UV & Tritium

[ROMEGA]

Hello all, this is my first post. Is it possible for a tritium dial not react to a UV light source? I found an "N" S/N Submariner with it's box and papers basiclly unused but the hands and indicies do not react to UV or any kind of light I have tried. Thoughts? comments?

[Dirt]

The Tritium is simply as dead as a maggot.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by ROMEGA

Hello all, this is my first post. Is it possible for a tritium dial not react to a UV light source? . .

Tritium does not react to UV or any other light source. If the paint used with the tritium does not have photo-luminescent properties, it will not do anything either, or at least, not more than a few seconds.

[vintagewatch]

Quote
"Tritium is a radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen. Tritium is radioactive and has a half-life of about 12.5 years, which means that half of the radioactive atoms will decay naturally in that time."
So over time the ability of the tritium to absorb light energy and illuminate afterwards declines until the material does not glow at all.

[ROMEGA]

Thanks for the input! My vintage Heuer Autavia Viceroy light up like a chritmas tree under UV as well as my Speedmaster 145-022 '69...