The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi
Just arrived at this site and have decided to ask the people in the know.

I have a Rolex GMT master and even after servicing and adding a new dial I am still very disappointed with the luminosity of the figures and dial. The old was even worse. So Rolex are on my sod off list.
As a result have decided to invest in a watch that can deliver the lum I require in the middle of the night without attracting enemy fire.... the girlfriend or the militants!

I have asked in the shops (Brietling) and of course they say... 'Oh yes sir the watches, have great lasting light power'. Well of course they will say that wont they, they want my cash.
Hence the arrival here to see what the real people say.

I have narrowed my search to the Avenger Sea wolf (non Chrono) or the Steelfish. I want to wear for work and social and domestic pleasure so an all rounder.

Can anyone give me their comparison bearing in mind the luminosity during the small hours?

The stores are reluctant to get watches in so a side by side comparison can be made... I wont buy unless they do but its you guys who I would like to hear from.

Thanks for your time

Ady[/color]

Hopefully some people can post some lume photos for you, but generally Breitling lume is not as good as someone like Omega.

For the best lume you really need to look at tritium tubes (Ball being one of the big users), although the lume does fade on those and disappears entirely within about 20 years.

Unless the lume is conatined within vials as Roff has suggested, I can't see that its going to glow long enough for the use you require.

The Steelfish is the best Breitling I've owned as far as lume is concerned, but it still needs to be 'charged' by an external light source. Leave it for a few hours in the dark and its probably gonna be invisible

I had a Steelfish and it wasn't bad on the lume front, but my Planet Ocean left it for dead.

If you want it to be legible in the middle of the night, you'll need something with above-average lume.

The steelfish lume is waaaaay better than the seawolf. The SF has the best lume of all Breitlings (big luminous circles). Its not amazing, but its pretty good. The seawolf is similar to the skyland in the lume department (small lumed dots), which is to say, not very impressive. BTW, the steel seawolf has the big squares as well, but not as many of them as the circles on the steelfish.

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-RJ

I have the Steelfish, Seawolf and Blackbird. The Blackbird has the best lume of all. Still very visibile early in morning / late. The big thing to remember, you cannot see true lume when looking straight at it due to the rods / cones thing. I also have a Luminox with tridium filled gas tubes. This lume is less bright but lasts until its half life of 20 years or so. As Rof says, it does not last forever. If you need a watch for night ops, get one with backlight like Airwolf or Aerospace. Otherwise get a Luminox, Taser (with big date and eta movement), or Smith and Wesson. Or, for the best Breitling Lume, get a Blackbird.

PS, the Steelfish lume is pretty good although not as good as the Blackbird.

R/

As far as nicer watches go the Omega Seamaster 2254 has pretty good lume. That said if you just want to experience a watch with good lume to see what it's all about I'd recommend a Seiko Monster which has the best lume I've seen all for under $200.

Then there is also tritium which is different from luminescent paint in that it's no where near as bright at first but maintains an even glow for years without needing to be charged. For that I have a Marathon TSAR which is a very nice watch for the money.

Tritium isn't even that bright.

I would definitely go with Omega if you lume is a priority:



Group shot:

The 2 on the left are no longer in my collection sadly.

+1 for Omega lume, my Seamaster 300 professional has the best of any watch I've owned. It always amazes me!

What about another tack? How about an Airwolf which has a backlight, or even the classic B1?
Just a thought...

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Best wishes,

Verner

+1 omega, lume on SMP is much better than seawolf, although neither last a great deal of time imo.

josh

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Breitling
Omega
more..

Indeed it isn't - freshly charged SL is five times brighter. However, tritium offers consistent lume and doesn't need charging. The OP's question was for visisbility in the middle of the night. Any SL based system will fade fairly dramatically - the fade rate is predictable, but the amount of light remaining will depend on the amount of SL used and the colour.

There is also Seiko's Lumibrite which actually started life pretty much the same as SL but has gone down a different development path. That's pretty good initial lume, but will still fade like SL. Not sure how SL fade compares to Lumibrite fade.

My steelfish has the best lume of any watch I have owned but I would say the airwolf would but a much better watch for your requirements

The lume on my SOSF isn't bad. I charged it up one night (2 min under 120 lumen) and I could still read it at 3ish when I got up, so it's not bad.

The meprolight tritium vials on my Kimber are plenty bright in almost any light.

I never had problems seeing SL in the middle of the night. Human eyes should properly adjust to low light levels over time, making even the faintest of lume readable.