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Seamaster question: why does the degree of glow vary?
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ErichPryde
·There are two factors that play here basically, one is how much energy the phosphor compound in the luminova has absorbed from light. You can "supercharge" your lume by placing something like a strong LED flashlight (really, any strong light source) directly over the dial for ~30 sec. The more energy that the lume absorbs, the brighter it will glow (to a maximum).
The second factor is going to be how much sunlight your eyes have been exposed to. It takes around ~3 minutes for your eyes to adjust from bright sunlight to dim lighting conditions (and longer for your low light vision to be at its best), and this can impact how brightly you perceive the dial at times. If there are other light sources in a dim room, even weak ones, or if you look even momentarily at a bright window or doorway (or a phone screen or something) it can impact how your eyes perceive the small amount of light being given off by your watch's lume. Also, when your eyes are exposed to some light, the cones in your eyes start to do more work than the rods, and cone cells can sort of "rev up" and down much faster than the rod cells (which largely handle low light vision). This is... a somewhat rudimentary explanation of the physiology, but essentially accurate.
There is a third factor that won't apply to your watch specifically but will apply if you look at this watch versus a watch that may have different colored lume- and that is how your eyes perceive blue light versus green light in low light conditions. The human eye is much better at detecting yellow green wavelengths of light than it is blue, so in low light conditions blue won't look nearly as bright.
The second factor is going to be how much sunlight your eyes have been exposed to. It takes around ~3 minutes for your eyes to adjust from bright sunlight to dim lighting conditions (and longer for your low light vision to be at its best), and this can impact how brightly you perceive the dial at times. If there are other light sources in a dim room, even weak ones, or if you look even momentarily at a bright window or doorway (or a phone screen or something) it can impact how your eyes perceive the small amount of light being given off by your watch's lume. Also, when your eyes are exposed to some light, the cones in your eyes start to do more work than the rods, and cone cells can sort of "rev up" and down much faster than the rod cells (which largely handle low light vision). This is... a somewhat rudimentary explanation of the physiology, but essentially accurate.
There is a third factor that won't apply to your watch specifically but will apply if you look at this watch versus a watch that may have different colored lume- and that is how your eyes perceive blue light versus green light in low light conditions. The human eye is much better at detecting yellow green wavelengths of light than it is blue, so in low light conditions blue won't look nearly as bright.
Edited:
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Phan85
·There are two factors that play here basically, one is how much energy the phosphor compound in the luminova has absorbed from light. You can "supercharge" your lume by placing something like a strong LED flashlight directly over the dial for ~30 sec. The more energy that the lume absorbs, the brighter it will glow (to a maximum).
The second factor is going to be how much sunlight your eyes have been exposed to. It takes around 3 minutes for your eyes to adjust from bright sunlight to dim lighting conditions, and this can impact how brightly you perceive the dial at times.
There is a third factor that won't apply to your watch specifically but will apply if you look at this watch versus a watch that may have different colored lume- and that is how your eyes perceive blue light versus green light in low light conditions. The human eye is much better at detecting yellow green wavelengths of light than it is blue, so in low light conditions blue won't look nearly as bright.
thanks for that thorough response!
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ErichPryde
·P Phan85thanks for that thorough response!
No problem. Before this watch, did you have a watch with luminova or did it have a backlit display?
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Phan85
·No problem. Before this watch, did you have a watch with luminova or did it have a backlit display?
I think it had a backlit display. I wasn’t aware it charges in sunlight!
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ErichPryde
·P Phan85I think it had a backlit display. I wasn’t aware it charges in sunlight!
Cool, huh? Your watch is completely independent of any electric or electronic components. The phosphorescent compounds in the luminova paint become energetically excited when exposed to light, and then emit photons. Bright sunlight or a very bright LED flashlight will charge your lume up well and you can play with this if you want. More light exposure will result in a longer glow. If you happen to have a UV light source, the short wavelength light will charge the HECK out of your lume!
Also, your lume (specifically, the lume in your watch and all new watches- some older watches use radioactivity to constantly charge the lume!) should last for so long that you'll probably never need to replace it. The trade off, is that when the watch doesn't get a ton of light, it can be difficult to read several hours into the night- and when you move from bright light to low light conditions you can't just activate the backlight. Seems like a fair trade-off to me!
Here's mine, charged with a small hand-held flashlight- and you should see how the 2254.50 lume still looks after two decades!
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Donn Chambers
·Also, UV light (even the small amount in sunlight) will charge the lume faster and result in it being brighter for longer than light from LEDs or older bulbs, which emits almost no UV.
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ErichPryde
·Also, UV light (even the small amount in sunlight) will charge the lume faster and result in it being brighter for longer than light from LEDs or older bulbs, which emits almost no UV.
100%.
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hen
·Cool, huh? Your watch is completely independent of any electric or electronic components. The phosphorescent compounds in the luminova paint become energetically excited when exposed to light, and then emit photons. Bright sunlight or a very bright LED flashlight will charge your lume up well and you can play with this if you want. More light exposure will result in a longer glow. If you happen to have a UV light source, the short wavelength light will charge the HECK out of your lume!
Also, your lume (specifically, the lume in your watch and all new watches- some older watches use radioactivity to constantly charge the lume!) should last for so long that you'll probably never need to replace it. The trade off, is that when the watch doesn't get a ton of light, it can be difficult to read several hours into the night- and when you move from bright light to low light conditions you can't just activate the backlight. Seems like a fair trade-off to me!
Here's mine, charged with a small hand-held flashlight- and you should see how the 2254.50 lume still looks after two decades!
Like this;
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PlanetOcean4Life
·Like this;
