# Lume - How Long Does Yours Last At Night?



## Greentagman (Jul 20, 2013)

How long does the lume on your watch's hands stay charged?

I was thinking about this last night - the lume was "fully charged" when i went to bed at c11pm ( i held it under a bright light for 30 secs or so) but when i awoke at 3am it had all gone. It struck me as a rather useless feature if the lume can't remain charged until daylight !


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## Bob Sheruncle (Aug 28, 2013)

I really must get up in the middle of the night to find out.


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## shadowninja (Apr 14, 2009)

25 years.


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

What sort of watch are we talking about here?


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## GASHEAD (Aug 27, 2009)

Yeah, I'm not sure I own a watch where the lume will last all night. The best I've had was a Ball Engineer which uses little tubes of gas which constantly glow, allegedly for 25 years.


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## Mart (Sep 2, 2010)

I have a Kemmner Turtle, it glows all night and still going when I get up in the morning. And I dont charge it over a light before i go to bed either.

Other watches I have are nothing like as good, then again most of them are much older, and I think that makes a difference.


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## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

My Divex shines all night. Most of the seiko divers I have had did also. My vintage watches struggle after three or four hours. I'm not sleep deprived but I used to do night shifts! :yes:

Mike


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## SSTEEL (Aug 6, 2013)

Varies from what maker to another. My best lume is my Submariner, which lasts all night, with a close second, my Aquaracer.


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## Rotundus (May 7, 2012)

tritium tubes all the way - I am a new convert; assuming the hands/dial have decent contrast for normal use.


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## glyndwr (Jun 25, 2013)

Tritium tubes: All night

Tritium: Depends on how old it is. Will glow all night but less brighly with age. It the watch is less than, say, 15 years old, all night.TThey generally stopped using tritium on watches about ten years ago.

Superluminova (C1, C3) etc. Depends. Seiko application: All night. Omega application: All night: Chinese fake: 30 minutes to an hour.

My understanding is that the level of luminosity depends on (1) Quality of the supreluminova and (2) number of layers (ie coats).

What I would say is that even a Seiko will start to dim by 05.00. The trick then is counterbalancing the dimming by having large surface areas. That most diver Seikos etc do very well.


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## Ryan P (Sep 20, 2011)

My Engineer Master II DLC

Cheers

R


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## jbw (May 6, 2008)

Have plenty of watches that the lume lasts all night but my winner by far is the Lum-Tec M18 then the "Spork"


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## William_Wilson (May 21, 2007)

Later,

William


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## Greentagman (Jul 20, 2013)

must be because my watches are old 

or my eyesite is getting worse


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## Steve72 (Sep 8, 2013)

I've a 2002 seamaster that dims a bit but is readable all night


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## artistmike (May 13, 2006)

Greentagman said:


> must be because my watches are old


You still didn't say to which watch you were referring.......


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## Greentagman (Jul 20, 2013)

1966 Tudor Oyster Royal

1972/3 Rolex DateJust

1990s B&M Chrono

2000s Tudor Hydronaut

2005 Tag Heuer Carrera

2010 Longines Spirit

and a few cheap beaters...


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## Lionel Richtea (Aug 24, 2013)

Hey! William_Wilson,.....you're playing *my* song man!

Good on yer.

Greentagman: Old watches + old eyes would explain the first four on the list.

Old eyes might explain the rest.

Remember that it's one thing if you happen to be awake in the dark at 03.00 and look at your watch. Quite another if you wake up, bleary eyed, and do so.

I find that the best thing to do in such situations is to nudge the wife to wake her up and ask her what the time is. This is one of your marital duties. I think it says it somewhere in the Marriage Service.


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## hotmog (Feb 4, 2006)

Lionel Richtea said:


> I find that the best thing to do in such situations is to nudge the wife to wake her up and ask her what the time is. This is one of your marital duties. I think it says it somewhere in the Marriage Service.


