The logic of "T" vs "L"

first of all, I get it. It's not tritium, and the "T" was supposed to differentiate between earlier watches that had Radium. But these watches are anachronistic homages and they all had "T", and not "L". Nobody cares that the new versions have sapphire glass and not hesalite, in fact most people prefer it. People don't mind that these have Swiss ETA movements, and not Smiths movements. It's okay. And everybody knows these watches have luminova, and not tritium. We are not talking about the ill-informed masses here, but a bunch of well informed enthusiasts.

What's the point of putting the broad arrow logo or the "T"/"L" anyway? They're not to give anybody any information whatsoever. They are purely aesthetic nostalgic throwbacks of the original, and if that's the purpose of these logos, then just use the original "T". I promise you: nobody cares that it's not technically accurate, but I'm sure more than one appreciates having the original look.

Thoughts?

Several of the CWC reissues now have a circled T rather than an L even though they are modern day Luminova watches - appealing to what people want, well a very small group of nerds probably...

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Originally Posted by Wallasey Runner

Several of the CWC reissues now have a circled T rather than an L even though they are modern day Luminova watches - appealing to what people want, well a very small group of nerds probably...

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I have to say that I don’t see the point of putting T on a Luminova dial, and I can be as nerdy as the next man (well, perhaps not but even so...).

The main problem I have with "L" is that it implies something that is false. The original "T" was required as a military requirement, one that is not required today for any military watch. "L" implies that the MOD at some point issued an amendment requiring that luminova watches are marked with it to differentiate it from tritium, which is not true: the MOD doesn't care.

If the MOD doesn't care, then why should we? They are there purely for appearance purposes, and no vintage watch ever had "L" on it, so it just looks plain weird.

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Originally Posted by learningtofly

I have to say that I don’t see the point of putting T on a Luminova dial, and I can be as nerdy as the next man (well, perhaps not but even so...).

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what's the point of putting "L" on the dial?

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Originally Posted by grizzlymambo

The main problem I have with "L" is that it implies something that is false. The original "T" was required as a military requirement, one that is not required today for any military watch. "L" implies that the MOD at some point issued an amendment requiring that luminova watches are marked with it to differentiate it from tritium, which is not true: the MOD doesn't care.

If the MOD doesn't care, then why should we? They are there purely for appearance purposes, and no vintage watch ever had "L" on it, so it just looks plain weird.



what's the point of putting "L" on the dial?

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None. But it’s worse to put T on a Luminova dial.

The nerds are revolting tonight. This is one L of a debate.

I agree T was for MoD use, the L is for a load of old blokes who tell their mates that they are military Watch experts :eagerness:

I have a JLC military issue watch with a circle "P" on the dial.


Eddie

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Originally Posted by swanbourne

I have a JLC military issue watch with a circle "P" on the dial.


Eddie

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Plutonium?

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Originally Posted by number2

Plutonium?

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Promethium.

Eddie

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Originally Posted by swanbourne

Promethium.

Eddie

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''Named for the Greek Titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humanity, glow-in-the-dark promethium is a highly radioactive, rare earth element. It is not found anywhere on Earth and is found in the byproducts of uranium fission reactions. Due to its rarity, its primary purpose is for research; it has possibilities for use in a variety of medical devices, batteries, and in luminescent paint''.

Impressive and scary .

Another day another lesson. :eagerness:

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Originally Posted by swanbourne

Promethium.

Eddie

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If it stood for "Prometheus" then you could say that it was a scary watch designed by Ridley Scott. lol

Promethium is a strange one,
It does not normally degrade or discolour like Tritium so the dials tend to look brand new, the half life is so short (about 3 years) that the dials are always dead, it was not a success as a lume material which I presume is why CWC still used Tritium way past the introduction of Promethium dials for MOD watches.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...922b797914.jpg
This is from 96

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c17bbd783f.jpg
This is from 08
As an aside
This watch is also promethium and I remember it being really bright when I first got it as a kid but being really disappointed a few years later when it was unreadable at night.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...bc4a9b673c.jpg

A friend who was a RN pilot had a (P) Seiko Chrono - he tells me that they were withdrawn from service because of fears that a broken crystal might allow Promethium into the cockpit, which might be bad for the occupants. Not quite as bad as some of the stuff the Iraqis threw at him when he flew his Tornado on a bombing raid over Baghdad, mind, which would have had a more immediate impact on his health, had any of it connected...

The JLC I have would have originally had a radium dial and it was commonplace for them to be returned to the horological workshops (when they still had them) for the radium to be scraped off (nice job) and another compound to be applied. The fact they replaced it with Promethium gives it quite a narrow date range when this was done.

Eddie

It does indicate a narrow date range (late 70s- 1980s - early 1990s) MK11s, and more commonly WWWs were redialled - it is a surprise the WWWs were still in service. The MOD dials are their own sub section of collecting in a way.

A circled P could be construed as being for Platts, at least it would have more genuine relevance I suppose, although perhaps with mixed/confused purposes from the norm/expected.:distant: