Why is the Rolex Lume garbage compared to Tritium on Marathon or Luminox?

[culvercity]

Why is the Rolex Lume garbage compared to Tritium on Marathon or Luminox? I do not understand why Rolex chooses to use an inferior material.

[Goatrope]

I hear ya, and sense some frustration. My GSAR is absolutely my best nighttime watch. Bright, crisp, and clear indices.

In contrast, my 216570 has a beautiful blue hue when moving from daylight to indoors, and it's lumen is visible all night until dawn, but nowhere near as clear as the tritium. But I think the Rolex lume actually starts off much brighter when first charged.

It's only after my eyes have adjusted to the dark where the tritium excels.

[jswing]

It's pretty simple - it's illegal to use tritium unless it's contained in tubes, as it is in the Marathon and Luminox. A Rolex with tritium tubes would look pretty bad. Rolex stopped using tritium in 1998 when it was banned. And while tritium has the advantage of glowing without being exposed to a light source, it only has a half life of 12 years, and even when new it doesn't glow as brightly as luminova, so I don't know that luminova is actually "inferior".

[Mystro]

You’re joking right?? Rolex is too high end to use tritium vials. Tritium may glow the same intensity but is very dim compared to Rolex coming into a building from outside. I have a lot of experience with tritium watches from Ball to Luminox and they don’t really glow that bright unless your eyes are adjusted for awhile inside.

[waterking]

My garbage enhanced Rolexes seem to do fine for me in the dark. Maybe I'm just more forgiving than the usual watch garbage wearer.

Nice pic Mystro.

[Mystro]

Originally Posted by waterking

My garbage enhanced Rolexes seem to do fine for me in the dark. Maybe I'm just more forgiving than the usual watch garbage wearer.

Nice pic Mystro.

Thanks.
Not an enhance pic, but a real life walking into my garage that is dimly lit with just security lights and not main lighting. This is more the environment I need to do a quick time check but I can also read the time at 4am if needed.

Another example at Disney World Haunted mansion. My eyes were not adjusted to the dark coming in from the outside yet the Rolex was still clearly legible and bright.



Pirates of the Caribbean


TRON, etc….you get the idea

[JMGoodnight369]

Originally Posted by Mystro

Thanks.
Not an enhance pic, but a real life walking into my garage that is dimly lit with just security lights and not main lighting. This is more the environment I need to do a quick time check but I can also read the time at 4am if needed.

Another example at Disney World Haunted mansion. My eyes were not adjusted to the dark coming in from the outside yet the Rolex was still clearly legible and bright.



Pirates of the Caribbean


TRON, etc….you get the idea

Those Disney lume shots HIT harder than the typical lume shot. I think it’s all the black lights n stuff really get them charged up. The Navi river adventure is a fantastic ride to get some killer pics of lume. As for the OP, I used to be kinda disappointed in Rolex’s lume as well. Compared to photos you see the real life experience isn’t as explosive. However I can read my watches until the sun comes up. Once your eyes adjust it’s good to go. I do feel like the newer night pics Rolex put on their website is more true to in the flesh tones of brightness

[DJ2020]

I have had only one brand to last the entire night and that was Breitling. The amount of lume plays a important part as to how long it stays visible for.

Seiko divers are known for quality luminesces as are Grand Seiko divers. But keep in mind, If your diving 3-5 hours is plenty. You not staying down that long.

Anything below 50 meters is likely to be dark anyway so you will probably have a light source with you. just recharge it.

[garyk]

I’m sure you’re right OP but garbage? My Rolex watches don’t seem like garbage to me at least, never had a problem seeing the lume at night!




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[RoshDawg]

I’m also a bit underwhelmed with how dim my Sub gets after an hour of darkness. It certainly is very bright after going inside from the sun, but that’s not that useful to me. Not saying it’s garbage as I love the bluish hue!

Let’s say jacuzzi time with some lights keeping you from getting too adjusted, or star gazing + astrophotography. Your eyes will be adjusted to light and I at least have some difficulty to quickly read the time. Even watching a movie at home in the dark has the same effect.

Sometimes before heading out on a night hike I’ll charge it up with a flashlight point blank on my watch then continue to hike in the dark. It starts off beautifully bright, much brighter than tritium. But by the time I get back though it’s pretty dim.

FWIW my tritium night sights on my pistols seem to be more bright unless I recently charged up my Sub.

My dream watch is the old MilSub Rolex used to make, and that has tritium. If Rolex made a watch with it again I’d likely buy it.

It would be cool if one of the truly intense sport watches like the Sea Sweller had tritium. But that’s just my preference. I wouldn’t want that in a Daytona or GMT type watch.

[cedargrove]

I have Rolexes and a Marathon. I like the tritium tubes on my Marathon, but definitely don’t want them on my Rolexes. Very different watches.

[dseig001]

I’ve got plenty of Rolexes and Omegas, couple Jaegers.

Rolex lume isn’t so hot. Omega seems to win.

[Kevin of Larchmont]

My OG Pelagos and Seiko MarineMaster are brighter but my garbage lume gets me through the night so I’m cool with that.

[faimag]

I think lume should be just enough; not too much. I don't want to have a freaking beacon on my wrist.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by culvercity

Why is the Rolex Lume garbage compared to Tritium on Marathon or Luminox? I do not understand why Rolex chooses to use an inferior material.

Would hardly call it garbage, lume glow would be way down my list of importance in any watch.Now Rolex in general there hands and hour marker plots are quite small compared to many other manufacturers, so quite a small surface area, the larger the surface area the great the glow will seem.But like all thing's the glow is depending on that persons eyes or if viewed in complete darkness.

[Rolex2008]

Never had an issue with Rolex lume. Granted, I’m not diving with my Sub, but when I go to bed and then in the early hours when I wake and it’s dark, I can clearly still see what the time is.

[AJMarcus]

That’s it. I’m selling all my Rolex sports models for a couple cases of Marathon watches. Anybody want to join me?! Maybe we can get a group discount.

[HogwldFLTR]

I admit it that the glow on my Ball watches is significantly brighter than my Rolexes but the Rolexes work well enough and that's good enough for me! In fact my Ball Archangel watch has great lume but is nevertheless difficult to read because of the overabundance of lume making it hard to distinguish the hands at a glance.

[Gerardus]

The lune works sufficient for me.