Her reply will definitely not be.


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## Lionel Richtea (Aug 24, 2013)

Trick is, hotmog, to do as I did.

Marry somebody 20 years younger, who wears just a Rolex in bed and does it All Night Long.*

[*Ahem. Tell the time that is.]


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## saxon46 (Mar 7, 2013)

my divex (think its a rebadged seiko)lasts all night and seems really bright compared to my other watches

i love my divex


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## Mr Cracker (Nov 25, 2010)

My Armida A1 is like a torch it easily lasts all night long it is better than my Seiko SKX007!!


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## glyndwr (Jun 25, 2013)

Wow, that Armida A1 looks cracking!


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## Lionel Richtea (Aug 24, 2013)

Oh yes, small REALITY CHECK.

My wife is actually two-and-a-half years older than me. Sleeps in a long affair with what I think is a draw string at the bottom (I have never ventured to find out!) and wears a very nice Oris. My purchase said Oris, which she takes off every night and places by the bedside.

If I woke her up just to answer the time it would only be because I had a yearning for hospital food.

All Night Long? Yes. Snores. That's why I betake myself to the spare room.

GOOD NEWS: Next to the bed in the spare room is an electric clock given an a wedding present. If I want to know the time, I only have to look at that.

Fantasy is so much better don't you think? I must return to my James Bond novel if you don't mind.

By-the-by, the Oris does has very good lume, if only anybody would look at it.


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

The spork generally goes all night....


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## Mr Cracker (Nov 25, 2010)

Roger the Dodger said:


> The spork generally goes all night....


Roger what a Cracking watch the Spork is.....I must find one to add to the collection soon.

Dan


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## normdiaz (May 5, 2004)

Lume on the Citizen Eco-Drive BM7100 is legible all night long.


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## Greentagman (Jul 20, 2013)

After further experimentation, by way of a 2:30am pit stop, I've concluded it's me - blurry eyes and no specs limits the luminosity ...


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## itsguy (Nov 16, 2009)

Part of the problem is the amount of ambient light in the room, and needing glasses at the best of times.

I have a recent Aqua Terra which in London appeared to be flat at 4am. But in the dark countryside it was still readable.

Even so I think the whole lume thing is a bit of a gimmick and a false sales tool, at least as far as standard lume goes. It's fun for five minutes when you get a new watch but rarely serves any practical purpose for me. Finding my glasses and then trying to read the time in the middle of the night, and then getting it wrong anyway, is too much of a struggle to be worth it. I admire the choice of Grand Seiko on my GS Quartz to simply not have it, on the grounds that the watch will then still be functioning perfectly in 30 years time, instead of having faded or cracked lume. And the hands and dial will be all the more elegant for not making space for it.


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## Greentagman (Jul 20, 2013)

I agree !


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Greentagman said:


> 1966 Tudor Oyster Royal
> 
> 1972/3 Rolex DateJust
> 
> ...


Interesting collection, photos would be nice


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## TONY M (Jun 22, 2010)

All night for Seiko divers and Citizen. I prefer the blue lume from Citizen and the BM6400 will outlast my Monsters after an hour or two has passed, with the clear numerals it is my most readable watch during the dark hours.

Brightest of all my watches is below in the middle flanked by the Monsters.










B&W










Tony


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## bry1975 (Feb 6, 2004)

Chaps a few things that effect lume glow duration witn regards light charged lume such as luminova, superluminova

would be the following-

1. Glow powder particle size the coarser the brighter the glow 1micron would have very short glow and brightness compared to say

300microns almost 1/3mm particle size.

2. Whether the lume has a reflective base layer such as white or silver.

3. Doping agent Europium supposedly produces the longest glowing light charge glow powder typically Superluminova.

4. Glow powder purity.

5 Depth of lume increases glow brightness and glow duration.

6. Adding fillers such as paint to tint the lume daylight colour will decrease glow duration and brightness.


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