I have been collecting modern watches for a couple of years now. A year back, I chanced upon 16800 with a spider dial. I wasn’t familiar with vintage watch collecting yet but I decided to take a dive after doing a quick price check on the bay.

Within the past year, I became more focused on collection vintage watches, mainly omega. I have recently purchased a black light and decided to test all my watches. To my surprise, the lume on my Rolex does not light up. The only thing that lights up is the pearl on the modern replacement bezel.

I did a search online and I found that some 5513 have stopped glowing. But 16800s are relatively recent and the tritium on them should still be glowing under direct black light.

So now I’m suspecting that it has been relumed but the lume looks good to my inexperienced eye under magnification. So I’m hoping you guys could weigh in. The pawn shop I purchased it from is quite reputable and they have sold it to me as an original dial.

Could it be a relumed? I did suspect perhaps a service dial but then would it be labelled with Swiss T<25?

Any comments are welcomed as well!

 

This is to be expected on vintage Rolex. The lifespan of tritium is ~12 years after which it will not hold any charge. The lume looks fine to me.

 

If you research the life span of tritium, some sources say 10-20 years, while others 30 years. In either case, your dial should not light up and it does not look relumed.

It is not a service dial, as you mention.

 

Alright thanks guys! I thought I was duped.

I was aware of the tritium half life but with my speedmasters from 60s/70s, their lume will still glow under direct black light. I guess it differs between brands?

 

I have the same experience as you. My 1980s Rolex GMT has no glow from the lume. But my 1960s Speedmaster has a faint glow under direct black light.