Lume

[YYR]

This is not something I knew when I first got into watches,but apparently lume is only activated by sunlight, is this really a practical feature? Like wouldn’t you usually use the loom when it’s dark outside or at night? Seems counter productive to me.

Now don’t get me wrong I love seeing the lume on my watch light up, but I doubt they put loom on watches to Brighton my day!

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by YYR

This is not something I knew when I first got into watches,but apparently lume is only activated by sunlight, is this really a practical feature? Like wouldn’t you usually use the loom when it’s dark outside or at night? Seems counter productive to me.

Now don’t get me wrong I love seeing the lume on my watch light up, but I doubt they put loom on watches to Brighton my day!

It is mostly activated by sunlight/UV light. That bright glow you see when you come indoors after being outside or whatever quickly goes away. The lume is for when you don't have enough light to see the time. Get a UV light or a bright light and charge the lume, and set your alarm for hours later. You'll wake up with your eyes adjusted to the darkness, and you'll be able to read the time.

It's designed to make reading the time possible in darkness, not to make reading the time extra bright when you can already read the time.

[Amochosto]

Just zap it with a powerful flashlight for a few seconds and you are good to go.

[enjoythemusic]

Get this flashlight for $17, your lume will love it :)

https://amzn.to/2LxMiCI

[padi56]

Originally Posted by YYR

This is not something I knew when I first got into watches,but apparently lume is only activated by sunlight, is this really a practical feature? Like wouldn’t you usually use the loom when it’s dark outside or at night? Seems counter productive to me.

Now don’t get me wrong I love seeing the lume on my watch light up, but I doubt they put loom on watches to Brighton my day!

Any strong light whether its natural sunlight or artificial will charge the lume thats best read in a very very dark room.

[peterpl]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

Get this flashlight for $17, your lume will love it :)

https://amzn.to/2LxMiCI

HAHAHA

I use this exact one.

[YYR]

Originally Posted by RJRJRJ

It is mostly activated by sunlight/UV light. That bright glow you see when you come indoors after being outside or whatever quickly goes away. The lume is for when you don't have enough light to see the time. Get a UV light or a bright light and charge the lume, and set your alarm for hours later. You'll wake up with your eyes adjusted to the darkness, and you'll be able to read the time.

It's designed to make reading the time possible in darkness, not to make reading the time extra bright when you can already read the time.

I understand that it’s not designed to be used in the light! And that’s the issue, because that’s when it’s works best! It doesn’t make sense to me to need to recharge your loom when you want to use it, The whole point is that you can just glance over at your watch when your in a dark place and still be able to tell time, the point is not to be intentional about it and how plan ahead in order to see the loom, while watches are not tools these days that’s what they wore made for and it doesn’t make to much sense that you need to plan before using this basic feature, that would be like saying that my date only watch is a perpetual calendar all you need to do is make sure to set it on the first day of every month, other then that it’s a perpetual, the whole point of a perpetual is that you don’t need to be intentional about it and it still tells you the correct date, I would argue that the same should be with the loom, the need to be intentional about the loom and plan ahead, kind off misses the boat.

[tjs1295]

I wear a 116610LN on every hunting and fishing trip I go on. Many trips we stay in rustic cabins or tents with no electricity. Phones usually don't work, and I never have one in the same room I sleep in anyway. The lume on my watch works all night long, and I'm able to read the watch at a quick glance if I wake up during the night and wonder how much time I have left to sleep. I do keep a flashlight close by if I need to get up, but otherwise I don't need it to check the time. We're usually in close quarters, so I don't want to wake anyone with my flashlight. My eyes aren't that great either. I'm 45 years old and need glasses to read. Bottom line is the lume works great for me.

[Mystro]

When I notice a practical use of my lume is going in and out of darker buildings during the day. On vacation, the lume almost is comically bright on dark rides as it gets a direct charge walking the park between rides.

