Reply With QuoteIf Mike says tritium that's good enough for me. You say the lume is dead, shine a UV (black light) torch on it in a darkened corner and see how it looks. The plots should match the hands if all is well.
Firstly sorry if these pictures don't come out clear enough, but I've always been curious if my Breitling has Lumanova or Tritium lume.
I once got a talking down on a Breitling Facebook page for mentioning it was Tritium, so I called Breitling out of curiosity and spoke to a young lady who after consulting someone in the relevant department came back to say Lumanova, I still wasn't convinced as the lume was completely dead and the paint has turned a creamy colour at best, if not beige.
Hope I'm not boring you to death here but here is where it got more interesting for me :) I went to a TZ-UK meet in Manchester and whilst sat at the table Mike Wood from Southport picked my Watch up off the table to take a look, I told him it was mine and mentioned the lume question, he took a careful look thriugh his Loupe and said Tritium.
What do you guys think??
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Last edited by Matt68; 12th January 2021 at 16:54.
If Mike says tritium that's good enough for me. You say the lume is dead, shine a UV (black light) torch on it in a darkened corner and see how it looks. The plots should match the hands if all is well.
Pretty sure Breitling stopped using tritium around 2000. I'm sure I remember looking at SuperOceans and remember some examples having tritium. Pretty sure I bought my SOP in Aug 2001 which was then luminova.
I'd say that watch is tritium.
Me too - the colour is a giveaway for me
I was going to say Luminova but if Mike Wood looked at it IRL and said tritium, then it is tritium. Simples.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Why might they not match, wouldn't they age similarly?Originally Posted by Wallasey Runner
Thanks for the replies, and I should have mentioned it's a 1999 watch, I have the paperwork.
Sent from my SM-G920F using TZ-UK mobile app
Indicates service hands or dial
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I'm 99% sure that puts it in the tritium era for the SuperOceans. I bought new in August 2001 and one of the reasons for going new was that a lot of the pre-owned examples being sold at the time were tritium. Even the luminova on these models wasn't great. The tritium models all got a slating for lack of glow.
On some tritium watches you can tell by ‘charging’ up the lume with a torch or LEd from your phone or whatever - and if you get a momentary glow ( <1 sec ) - that’s a good indicator that it is tritium. Doesn’t work on all tritium watches - Rolex for example - for some strange reason.
Clearly Luminova service replacement hands would shine like a torch, but if someone had bought new Luminova hands, had the Luminova removed and the hands filled with a colour to match the dial plots a UV light would pick it up.
Think dodgy dealer trying to make an old watch look perfect.
Is the lighter colour of the hands perhaps due to the lume being thinner and so more translucent?
Hands quite often develop patina at a different rate to the dial. Sometimes the hands can be made by a different manufacturer, so not always straight forward.
Also could use different trit batches.
I believe the Swiss Watch industry outlawed Tritium paint (not enclosed glass tubes) on watch dials in 2000 except in special circumstances (eg. military).
If the dial does not glow anymore it will be Tritium and by looking at the colour of the lume especially the 9 I would say it looks to be a Tritium dial. As mentioned on a previous post shine a torch on the dial it will glow but if the glow dies down very quickly to become non existent- in minutes if not seconds- it’s Tritium.
I am surprised it does not have a small T at the base of the dial next to Swiss made? I thought this was law that all Tritium dialled watches had to have that mark - I might be wrong.
Last edited by Sinnlover; 12th January 2021 at 18:41.
My thoughts as well - If it's Tritium then the dial should be marked T Swiss Made T?
Not sure Breitling did this...take a look at this tritium model with no T...
https://www.collectorsquare.com/en/w...00-345645.html
The T-swiss got mention a few times on the Facebook debate, just held an LED torch to the dial and it did slightly glow, but only for a few seconds.
Sent from my SM-G920F using TZ-UK mobile app
I believe the "T<25" was for military watches/ used in nuclear environment (submarines) but it could be a urban legend.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Interesting, maybe Breitling did use Tritium on their pre year 2000 watches then, I always had a hunch it was Tritium, especially when Mike gave his opinion.
Matt and Mike vs Breitling and Facebook, we might be the winning team lol.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
The pictures taken earlier in sunlight makes the lume look greener than it is, this was taken just now.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Looks like Tritium.
I think it is a myth that hands and plots should age the same way. Plenty of times they don’t and it is not because they are replacements.
It is a bit of an urban legend, the number related to the amount of radiation the paint gives out but for all military applications in a nuclear environment the watches were issued sterile, with out any lume paint added.
According to the fountain of knowledge that the Chronext website https://www.chronext.co.uk/magazin/s...em-zifferblatt
T indicates Tritium
T<25 indicates it emits less that 25mcl
T Swiss T indicates it emits less than 7.5mcl
mcl - maximum contaminant level
Or at least that’s what the interwebs have told me...
Many Swiss watches from the 1980s and 90s with tritium lume dials have no T marks. The Bond SMP from 1993-1998 is one such, tritium lume but no Ts in sight, but there are dozens of other examples including several Breitlings.
Unlike modern phosphorescent pigments functional "fresh" Tritium should glow in the dark even if the watch has not been previously exposed to light. However, Tritium has a pretty short functional half-life of around twenty years, which your watch has evidently surpassed.
I don’t know about the lume, but my first ‘nice’ watch was a 1998 Breitling Colt Automatic that looked a lot like your watch - I absolutely loved the look of it. Yours reminded me of it - great looking piece.
I was sat at the same table and remember Mike looking at your watch mate - that was the last real McrGTG we did!Firstly sorry if these pictures don't come out clear enough, but I've always been curious if my Breitling has Lumanova or Tritium lume.
I once got a talking down on a Breitling Facebook page for mentioning it was Tritium, so I called Breitling out of curiosity and spoke to a young lady who after consulting someone in the relevant department came back to say Lumanova, I still wasn't convinced as the lume was completely dead and the paint has turned a creamy colour at best, if not beige.
Hope I'm not boring you to death here but here is where it got more interesting for me :) I went to a TZ-UK meet in Manchester and whilst sat at the table Mike Wood from Southport picked my Watch up off the table to take a look, I told him it was mine and mentioned the lume question, he took a careful look thriugh his Loupe and said Tritium.
What do you guys think??
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
I don’t remember his verdict. I think I was tired.
Thanks, and yes very similar in looks to the Colt Ocean.
Sent from my SM-G920F using TZ-UK mobile app
Yes he was quite sure it was Tritium Kirk, it's a nice comfy Watch for a Breitling with its wearable size and comfy pro 1 bracelet, I bought it off the forum from Rob "notenoughwrists" and had Paul Walker service it last year, even Paul commented how wearable it was and i don't think he's a fan of Breitling if memory serves me right.Sent from my SM-G920F using TZ-UK mobile app
Posting Permissions
