I’ve got an itch for an Omega with a tritium dial and was wondering what cause the tritium to eventually flake/peel/crack off dials and hands. There have been a few threads similar to this but I haven’t been able to nail down the cause. Will it eventually happen to all tritium dials, even if kept in a safe and never touched?

Up until now my oldest watches are from the early 2000’s so have little experience with tritium.

 

With Tritium, the lume effect fails after about 20 years and the colour often changes, it goes darker but powdering or peeling off is actually pretty rare. Tritium was first used around 1962-3 and there are plenty of examples of that age that haven't behaved like you suggest, the vast majority in fact. Those that have may well have been subject to external forces such as moisture, overexposure to sun, poor maintenance etc.

 

May I ask? I've been thinking about an Explorer II (16570) for a bit now. As far as I can gather my options are Tritium, Luminova, and Super-Luminova depending on the age of the watch.

I think I'd prefer Tritium because of how it ages, but one in particular I have my eye on is from 2006 and so has Super-Luminova.

I'll probably get this one (it's a good deal I think), and saying that I'd be happier with the Tritium/Super-Luminova trade off if there is still a glow in the lume. How long might one expect to get a glow on a watch that age? Or would there be any?

 

Not sure I fully understand the question. Rolex moved from tritium over to SL/Luminova around 2000. Tritium, from whichever maker will be dead by now unless stimulated with UV maybe, SL/Luminova (same thing) will still be just as effective as when new that is to say once charged will glow for 6 hours plus. I had an SL dial Explorer II from around 2010, the lume was OK, on a par with the Bond SMP but no where near as bright as that on the sword hands SMP models like the 2254. Rolex changed again a few years ago over to their own proprietary blue tinted lume which works in a similar way to SL but is reckoned (by them at least) to be a little brighter. Seiko have their own version too but that is also reckoned to be another form of doped Strontium Aluminate like (Super)Luminova

 

It’s odd: I have two 105.012, and one 145.012. All sourced 20+ years ago, all from different places. And none of them retain their original lume. The same goes for pictures I have searched for regarding the same watches. Yet, Speedmaster references both before and after seem to more often retain their lume. Of course, I could have just bumped into a bunch of outliers, so this is just my observation, not science.

 

Apologies, I watched a video last week while researching the Explorer that seemed to suggest they were different.

>will still be just as effective as when new that is to say once charged will glow for 6 hours plus

That's interesting. That would make the 2006 model still an attractive proposition to me. Thanks for the reply.

Sorry OP - didn't mean to hijack your thread

 

Thanks for this, I only ask because I see such a variance in Omega tritium, especially so in comparison to their Rolex counter parts which tend to have bigger lume plots as well.

There are times when you can see the plot markers peeking from below the tritium, is this more due to less stringent quality control in the past than tritium flaking off then?

 

Thanks for the feedback. From my browsing I have also found that imperfect lume and cracked/non existent tritium hands (in comparison to their Luminova counterparts) seem much more the norm. Perfect examples do exist and was wondering if this was down to good care of the watch or natural ageing.

 

Bear in mind SL is still used today and has only been around for about 25 years. Tritium hasn't been used since the 1990s so the tritium dials will be 25-60 years old, the SL dials 0-25 years old. SL certainly degrades much less in every respect than radium or tritium lume but they are also necessarily younger than either of those other radioactive lume materials.

 

I get the impression that Luminova is not meant to change in appearance so we’ll see! Any thought in this:

There are times when you can see the plot markers peeking from below the tritium, is this more due to less stringent quality control in the past than tritium flaking off?

 

This thread would be 100 times better if you all posted photos

 

Great explanations all.
The color changing or patina of the tritium is exactly what I like about tritium and no two age exactly alike. Some age to dark rich pumpkin patina and others to a more creamy appearance and all the shades in between.

So many things affect the way tritium will change color... exposure to light, age, moisture, humidity and temperature... but it’s beautiful.
I believe somebody asked for pictures ...two are radium dials

 

I am not a watchmaker but I do know a thing or two about radiation:

The reason for the peeling/cracking might stem from the fact that tritium is radioactive. I assume that the they don't just use plain tritium but they do mix it with other compounds like glue in order to form the small dots you usually find on older Omegas. Since tritium always fires some electrons around itself this affects the other compound/surroundings as well since the glue molecules are getting shot by these electrons. This weakens the glue. Now if you live in a humid area this will further burden the structural integrity of the whole lume resulting in flaking sooner than later.

 

I've found this to be an interesting and informative paper on the various forms of radioluminescence https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/radioluminescent/radioluminescentinfo.htm

Should you be interested in how to get tritium (a gas) to a state where it can be used in a luminescent paint, this patent may be of interest https://patents.google.com/patent/US3033797A/en

 

Thanks, so over time as the half life of the tritium diminishes then so too should the level of deterioration of the lume. Unless of course the binder is too far gone by that point to hold it all together!

 

That’s bed time reading if ever I saw it!

 

Those are some brilliant vintage examples you have amassed there.

 

Thank you for your words

 

@padders how exact is the transition date? Can I assume that an Omega from 1954 with Tritium is fake/franken?

 

https://perezcope.com/dials/

Might help