Lume Patina Questions:

[bjw]

Does the Tritium material on older watches obtain their patina from age or exposure to UV rays?

Is it uncommon for the indices to patina at a different rate than the hands?

[kieselguhr]

Age. Some of the nicest examples of vintage Rolex aged in a sock drawer.

Yes. Hands and hour markers can age different colors.

[Tavli3]

Patina is a very interesting subject. Such as does patina have to start by a certain time and if not does it mean patina will never develop?
Such as two of the same watches that are same exact age, lets say 30 years old. One has patina and one doesn't, is the one with no patina doomed to never develop patina?

[chai_vincent84]

Originally Posted by Tavli3

Patina is a very interesting subject. Such as does patina have to start by a certain time and if not does it mean patina will never develop?
Such as two of the same watches that are same exact age, lets say 30 years old. One has patina and one doesn't, is the one with no patina doomed to never develop patina?

I am interested to know about this as well. Hopefully someone here can help out :)

[77T]

Originally Posted by bjw

Does the Tritium material on older watches obtain their patina from age or exposure to UV rays?

Is it uncommon for the indices to patina at a different rate than the hands?

The material that shows patina isn’t the Tritium - it’s the phosphors in the paint that causes it to yellow a bit. Some batches can go all the way to toast.

The Tritium is what kept those phosphors exchanging excited electrons and glowing in the dark. As the Tritium decayed over 12 years or so, it didn’t continue to affect the paint.

Hands usually age very close to the plots, but remember they were made by a different company than the dials back in those days. While the lume paint was made to same formula, it could vary batch to batch.


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[bjw]

Originally Posted by 77T

The material that shows patina isn’t the Tritium - it’s the phosphors in the paint that causes it to yellow a bit. Some batches can go all the way to toast.

The Tritium is what kept those phosphors exchanging excited electrons and glowing in the dark. As the Tritium decayed over 12 years or so, it didn’t continue to affect the paint.

Hands usually age very close to the plots, but remember they were made by a different company than the dials back in those days. While the lume paint was made to same formula, it could vary batch to batch.


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Good point point about the hands aging differently due to different suppliers and paint formula. Thanks!

[77T]

Originally Posted by bjw

Good point point about the hands aging differently due to different suppliers and paint formula. Thanks!

Just to clarify - it was the same formula for Tritium lume that Rolex specified to the dial makers.

But the amounts of the pigment, base, phosphors, etc could vary batch to batch due to error.

Even the suppliers to the dial makers had variability - titanium, zinc sulfide & strontium aluminate sources changes from time to time.


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[Boaters]

^^^Good Info^^^