Reply With QuoteNite, Christopher Ward(old C600), Mondaine, Traser to name a few.
Guys, I feel the need for tritium tubes, I have looked at the Ball range which is rather cool, although some are a bit too much.
Who else does a nice tritium based face?
Totty
Nite, Christopher Ward(old C600), Mondaine, Traser to name a few.
Just google tritium or h3 watch tubes. Lots of makes.
I had the Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon for a while it was only a few months old and tbh the glow never seemed as good as the photos on the internet predict. It was there and all the time of course just not that bright even in the dead of night. It was more like the setting on my cars dash clocks turned down to mid rather than the full which would be expected.
Luminox almost exclusively use tritium tubes.
Tritium is often a more subtle glow than a full on glare of good lume...
Never knew that, I have some good lume but they tend to fade quite quickly after the light source has gone.Originally Posted by ukmidnite
Good to know that,can't believe the title of this thread is tritumin or something random!!
Agreed, and sometimes this is what's required. With night/dark adjusted eyes you can see the time via tritium just fine. No need to light up a room with it.
When my Ball was new, my wife used to complain if I wore it in bed at night as it was too bright after her eyes had got used to the dark. A couple of years on, it's not so bad. Still the watch I go to if I know I'll need to read the time at night.
Can't believe nobody's mentioned Marathon yet! Fantastic VFM and virtually bomb-proof.
(not my photo, found via Google)
Last edited by workahol; 19th March 2016 at 18:58. Reason: better photo
Which one is that? My JSAR is not that bright, is that the CSAR, GSAR etc??Can't believe nobody's mentioned Marathon yet! Fantastic VFM and virtually bomb-proof.
(not my photo, found via Google)
It looks like a GSAR to me. Long exposure as evidenced by the blurred second hand.
My TSAR (same basic watch in quartz) is not all that bright looking when the lights first go out, but at three in the morning it shines like a torch whereas everything else in the box has faded away. With Luminova you get a burst of illumination right after charging, followed by a drop off towards nothing, whereas tritium tubes shine steadily all the time. Bit like a sprint versus a... marathon. I'll show myself out.
Marathon superb, and they make you most welcome if you call in, which i did in sep 14 on a fishing trip to Toronto.
The Marathon shown is a GSAR (goverment search and rescue)
A couple of personal observations. Firstly, the current crop of tritium tube lume watches are for the most part garish designs and yet borrow from a military look, not a great combo IMO. Secondly, don't kid yourself that tritium is brighter than S-L most of the time: it isn't. Yes after 6 hours in a cave a Tritium tubes watch will be brighter by far but for the first 2-3 hours of darkness the S-L will be way more readable and will retain meaningful luminescence for a further 6-8 hrs. There is also the fact that since the half life if tritium is around 13 years, your H3 watch will be dull as ditch water after 10yrs whereas SL keeps on running.
I am not a H3 fan. Can you tell
Last edited by Padders; 19th March 2016 at 21:22.
I have a Davosa Argonautic with tritium tubes.
Although the brightness of it won't blow you away, I love the fact that it doesn't need charging to light it up.
Fair enough mate... You're quite right that the tubes don't last forever. As for the rest, all I shall say is to each his own, and leave it at that.
I disagree on the saleability of Ball...
I've not bought and sold lots on this forum or anywhere else but I've sold one Ball and bought one and notice the others since i really like the brand. They seem to sell really very quickly.
In terms of H3
the photos are exagerated (often under UV) but they are better for night owls than Superluminova by some measure I think. At least this is from a user point of view as insomnia is my great curse....along with being ugly that is!
I recently bought a Traser Survivor with the H3 tubes and its great, actually the tubes are pretty bright.
As previously mentioned Nite do a lot of tritium watches. They are mostly Quartz but they started doing autos a few months ago, worth a look I would have thought. This is one of two I have owed.
Tritium "stays bright all night" - and that makes it a winner for me.
The problem is that, at night, it's harder to tell the orientation of the watch face. So it would be nice if the makers put clearly destinctive marks on the 12/3/6/9 positions, but often they don't. Idealy you want the 12 to stick out like a sore thumb, and the 3/6/9 to be easily destinguished from the other hours. Similarly the hour/minute hands need to be quickly destinguishable.
Now, as to the misunderstanding about the effect of half life......
True the H3 becomes less less active, as the laws of physics predict. But, the light you see is generated by it's interaction with the chemicals of the luminous materials that it excites, hence the brightness is limited by these chemicals and NOT the H3. These tubes are built with more than enough H3 to FULLY excite the chemicals, and even after years of deacy there is still more than enough H3 to fully utilise the luminous material. Hence the light given off will not diminish as quickly as the H3 activity does. You are loking at several half-lives before the "lume" becomes dull.
Interesting if correct. Certainly the tritium based paint used for lume until the late 90s has all faded away to nothing and in my experience did so after 10-15 years but if indeed there is more gas than is needed then that would suggest the possibility of a longer life for the tubes.
One of the big advantages of Ball is that they do T100 watches whereas most others seem to be limited to T25.
I have three Marathon Navigators. One is brand new, and is only slightly brighter than my 10 year old example. This is significantly brighter than my 25 year old steel one, but even that one is readable at night. They are my go-to 'in bed' watches
(Without wanting to give too much info, the newer ones are even bright enough to give sufficient light to visit the loo at 4am, as I am wont to do these days...)
Those of you that do night ops for real know that tritium watches glow way too much to be used uncovered if the opponent may have night vision capabilities. Even a Gen3 image intensifier sees it very well from a long distance. However, covered properly it is extremely useful - always on, does not totally destroy your night vision from the looking eye.
Then again, most guys I know that get paid doing thing at night wear Casios, Suuntos and other plastic cased stuff.
How about Deep Blue's Daynight 48mm Pro T100 Tritum auto dive watch?
That's what I use my Marathon GSAR for as well
Quite fancy that, I do like a diver's watch despite not being a diver.
So I ended up with one of these
Wow! That should certainly scratch that tritium itch of yours!
You could strap it to your head and go caving ;)
Looks like a pin ball machine.. in a good wayGuys, I feel the need for tritium tubes, I have looked at the Ball range which is rather cool, although some are a bit too much.
Who else does a nice tritium based face?
Totty
Like Blackpool illuminations as my dear old mum often said when I left the big light on
Posting Permissions
