Bad lume on speedmaster

J Jonathan H.

I recently joined the Speedmaster Pro club. After much debate I decided I wasn't prepared to spend the kind of money needed on an early '70s model that would be in a condition I was happy with. So I set my sights on mid 90s examples that had the 861 movement and the tritium lume. I finally found one with box and papers that was purchased new in 1995 and pulled the trigger.

Having looked at tons of pictures of these watches from this time period I noticed that the hands seem to age differently than the dial in that the dial had the beginnings of the orangish patina while the hands were closer to the original color which was also the case with mine. On my watch the dial lume faded within a couple minutes and the hands lasted a few minutes more.

Is this phenomenon typical or have my hands been replaced?

Travelller

The hands look VERY clean for tritium almost too clean. Could it be those are Super-Luminova service hands... ?
If you fully charge the lume (direct sunlight for 30sec or a powerful LED flashlight for a few seconds) and place the watch in a dark room and your eyes are well-adjusted (read going to bed with the watch on your night stand), you can determine this for certain.
If the hands fade after a few mins, the hands are Trit. If the hands stay illuminated much longer (even all night), they are Super-luminova... .