life of ~12.5 years means that after ~12 years it has half as much energy by count as originally, another 12 years and it has half that (1/4 of original), then again (1/8 of original) and on and on..

T<25 watches could have any mix that keeps it below that threshold whereas T 25 watches willl have the maximum amount of radioactive mix without exceeding the standard..

[SSD]

Bubba, the answer is simple.

You never were really outside under the heaters. The aliens beamed you up and performed unspeakable experiments on your wrist while attempting to steal your watch. They read Sheldonsmith's article on bracelet adjustment and wanted to see how it works if you're triple jointed. The lume is back because of the lab's close proximity to their warp drive and their transporter beam.


































NOT

That is pretty cool, though. I wish tritium dials would come back, the H3 tubes in my Luminox are cool, as are the other brands of watches with them, and night sights. Glad its working again also, even if its only for a while! I'm told the old raduim dialed watches reflected off the ceiling at night & had the potential to remove arm hair (not Rolex!), but I would probably be afraid of that.

Mr. Dowling has a pretty plausible theory on the original GMT bezels being equipped with tritium, and some possibly being contaminated with strontium-90 whilst being manufactured(!):

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php...oto=2308&rid=0

I thought that was pretty interesting, maybe they'll do something like that again one day.

P.S.- What color does the tritium glow? The same green as Superluminova, white or what?

[Ed Rooney]

I can charge my old 1987 Tritium Seiko under a strong lamp, but it glows only briefly.

Back in the day it put Rolex to shame.

[BlackpoolRolexCoaste]

I agree with SSD - H3 is the way to go! I have a traser H3 military watch I wear at night as it is absolutely brilliant (pardon the pun!). Both my blue sub and stainless steel sub are pretty useless in the dark after a half hour or so.
At some point I will put all three watches in a dark room and attempt to take a picture and post it.

[redshirt1957]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

I can charge my old 1987 Tritium Seiko under a strong lamp, but it glows only briefly.

Back in the day it put Rolex to shame.

So I still may be a loon, but not a crazy loon. I feel better.

[Spark]

I too may be setting myself up here, but I have noticed that a couple of my watches circa 70's/80's with Tritium dials do still actually glow, but only in the middle of the night if I drink too much and wear the watch to bed
Yes OK you can stop laughing now.
My thinking behind this is that when I am awake and move from light to dark the lume is so poor that my sight doesn't adjust to see it, but after being asleep or in a drink induced coma my eye sight can pic up the glow in the pitch black of the night?
Probably complete crap but there you go, I do see something.

[Tools]

Sure they can still glow...

Here's a 60's Tritium dial..



And another example of 40+ year old Tritium:

[redshirt1957]

Originally Posted by Spark

I too may be setting myself up here, but I have noticed that a couple of my watches circa 70's/80's with Tritium dials do still actually glow, but only in the middle of the night if I drink too much and wear the watch to bed
Yes OK you can stop laughing now.
My thinking behind this is that when I am awake and move from light to dark the lume is so poor that my sight doesn't adjust to see it, but after being asleep or in a drink induced coma my eye sight can pic up the glow in the pitch black of the night?
Probably complete crap but there you go, I do see something.

OK, I admit it now....I am a crazy loon. Hell, it happens with age. I am happy though!

[Spark]

Originally Posted by redshirt1957

OK, I admit it now....I am a crazy loon. Hell, it happens with age. I am happy though!

You need to be a Loon to be here in this mad house

[Spark]

Originally Posted by Tools

Sure they can still glow...

Here's a 60's Tritium dial..

They look almost identical Tritium infil shapes to the hands on my Tudor Prince Oyster Date and a similar colour

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Pretty awesome lume for a Tritium watch, Larry!

[Tools]

Originally Posted by SPACE-DWELLER

Pretty awesome lume for a Tritium watch, Larry!

It can be photographed Spacey, but the truth is that you have to be in a dark room for quite a while before you can see anything..

And at my age, it's of no value what-so-ever..