# Luminosity Question?



## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Hi gangue,

I've got an old Raketa, black dial, and the luminosity is dead on both the dial and the hands. Since this is a cheapie duffer anyway, I want to try to re-lume it as a test/project









What would you guys use and how would you approach the task - tips welcome - and/or where would you get the supplies? 

Thanks


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Roy sells lume









http://www.rltwatches.co.uk/acatalog/Tools.html

'bout 1/4 way down.


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## SharkBike (Apr 15, 2005)

Giant bioluminescent squid


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## Ironpants (Jul 1, 2005)

Some people can make these things look so easy, I would need a link to the "how to straighten bent hands" article before proceeding









Good luck Mel 

Toby


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Dont use radium!!!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Why not Radium? Will it mark my asbestos work tops? and add to global warming?























Used to work at various of the newcleer power plants - the fish in the canteen there glowed in the dark


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

ok heres one i started last night and finished this morning, watch is a camy that was purchased from another forum member ,very nice condition but the lume had been over traced by someone and consisted of 3 colours (white,green and orange) ,tools are limited atm so some improvisation is included









first off set the watch so that the date changes (this is so we know the hand positions when we put them back on), removed the caseback to show a nice camy signed movement (hell i forgot to note the caliber im sure someone here will recognise it )










next shows the movement out and a very clean dial ,you can see what i mean by bits of different colour lume on the hands










next hands where removed using the presto tool


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

hands placed on rodico,and lume removed with a toothpick (i use this because you can easily shape it to the hands (curved hands on a flat surface=flat hands) ,if the hands are not painted an easier way is to thro them in the ultrasonic if you have one.










hands set on a toothpick ready to relume (ideal because they are tapered and set in rodico to hold them upright ,at this stage i noticed i had missed some lume, so being idle threw them in the ultrasonic first before luming them.










now we come to the hand made equipment ,in the past ive used oilers to apply the lume but found that this way is easier and does a better job ,what is called a twiststick in the u.s (universally know here as 'those things that tie freezer bags up smile.gif i tried and failed to photograph me applying the lume ,(trying to keep a steady right hand and photograph with the left proved a waste of time) ,strip some of the plastic coating from the tie and bend the end into a hook ,make sure that the hook height is at least the width of the insert you are trying to fill ,dip in the lume (you want a small bead that does not cover the whole of the hook like a blob but just has a convex shape on the top and bottom ,draw it from inside to out on the bottom of the hands ,a few applications are needed ,wait for each one to dry first ,you will notice that as it drys the lume pulls to the outside edges leaving a ---- in the centre, so its easy to judge how many coats you will need to fill in the inset.










whole watch was put back together and heres a very poor twilight shot of the new lume (i noticed after i took the shot that the hour hand was slighlty off ,this will be corrected another day as the pub is open )


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Great rundown pugster - could the mods consider "stickying" this for future reference, it's very good expalnation!


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

forgot to add an import bit ,make sure the watch is run down completely and NOT running before you remove the hands !! ,you can release any power by either manipulation (or removal) of the click ,as you do this you MUST have a finger on the mainspring barrel so you can control the power release slowly.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Great read !


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## strange_too (Feb 19, 2007)

Very interesting


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

Interesting & informative, thanks.


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