Tritium - What is it?

[Pugwash]

Tritium is a radioactive form of Hydrogen. Rather than bore you with the science, I'll gloss over it in a way that would make both your chemistry teacher and physics teacher blanch with disgust. However, your biology teacher will put a pencil in her mouth and look on longingly over her glasses because she's a dirty minx!

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.

Tritium replaced the bone-meltingly lethal Radium as paint on watch dials and is the T in T SWISS MADE T, the circled T on Military dials and the T in T < 25. It is used in two types of modern watch dials, with paint and with tubes.

Oh, and it's a WMD. No, I'm not joking, it's the kind of thing countries get invaded for not having. While it's replaced in more modern thermonuclear devices with Lithium Deuteride, it can still be used by developing nations to make sure their neighbours are less developing than them. Still, the radiation it gives off is rather gutless and limp-wristed. The crystal of a watch, even an acrylic crystal, blocks the harmful rads, meaning you'll not be gaining superpowers unless you eat your watch dials raw.

Anyway, back to watches. Being scarily atomic means it has a half-life, in this case one of 12 years - as in it decays to half its radioactivity every 12 years. Yes, this means a 1971 Rolex has 8 times less lume than it started out with, making a Superlume relume rather inaccurate looking.

Tubes, you say? Ah yes, Tritium gas is put in tiny glass tubes lined with fluorescent paint. These tubes are glued onto hands and dials and glow, whether you want them to or not, throughout their life, until they decay to nothingness. No charging needed, open the watchbox and there it is, glowing away.

So, to further the lesson and wrap it up so I can see what the Biology teacher has on her lesson-plan today, here are two pictures from my collection, the first of a watch with tritium tubes, the second with tritium paint.

Drop, 'em, blossom!

For further reading, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-powered_lighting

[Stephane]

Anyway, back to watches. Being scarily atomic means it has a half-life, in this case one of 12 years - as in it decays to half its radioactivity every 12 years. Yes, this means a 1971 Rolex has 8 times less lume than it started out with, making a Superlume relume rather inaccurate looking.

That is closing all debates about SeaDs !

Interresting post, once again.

Thanks

Cheers

Stephane

[Pugwash]

That is closing all debates about SeaDs !

The debate is over whether or not your rep is a rep of back then or of now. I'd relume my 1665/1680.

[dluddy]

A "Glowing" report on Tritium Puggy. Thanks for sharing

[KB]

All nice and well Puggy but if everyone else is like me we would like to see a night pic of those watches.

Ken

[Pix]

Interesting indeed, I did not know that Tritium paint was still used. In fact I thought that it had been replaced by Tritium vials, while both seem to co-exist actually.

Better not to have Tritium paint in reps, unless they are proven to be waterproof...

or unless replica paint -aka superb lume

[Pugwash]

Interesting indeed, I did not know that Tritium paint was still used. In fact I thought that it had been replaced by Tritium vials, whereas both seem to co-exist actually.

Tritium paint is mostly no longer used, to the best of my knowledge, but you can still get new watches with it. Also, some watches, like the GST Chrono, are marked Tritium even though they are Luminova as the T SWISS text is on the chapter ring, not the dial, and the watches were made during IWCs transition from Tritium to Lume.

It's tricky to say who has tritium paint as when manufacturers run out, they can't get replacements. IWC ran out around 2001-2001, for instance. However, I saw some brand new Fortis watches in Thailand with Tritium paint dials. My Fortis is second-hand so I can't tell you when it was made.

[deltatahoe]

Here's an other shot of Tritium in tube: the first time I saw it, I was somehow disappointed : I thought it would glow stronger than lume. It's not the case. But it lasts longer...something like 25 years

hmmm....not sure if you're right re: tritium lasting longer. i'm pretty sure i remember ziggy saying that superluminova will never lose it luminous qualities. i believe what you are thinking about is that tritium glows relatively consistently at all times, whereas superluminova glows very brightly after it is charged, then fades over time, such that after superluminova fades to a certain level, tritium glows brighter given its brightness doesn't "fade" as much after being charged.

can anyone else confirm that i'm not making this stuff up?

deltatahoe

[Pugwash]

can anyone else confirm that i'm not making this stuff up?

Yup, but Pix meant the first charge lasts 25 years to Superlume's hours.

[Pix]

...Pug, I wouldn't have said it better

Here are some other information I found.

What Are trazers?

The technical term for a traser light is a Gaseous Tritium Light Source (GTLS) These low level light sources have unique properties, they are unaffected by water, oil and most corrosive materials and require no external power source or exposure to light in order to work. They remain fail-safe and maintenance free and have a useful life in excess of 10-20 years.

