What lume is brightest?

[Mirabello1]

Ball Watch Trit Tube Replacement
Found this info, sounds like Ball has this issue covered .

I cannot speak for all manufacturers, but there is at least one watchmaker that will provide this service - BALL.
Recognizing the need to provide end-to-end servicing for our watches, we at Ball Watch Company have always planned to offer tritium tube replacement when the time comes.
The tube replacement will be an optional process during the scheduled maintainence. There may even be the option to customize the watch with colored tubes.

Regards,
Jeremy Hogan
Ball Watch Company, Inc.

This neglects to say what that "optional process" will cost during the maintainence...Thats when they get you...

[nam6869usmc]

This neglects to say what that "optional process" will cost during the maintainence...Thats when they get you...

Here ya go, not to cheap. Found some pricing on those replacements.

Before I decided to jump on my Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Spacemaster Orbital, I had to check out all the fees for servicing the watch.
I went to the official Ball service center, and was quoted the following prices in Ringgit Malaysia (RM).

Exchange Rate: USD$1.00 = RM3.20

Service: RM1100
Tritium Tube Replacement: RM35 per Tritium Tube
Polishing (Metal Strap): RM350

I was told, people usually replace their tubes after 10-15 years, because it won't be as bright as it initially was ... Half-life of Tritium is believed to be at 12 years ...

For now, my watch has 52 tubes, and the cost to replace all is 52*RM35 = RM1820 (approx. USD$570) ... with servicing and polishing ... over USD$1000+ ... Wouldn't it be better to purchase a brand new watch?

[Nicolas_Rieussec]

I don't think that there is any doubt of which is brighter (lumed dial) or which maintains it brightness longer (tritium). What I don't understand is why manufacturers haven't designed any watches with both tubes and a lumed dial. It seems like such an easy fix that would provide the bright pop after a sunlight charge as well as the glow power of tritium.

The Prometheus Baiji uses both tubes and superluminova lume.

[Raza]

I don't think that's a rational question.
What car have you owned for 25 years?
What television?
What phone?

What? You don't like those questions? Okay... Your father... how many watches from 25 years ago does he still regularly wear? (Mine has mostly new watches, excepting a 10 year old or so digital he really likes.)

I have many watches, and only a few old ones. I do have a tritium that is quite weak after I'm guessing around 15 years - an mb microtec - but the movement isn't doing so well either. And frankly I wear my newer watches much more that I would wear that one even if it was in good shape. These things aren't really heirlooms, not because they couldn't be, but because that's now how the world works anymore.

You shouldn't be buying anything you really think you'll hold onto for 25 years. That's something like three times longer than people hold onto their husbands and wifes. Only tattoos and certain STDs last that long.

I don't buy any watch I don't plan on keeping for the rest of my life. It doesn't always happen that way, but that's always the plan.

[Nicolas_Rieussec]

I don't have a tritium-tube watch, nor have I ever seen one in person. While watch-shopping recently, I was excited initially by the possibility of getting one, as I think they have visual appeal (they're pretty), judging only by the photos. But after further reflection, I think I would worry about the radiation.

I know they're supposed to be quite safe, the weak emanations don't penetrate the outer epidermis, but still that nagging feeling would always be in the back of my mind. (I worry about airport scanners too. Ionizing radiation's effects are cumulative, so you should still be careful about small amounts). I sleep in my watch every night, so as to be able to check the time when I wake in the middle of the night. While sleeping, I often wrap my arms around my head, as no doubt many do, and in so doing my wrist is touching my head, therefore the tubes would be right next to my head most of the night.

Also, I think it might be TOO bright in bed, after my eyes have adjusted to the dark, maybe it would scare my wife. I bought a Citizen recently, and, after charging, I find its lume is plenty bright for me to read the time all night, without being objectionably bright. Also, 25 years hence, my tubes would be spent, whereas my painted lume would still be AS GOOD AS NEW.

There is one situation I think would be ideal for a tritium-tube watch: spelunking. If you got lost in a cave, batteries gone, no way to charge your lume, you could still see the time for the next 25 years.

[The Elf]

I don't have a tritium-tube watch, nor have I ever seen one in person. While watch-shopping recently, I was excited initially by the possibility of getting one, as I think they have visual appeal (they're pretty), judging only by the photos. But after further reflection, I think I would worry about the radiation.

I know they're supposed to be quite safe, the weak emanations don't penetrate the outer epidermis, but still that nagging feeling would always be in the back of my mind. (I worry about airport scanners too. Ionizing radiation's effects are cumulative, so you should still be careful about small amounts). I sleep in my watch every night, so as to be able to check the time when I wake in the middle of the night. While sleeping, I often wrap my arms around my head, as no doubt many do, and in so doing my wrist is touching my head, therefore the tubes would be right next to my head most of the night.

Also, I think it might be TOO bright in bed, after my eyes have adjusted to the dark, maybe it would scare my wife. I bought a Citizen recently, and, after charging, I find its lume is plenty bright for me to read the time all night, without being objectionably bright. Also, 25 years hence, my tubes would be spent, whereas my painted lume would still be AS GOOD AS NEW.

There is one situation I think would be ideal for a tritium-tube watch: spelunking. If you got lost in a cave, batteries gone, no way to charge your lume, you could still see the time for the next 25 years.

On the radiation front you have nothing to worry about - tritium is a low energy Beta emitter, ie it emitter an electron when it decays. They can be stopped very easily by a lot of materials, I have tested my watch with a geiger counter a few times, and been through a full body contamination detector many times wearing it, which one of the things it is scanning for is tritium (I work on a nuclear site) - and my watch has never shown up any readings.

As a slight side note - you are right that ionizing radiations are cumulative, but there is a dose threshold before the 'linear' relationship starts between dose and cancers etc, so a certain dose per year has no measurable effect. I can't remember the exact value, but it is many x-rays worth (there is a certain amount of time of flying on an aeroplane that is equivalence in dose to a x-ray due to the altitude, I think it was around 10 hours but I can't remember).

[bedlam]

I don't have a tritium-tube watch, nor have I ever seen one in person. While watch-shopping recently, I was excited initially by the possibility of getting one, as I think they have visual appeal (they're pretty), judging only by the photos. But after further reflection, I think I would worry about the radiation.

You'd get more radiation exposure from the potassium in a banana

[Raza]

You'd get more radiation exposure from the potassium in a banana

Damn it, I love bananas.

[gaijin]

But after further reflection, I think I would worry about the radiation.

I know they're supposed to be quite safe, the weak emanations don't penetrate the outer epidermis, but still that nagging feeling would always be in the back of my mind. (I worry about airport scanners too. Ionizing radiation's effects are cumulative, so you should still be careful about small amounts).

The Beta rays emitted by the Tritium never make it out of the glass vial that contains the gas. Zero exposure.

HTH

[pechelman]

And what are you going to do with your $2000 Ball when the tritium needs to be replaced? Head over the the tritium store, Tritium R Us, and get some more?

as an fyi to the community

its actually easy to buy your own tritium vials. lots of shapes, sizes, and colors out there.
Last i looked, for a smaller diameter, longer length vial, it was running about 3-5$ ea.
do an internet search

i have no input on getting the work done on a watch though, but perhaps someone like IWW could do it if you supplied the vials...