Hi, I'm new to the forum, and a new Seamaster Planet Ocean Professional 600 owner, having bought one for myself for my 50th birthday! I love this timepiece, and wear it daily. Initially, I wanted the titanium case and band, but I actually found it too light, and found myself wanting the heft of the steel case and band... So that's what I ended up buying. My issue is, the lume on my PO doesn't glow for very long, probably 2-3 hours, max. If I go to sleep at night, it's barely visible a couple of hours later in near total darkness. I could imagine going diving and not being able to read the dial, or see the index dot at all... Not that I dive very often these days. If it's exposed to bright sunlight, it glows extremely brightly for maybe 10 minutes, but that brightness disappears rapidly. How long should my PO glow in the dark? If I send my PO for a service, is that something that would be covered under warranty?
.To my knowledge Super-Luminova, depending on certain variables, will only last a few hours. I believe this is across the entire industry unless the timepiece uses Tritium or another agent. In the end, the amount of light activation your timepiece receives will determine the length of the lume...
Ok, that makes sense, I guess. I was wondering if maybe it was worn out already. I think the watch was manufactured in 2011.
Luminova takes time to acquire enough energy to glow for a while. I looked it up once and about 20 minutes of bright light, for example sunlight, is what it takes to charge it fully. Try setting it in a sunny window for a half hour and see how it does for you. Tom
I dive with mine quite frequently and have never had any issues with visibility. Mine lights up for about the same amount of time as yours, nothing abnormal.
It is fine. 2 to 3 hours of bright lume will suffice for diving visibility which Is its function. My actual favorite lune action is on twilight scenarios though, rather than full darkness, when a faint glow just makes the dial pop
I love the second hand glow on mine I sometimes sit up at night in the dark and just watch the sweep of the second hand OmegaSean
FWIW, I owned the Seamster GMT in the year 2000, and then the PO (2500 cal) in 2007 and they both beamed brightly all night. The lume was certainly one of the strong features of those watches. Today, I have the AT (Master) "Captain's" and although the movement is much improved, the lume is passable, but not as good as the other 2.
iirc - if you want really "best in class" lume, you need to go to the inexpensive Seiko watches (which makes sense for a diver anyway) ... again, iirc they have a super potent lume and sell a watered down version of it to the swiss watch industry .... I guess that's one of the benefits when of a vertically integrated company that develops its own lume/lubricants/steels, etc...
I take an LED flashlight and shine it on mine for about 45 seconds before bed. It glows very brightly at first but it can be seen all night with ease. I do that with all my watches. It drives my wife nuts..........
I did that last night... The hands on my PO quite literally lit up the wall and ceiling of! bedroom! Quite impressive. That intense brightness didn't last particularly long however.
As long as you can see the watch in the dark all night it is normal. It is very bright after the flashlight isn't it!!
If you want real glow in the dark, get a Tudor Pelagos. Best lume of any watch I have. Really does glow all night. In fact even when being outside on an overcast UK day, then going back into my office, you can see the green glow. Truly good. Most watches will glow brightly after a quick blast with a torch ( or even a camera flashgun), but not that many retain the glow hours after. If lume glow is important, check out a Pelagos.
If all night glow is really crucial, then look at watches that contain tritium tubes e.g. Ball Watches, Nite Watches etc.