Somewhat Esotéric question about lume

I've seen quite a few posts where discrepancies between lume on hands and dials has lead to uncertainty regarding originality and this got me pondering.

If the dial and hands had exactly the same lume applied, with the same formulation, as part of the same manufacturing process, at the same time and the material of the hands and dial was the same, then it would be expected that the lume on the hands and dial would discolour/lose luminosity/crumble or whatever at pretty much the same rate over time leading to an even condition and appearance.

However, if any of the above variables does not hold, then over time is it possible that entirely original parts can display differing lume condition?

For example, if the dials, hands or both were manufactured by third parties who applied differing lume formulations. Perhaps, even if all manufacturing was carried out in-house, differing lume formulations were applied to hands and dials. Then there is the question of the substrate to which the lume is applied. Does lume applied to bare metal react differently over time than to lacquer etc.

As I say, it's a bit esoteric, but at least one inquiring mind would like to know...😀

Show me a watch with exactly matching lume on dial and hands and I'll show you a re-lume.

There's probably a lot of variables in there that would be very difficult to verify.. for example, is one batch of lume material exactly the same as another? Is it likely that hands and dials were lumed from the same batch? Also, things like hands may be subjected to more handling than the plots on the dial as they have be pried off in order to service.. that would potentially expose the hands to more wear and tear than the dial which can be treated as a whole entity with very little stress being applied to the plots. Dials are also more rigid.

It's an interesting question, but as Dennis says, if they match exactly, it's probably done much much later..

$0.02 CAD

Intriguing question. I like how you clearly laid out a hypothesis some of the key variables like formulation, manufacturer, process and substrate. I have no insight into this, but perhaps the dial's particular exposure to exogenous variables may also be a factor (such as water that might have hit the dial but missed the hands, a cleaning...now i'm stretching). Looking forward to people's thoughts on this.

You should get over to the sales section of VRF and start calling out some of the subs there 😝

Classic....just classic 😎

Just waving my hands here but one factor in plot color not matching hands may have to do with the thickness of the lume and the exposed surface area. The lume on hands tends to be very thin and exposed on both sides where plots or indices are thicker with less exposed surface area. Maybe that contributes to color variations.