Tritium hands....a necessity?

shootist16

shootist16

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When looking for a watch do you consider tritium hands, like Luminox or Marathon, to be a necessity? I am used to wearing a Luminox and have been spoiled by the bright hands. Some of the other watches I am looking at don't have this. I wonder if I would be OK without it?
 
You're right Dennis.., those illuminated hands do spoil you.., especially me since my eyes are getting old :(

Not sure I have a good answer for that one.., but it is hard to get used to newer (and even better) watches without that feature...


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
Dennis,
Yes, tritium CAPSULES are a MUST IF you want the brightest hands or dials on a watch for a fairly short time. Forget the claims of 10-25 years! Tritium will glow BRIGHTLY for about 5 years tops! It will then glow "LIGHTLY" for another couple of years.

My recommendation for "long term" is the "glow in the dark" paint, (definitely DO NOT go for tritium paint as it glows for even less time than the capsules!), but the paints like Seiko has used for years and years. They seem to last forever and a charge from a flashlight or a table lamp for 20-30 seconds will last all night. It won't be nearly as bright as the tritium capsules but IT WILL LAST and will be highly readable in the dark! Tritium is wonderful in the short term but LOUSY in the long.

I'm sure all this means nothing because WHO keeps a watch or ANYTHING longer than six months or a year anyway. Just wanted you to know.
 
Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years, so after 5 years it should glow at 75% of its original brightness (and 50% after 12.3 years). This should still be a lot brighter than flourescent paints.
Is there any other reason why the capsules might go bad? Does tritium leak or something?
 
Originally posted by johnniet
Is there any other reason why the capsules might go bad?
Click to expand...

Maybe the length of time between manufacture and sale? My Luminos NATO Field Watch, purchased in the late '90s, says "Made 1985" on the back. That suggests it is 17 years old, but it still glows very brightly.

I wouldn't own a watch without luminous hands, but they don't have to be tritium.
 
Besides Tritium, there is also the illuminated digital watches. Most require two hands to operate, but it is an alternative.
 
johnniet,
DON'T BELIEVE IT! I'm sure that works on paper but not in real life! I own a lot of watches and have lots of experience with tritium. I bought a Rolex Sub brand new in 1977 and still have it. It still keeps chrono time after all these years but the tritium paint was long gone after only 5-6 years. I also have a Stocker & Yale military issue watch that was one of the first with tritium vials. It's about 10 years old and the vials now glow very, very faintly, actually almost unreadable in total darkness. I'm sure someone will chime in and disagree. I assure you though, tritium will be GONE in under 10 years and especially that "forest fire" glow will be gone LONG before that.

I also have a Seiko, (I LOVE SEIKOS!), that I also purchased in '77-'78. It's a "cheapy" 17 jewel auto that has the luminous paint. I can still hold it to a light source for 15-30 seconds and it will STILL be highly readable all night. No, not near as bright as a newer watch with tritium vials but totally readable, (even with sleepy, older eyes), all night. Whatever name you want to call the "paint", (lumibrite, SuperLuma, whatever), they are the way to go for the long term.

I would NEVER buy another watch with tritium ANYTHING! But I'm old fashion and keep things a long time. I know most things, (and ESPECIALLY watches), nowadays are kept a VERY SHORT TIME, so tritium is perfectly acceptable for the short term.
 
This is why I like online forums. There's a lot of good info here.

Question: Couldn't a competent watch repair shop replace worn out Tritium hands? One of the reasons I ask, is my current "fantasy watch" is a Thommen/Revue Airspeed Altimeter mechanical watch (manual wind 48 hour reserve) and mechanical altimeter with "aftermarket" Tritium (or other luminous) hands.
 
Dil,
I'm not personally aware of anyplace that sells tritium vial hands aftermarket. But depending upon how serious you are, there are several places that sell the cheap plastic cased Marathon military watches, complete with tritium vial hands, for around $100, brand new. You could easily cannibalize the hands off of one of these.

Keep in mind, however, that these tritium vial hands are significantly thicker than most watch hands. It's highly likely that the clearance between the face of your Revue/Thommen and the underside of the stock crystal will be insufficient to accomodate these new hands. Of course aftermarket crystals can address this complication, but it's all a matter of how far you're willing to go to make this mod happen.

My oldest tritium vial watch is a Stocker & Yale 660 which is about eleven years old at this point. It's not nearly as bright as my 18 month old Luminox, but it's still far brighter than any of my Lumibrite/Maraglo equipped watches.
 
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