Each traser light is a laser sealed borosilicate glass vial which has been coated internally with phosphor. In one single process the traser is sealed by a CO2 laser and injected with gaseous Tritium. The low energy electrons emitted by the Tritium, excite the phosphor and this creates a cold energy which produces a low level light without filaments or heat dissipation and no risk of fire or explosion.

Quality control

trasers go through a labour intensive manufacturing process with quality control being a dominant consideration. They are 100% inspected for dimensions, brightness, temperature, thermal shock and Tritium leakage. Random sample testing is performed continually for discolouration, brightness decay, reduced pressure and vibration effects.

Colors

The colour of light emitted by the traser is determined by the phosphor used in production. Choices are very limited and can only be specified for the spectral range from 350nm ( ultra-violet ) to 1200nm ( near infrared). The most effective colours for human eye perception are generally green and yellow as these are the preferred colours due to the eyes maximum sensitivity to them. A large green traser light of 5mm in diameter and 20mm in length, can be perceived by the unaided dark adapted human eye at a distance of some 50 metres in total darkness. The relative brightness of other colours compared to green are as follows :

Green 100 % - Yellow 80% - White 60% - Orange 50% - Red 25% - Blue 20%

Brightness

The brightness performance is dependant upon the filling pressure, shape and size of the traser. The maximum pressure inside a traser is 2500 millibar. Various configurations with a green light will provide the following range :

100 microlambert for the smallest light of 0.65mm diameter

750 microlambert for a large light of 5mm diameter

Up to 2500 microlambert can be achieved in special lights by coating part of the surface with a reflective white paint.

I suppose that "trazer" is a brand name for Tritium tubes.

Here's a "night" shot for Kenberg : difficult to judge how it glows. If I take the Seiko Lumibrite right after exposed to light, Tritium is probably 10 times weaker. But ..! after a while, Tritium looks brighter, all night long...all night !

Very important : the "pearl" and seconds hand are lumed, the other markers and main hands have Tritium vials. That gives a rough idea of the difference.

[cableguy]

Here's a random bit of information..... P*YPal will ban your account if you mention u are buying Tritium....... u know they sell those little tritium vials for keychains and other uses..... YEP...not only reps....Tritium as well =)

[Stephane]

The debate is over whether or not your rep is a rep of back then or of now. I'd relume my 1665/1680.

Wow, for the first time we disagree...

If I had purchased a 1665/1680 back in the early 70ies or 60ies, and knowing that sending it to a Rolex Service Center would result in changing the dial, I would never have send them to these idiots.

Imagine sending your 1665 and get it back with a modern SD dial

So, the question would be: would a watchsmith you ask to service your watch relume it ?

I don't think so...

Anyway, it's again a matter of taste.

I prefer a rep that looks very old (love scratches and hairlines).

Cheers

Stephane

[krustybrand]

Bit of trivia - Tritium is currently selling for about $14million per kilo. It's one of the byproducts produced where I work.

[Pix]

Here's a random bit of information..... P*YPal will ban your account if you mention u are buying Tritium....... u know they sell those little tritium vials for keychains and other uses..... YEP...not only reps....Tritium as well =)

Cableguy, are you sure ?

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...&category0=

Maybe you mean Tritium under an other shape as in watches..?

[Watchmeister]

[Watchmeister]

Thanks for the informative post. So here is my takeaway. Don't eat the dials and don't relume any vintage. Just claim it is 24 years old (1/2*1/2=1/4 brightness from original). I would be remiss if I didn't ask how many watches I would have to buy and scrape to get to a kilo. I could really use the $14 million.

[cableguy]

Cableguy, are you sure ?

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...&category0=

Maybe you mean Tritium under an other shape as in watches..?

Pix yes.... On another board I visit they sell little Tritium Vials, that people make keychains out of. they also glue these vials to their flashlights and whatnot to find them in the dark... there have been several members there who's accts have been suspended due to mentioning Tritium.

maybe they dont care about it in watches.. but they do care about it when its in little vials apparently.

[Pix]

Oh, OK, you mean keyholders and that kind of funny stuff...

I'd like one that glows when I whistle

I guess watches aren't concerned as the contained quantity of Tritium material is negligible.

[cableguy]

check this out......

[Pugwash]

Wow, for the first time we disagree...

That's the Froglish going on. I don't lume my Vintages.

What I was saying is that there is a valid debate, not a definitive answer.

[JoJo35]

My biology teacher:

..umm.. did you mention something about watches in this thread??? somehow my mind must have wandered

[Pugwash]

Fans of Onegai Teacher will appreciate this thread.