SuperLume - Is it a Rep tell?

[PeteM]

Since being a reader on here I have seen the modders need to re-lume their reps. Indeed to almost demand it to acheive 'gen-like'.

I have a number of gens and have owned a few others in my life but before coming here I never really saw the importance of the lume of my watches nor considered it a necessity of my watches. However I did notice that on my gens the lume never really lasted through the night and usually needed a 'charge' if I could be bothered.

I am now more aware of this part of a watch and now when I see other watches I look at things like that and generally I notice the same on gen watches belonging to people that I know (and I know are gens) the lume generally aint great over long periods.

So if I was to see a watch where the lume really stood out either immeadiately or maintained it for a long period of time it would now draw closer attention from me.

Therefore I started to wonder if in fact the re-luming actually helped to initiate in someones mind a 'rep tell'?

I appreciate there are some very poor lumes in watches out the box but generally on the better reps the lume is reasonable, forgetting the issue on some, of the blob effect.

In fact the same thoughts now cross my mind on other aspects of the watch such as the AR, you know the glassless effect or the colouration of the AR or lack of it etc. These end up becoming rep tells although the idea is to remove the tell by the modder or at least the suspicion but instead for me it increases it.

Anyway I thought I would see what you guys think.

[TeeJay]

Something to bear in mind, is that not all gens have AR, and, on older watches, the lume fades with time, so even a gen can have a weak glow

[lanikai]

Ziggy re-lumes according to oem specs..

of course if you SL a rep where the genuine calls for C1 or C3 or tritium.. it will definitely show as a rep..

AC/Lani

[PeteM]

The Zigmeister re-lumes according to oem specs..

of course if you SL a rep where the genuine calls for C1 or C3 or tritium.. it will definitely show as a rep..

AC/Lani

So a The Zigmeister lume might not attract attention on say a new model rep but would attract attention on say an older watch for eg The PAMs.

Also why then do some report all night lume it suggests most don't use OEM.

Your answer also highlights the need for us guys to realise and understand that just because it's lumed doesn't make it a genlike nor a better watch.

However pics posted on here show a lot of watches look better than the gen in terms of lume....

[PeteM]

Something to bear in mind, is that not all gens have AR, and, on older watches, the lume fades with time, so even a gen can have a weak glow

that's part of my comments above and leads to the question I asked....

[hackR]

hey Pete --

ya know what i think?... i think you officially have "the disease"...

but not to worry - we all take care of each other here...

R-

[Bike Mike]

I have had my gens relumed to non gen specs. I happen to like the intensity of the newer lume technology. Z just finished up a vintage gen dial for me. I asked for C3 and that is what he gave me. I did the hands with C5. As I own the piece, I will have it lumed the way I see fit, rep or gen. I would absolutly say, "No, it is not a rep tell".

[PeteM]

I have had my gens relumed to non gen specs. I happen to like the intensity of the newer lume technology. Z just finished up a vintage gen dial for me. I asked for C3 and that is what he gave me. I did the hands with C5. As I own the piece, I will have it lumed the way I see fit, rep or gen. I would absolutly say, "No, it is not a rep tell".

so are you saying that if you saw that (your) watch on someone else's wrist you couldn't tell by the lume that it wasn't gen or at least be suspicious?

[Bike Mike]

so are you saying that if you saw that (your) watch on someone else's wrist you couldn't tell by the lume that it wasn't gen or at least be suspicious?

I would know it is real because it is my watch.

I might be suspicious, but it would be difficult to use as a "tell" to be rep or not. Even upon close inspection of the lume quality, it is getitng harder to tell. Heck, there are some watches out there that the factory rep lume applied quality is better then the gens. Graham's are case in point.

[fakemaster]

The luming is a rep guy thing. Like you said in your initial post, you never noticed or thought about it before. That's because you're a gen owner. In the real they don't notice or care. In fact if you asked someone about their lume they would say 'do what?'. That goes for 'AR' as well as 'VPH'. Don't believe me? Try it sometime.

[jmarin.72]

so are you saying that if you saw that (your) watch on someone else's wrist you couldn't tell by the lume that it wasn't gen or at least be suspicious?

Not everyone out there knows Z or Vac like we do...so no i wouldn't be suspisious.The average Joe who buys a rep is usually someone who

knows nada about watches and usually spends no more than 50-100$ to get a Canal street low quality rep.He does not spend any more time

or money to modify this watch,nor has the knowledge or tech support behind like we do.

In fact in the daylight,lume in not too visible so odds are not even i could notice the lume density.

But to answer to your question from my point of view lume is a plus to our highly modded watches and definitely adds points.I am currently

waiting for my 16570 to return back from Zig re-lumed,i needed to perform this for two main reasons

1)Like Rob said i also got "the disease" like most of you guys in here

and

2)since i have spent quite an amount of money to make it look as close to the real thing as possible i felt i should go for the final step

which was the SL.I own both the rep and the gen and i got to tell ya my friend the lume on the gen is mind blowing.

Like FM said the lume is a rep guy thing.Before RWG i wasn't paying any attention to things like these,i have friends who own gens and do not

even know how to set the gmt hand or how to operate the chronograph!!!

Personally i thing that SL is a must for highly modded reps.

That's my 0.02$

[ThinkBachs]

I have to agree that it is not a tell. If it were a gen and I didn't like the lume, I'd do the same thing. To me, watches are like cars, and I can't think of a single car that I've owned that I haven't customized it somehow whether it be custom wheels, engine tweaks, spoilers, scoops, interior upgrades, or even tinted windows. If you like it, it makes you happy, and improves the overall performance of the watch, it really doesn't matter what other people think since you're the one wearing it. If changing the look of a watch were a bad thing, I guess many of those custom watch band guys would be out of business. And so would these guys...

[mbjoer]

Almost no-one outside the fora and (possibly) ADs would know and notice small differences between a good rep and the gen, such as lume and AR.

However everybody can tell when the watch shows great attention to details that are beautifully made.

One of these is lume on sports watches. So if a rep has a better lume than the Gen has out of the box, all that is noticed is that you have a nice watch.

After all (as has been mentioned above) even Gens can be improved on.

[PeteM]

Thanks for replies.

So what you guys seem to be saying is.....'You dont need to bother with these type of mods its for personal choice not so much to make it genlike or to avoid tells that its a rep..?'

and that most of us rep-pers shouldnt be worried about these things its only for the guys that would do the same to say their cars or other luxury item, that have a keen eye or a need to improve what they have because they notice the small things, that other people would not....?

Dont get me wrong I modded my cars in various ways and have spent fortunes on BB kits, 22inch wheels etc but very few would actually appreciate the time and money I have spent on that car, they just say 'oooo!! thats nice' etc