# Mirage I



## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

I think quite a few posts have been made about the disparity in the lume between the dial numerals and the hands on some (all?) Mirage models: nearly every post I have seen which does comment, indicates that the hands are less bright than the numerals. Well I was ready for this when I got mine, so although I was a bit dissapointed - I was expecting it.









Well, I noticed a strange effect the other day. It was late at night and I turned our living-room lights out to head for bed. After doing so I just happened to glance at my watch and noticed that the hands were actually brighter than the numerals.





















What the heck was going on?

Now. my apologies for boring anyone who has also noticed this and has already experimented, but this was news to me.









*Rough and basic set of tests.*

_The Mirage was shielded from any light for minimum 2 hours prior to the tests:_

1. expose to sunlight for 30 secs. Result - numerals noticeably brighter than the hands by some considerable margin.

2. expose to sunlight for 2 minutes. Result - numerals still brighter than the hands, but obviously both were brighter.

3. expose to sunlight for 1 hour. Result - both probably at maximum lume output, numerals still brighter than hands. Both were bright, but you could see a difference.

*Now the killer: Next day.*

4. Exposed to living room lights for 30 seconds (24 volt, halogen spots) Result









Hands were significantly brighter than the dial









I thought that all lume on a Mirage was super-luminova, so what gives? From my experience, the dial lume looks like luminova, but the hands sure don't.

OK you guys - anyone up for a bit of experimentation with light sources? I would be interested in your results.


----------



## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

IMO,different lume on dial that on the hands.Hands can be stock items,so only colour of lume matters when choosing them to match dial,not type of compound.

Happens a lot,I have had several watches do this.


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

both my RLT's are slightly different. I haven't tried the sunlight vs artificial light experiment. (the wife thinks I'm sad enough!).


----------



## ron (Dec 12, 2003)

Wonder if this sheds any light!

Super-LumiNova

A paragraph from that link..........

*Excitation*

Super-LumiNovaÂ® pigments can offer their full performance only if they have been fully activated. Best results are achieved with daylight (sunlight) or bluewhite artificial lamps. The therein contained bluelight or UV emissions are mainly responsible for proper excitation of Super-LumiNova pigments.. Under normal conditions of use, however, the markings of a watch will never be activated to saturation, although the pigments are optimised for high activation sensitivity.


----------



## ESL (Jan 27, 2004)

Quot from the website:

_Foreign atoms built into the crystals act as activation, storage and luminous centers. With sufficient activation by artificial- or sunlight, electrons are lifted in the activation centers to higher energy levels. The more intensive and the longer this activation respectively "charging" lasts, the more electrons are lifted up. After a storage phase these electrons fall back to the ground level and emit the energy loss in form of visible light. After termination of the activation process, very many electrons start falling back to the ground level and emit intensive light; with progressing time less and less electrons fall back and the light emission is decreasing steadily._
























After all that I think I need a lie down









Seriously though, the Sinn 356 seems to have its hands sorted so I might order a set of these and fit them.










Now all I need to do is find someone to fit them for me...


----------

