The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Yeah, on a full charge my Steelfish lume is almost like looking at burning magnesium. And sure it fades, but like Roff said, if you are in the dark it is glowing just fine. I read Superluminova charges quicker and initially glows brighter than Tritium, but Tritium maintains the same initial glow longer. S/L may have a bigger step off, but it certainly does last all night. By light of the TV it may not be noticable, but turn off the TV and wait 6 seconds (the time it takes eyes to adjust to dark) and you're in!

As whether the white light LED flashlights emit UV - I'm no physics dude - but I always thought white light included the entire spectrum and that means ultra-violet too. Although I think the amount of UV radiation varies from one white light souce to another. All I know it the regular LED mini-flashlights do the trick and far better than holding your arm between a light bulb and lamp shade. And besides, that just looks dumb. So BE COOL - get an LED mini-light. And smoke Marlboros. That's how we get cool, no?

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SHARKMAN

Without getting too scientific, tritium is a constant, relatively dim lume that is unaffected by environmental conditions (i.e. charging), SL's brightness depends on environmental conditions for charging - amount of light, length of exposure, etc, and fades after that exposure is removed until recharging. It is significantly brighter initially as you mention (although that's a little subjective depending on amounts used), but does become dimmer as the charge fades.

That said, tritium has a fixed life - after 20 years the lume is pretty much dead, and before then it is severely degraded, whereas SL does not age.

Interesting. I have a few Luminox watches with the miniturized tritium gas filled tubes. I always though it was just the gas that didn't require charging. But this is a perfect example for the eye's needing to adjust - In the dimmest light I can''t see any glow on the Luminox watches, but get in the dark and it is glowing full time. Tha'ts why I first bought one - to be able to check the time in bed without grabbing a pair of glasses. The cheap watches I was getting trully did lose all lume with a couple hours.

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SHARKMAN

Tritium is a gas. The tubes you have in your watch Shark are most likely a phosphor coated glass tube filled with Tritium gas. It requires no charging because it is a radioactive gas that gives off it's light as it decays. It decays into helium, I believe it has a half life somewhere a little over 12 years. Obviously the phosphor is going to degrade over time as well. I'm not sure the specifics of the watch industry specifications on the required illuminesence, but it is popular as a night vision sight for various weapons. Well no one really buys it now everyone seems to have a big budget and buys the Gen III night vision.

It's not going to kill you having all that radioactive decay in your watch, but man is it cool!

I think I prefered understanding them as magic glowing tubes.

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SHARKMAN

Shark, I <3 your majic watch!!!!!!

Edit:

I bought one of these for charging my Lume! 9" long and Xenon UV bulb!!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-51018 ... 140&sr=8-6

If you do a search for UV torch on eBay you will get plenty of choice. I picked up one for a few pounds that you can use as a key ring. Handy for charging up the lume before doing a lume shot.

I wonder why we care so much about lume at night (I know I have always been fascinated with it) when we could just as easily but a battery or plug in alarm clock with a lighted display. Go figure!

I like the lume while driving in the car. Thats the spot I miss it the most. Also at work when we do a lights out to test some night vision and we all run around with little flash lights like kids.

I find it very useful - I wear glasses and the clock radio is on my wife's side of the bed. My options are either to grab my glasses off the nightstand and then turn over to look towards the clock before turning back to put my glasses back, or just grab a watch off the nightstand - much easier and less likely to disturb management

If the clock radio is on your wife's side then I guess "management" is the right term, Roff! I find the clock radio is like the TV remote - i.e. a modern day king's sceptre, and thus a sign of power!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

No, just fewer watch related things on that side so more room

Posted this before but it's an interesting comparison of Seiko's lume (which is slightly better than SL) and the tritium filled tubes:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f2/lume-te ... 978-2.html

It's not an entirely fair comparison because it shows that the Seiko's lume disappears completely - which is not true. It just can't be detected by the individual's digital camera. In the dark of night when your eyes are adjusted, the lume would still be visible.



White light is only the visible spectrum (ROYGBIV or ~400 nm to 750 nm). We can't see UV rays (10nm to ~400nm). There is wee bit of overlap, but nothing hugely significant. Also, lume charges no matter the light source. UV charges it more quickly because the shorter wavelengths contain more energy and are absorbed more readily by the luminous material.

Whether or not the white light contains UV is entirely depends on the source. I believe that most white LED's use an UV source to create the visible white light.

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“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” - Albert Einstein

I really do not understand what the point of the Lume is to be honest. I know its to see your watch in the dark OBVIOUSLY, but if it only lasts 15 minutes or so WHAT IS THE POINT?

So if I'm a pilot flying a plane on a 3 hr trip, I can only use my Lume for 15 minutes after dark??? How does that help me see what time it is after dark when I am 2 hours into my trip? lol

Is it cool to watch your watch glow, YES! But they should A) Get rid of it cause it really doesn't solve a purpose IMO or B) find a way to make it last hours and not minutes.


Anyone else think this way? Or am I that A-Hole?

I'm not trying to be a hater but I could really care less.

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Past: BlackBird, Navi World, SA, Rolex DJII, IWC Yacht Club
Present: CE, DSSD
Future: Changes daily

My steelfish seems to stay illuminated for hours. The other night i charged it for a few minutes with my LED flashlight before going to sleep. I woke up hours later and saw it glowing from the box across the room. My watch will not be nearly as bright as it was immediatly after charging, but it does stay illuminated for hours on end.

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