[schoolboy]

Originally Posted by YYR

I understand that it’s not designed to be used in the light! And that’s the issue, because that’s when it’s works best! It doesn’t make sense to me to need to recharge your loom when you want to use it, The whole point is that you can just glance over at your watch when your in a dark place and still be able to tell time, the point is not to be intentional about it and how plan ahead in order to see the loom, while watches are not tools these days that’s what they wore made for and it doesn’t make to much sense that you need to plan before using this basic feature, that would be like saying that my date only watch is a perpetual calendar all you need to do is make sure to set it on the first day of every month, other then that it’s a perpetual, the whole point of a perpetual is that you don’t need to be intentional about it and it still tells you the correct date, I would argue that the same should be with the loom, the need to be intentional about the loom and plan ahead, kind off misses the boat.

There are watches with better lume. If you wear a Seiko all day, and aren’t locked up in your office all day, then wake up at 4am, the lume will be brighter than that of a Rolex

And you can read the time better as a consequence

And yes, you didn’t have to charge the lume with the purpose of waking up at 4am to a bad dream lol

I understand what you are explaining above

I’ve read some posts where a guy has a flash light by his bed, so if he wakes up at night, he quickly charges the lume on his watch before checking the time

Seriously

It was a post here on the forum

If I had a flashlight by my bed, might as well use it to see the darn watch!

[YYR]

Nice! Thanks for the responses! As I understand though Rolex is the outlier when it comes to lume as thier lume lasts many hours

[KBM]

Originally Posted by schoolboy

There are watches with better lume. If you wear a Seiko all day, and aren’t locked up in your office all day, then wake up at 4am, the lume will be brighter than that of a Rolex

And you can read the time better as a consequence

And yes, you didn’t have to charge the lume with the purpose of waking up at 4am to a bad dream lol

I understand what you are explaining above

I’ve read some posts where a guy has a flash light by his bed, so if he wakes up at night, he quickly charges the lume on his watch before checking the time

Seriously

It was a post here on the forum

If I had a flashlight by my bed, might as well use it to see the darn watch!

[tjs1295]

I've had multiple brands, and have been able to read them all under the situations I described above. They were all dive watches, so that makes a difference. Not sure if I could read a Datejust.

[sutats]

That is the case of modern watch lume in such health conscious times. Historically radium or tritium were used, both of which didn't require external sources of energy to glow however they were hazardous to health.

[YYR]

I’ve read some posts where a guy has a flash light by his bed, so if he wakes up at night, he quickly charges the lume on his watch before checking the time

Seriously

It was a post here on the forum

If I had a flashlight by my bed, might as well use it to see the darn watch![/QUOTE]

Couldn’t agree more! Well said!

[YYR]

Originally Posted by schoolboy

There are watches with better lume. If you wear a Seiko all day, and aren’t locked up in your office all day, then wake up at 4am, the lume will be brighter than that of a Rolex

And you can read the time better as a consequence

And yes, you didn’t have to charge the lume with the purpose of waking up at 4am to a bad dream lol

I understand what you are explaining above

I’ve read some posts where a guy has a flash light by his bed, so if he wakes up at night, he quickly charges the lume on his watch before checking the time

Seriously

It was a post here on the forum

If I had a flashlight by my bed, might as well use it to see the darn watch!

Well said! Couldn’t agree more!

[schoolboy]

Originally Posted by kauebm

True story! Hahaha

I remember thinking “come on dude!”

Haha

[schoolboy]

Originally Posted by YYR

Well said! Couldn’t agree more!

Yeah some members take watches way too seriously.

I chose my Datejust to be lumeless for a few reasons

1. Rolex lume isn’t the best. I’m sure if I charged it with a uv light for 30min before going to sleep, it would work at night, but I don’t have the energy or the time for that. So I just wanted something without lume instead.

2. I’ve seen beautiful old watches that are very neat and scratched and stuff (I like that). Then I look closely and they are missing lume in places, or have been relumed. Which both bother me. So I bought a watch without lume so that 50 years from now, it looks nice and beat up, and is missing anything inside the dial or on the hands

[Tools]

Originally Posted by YYR

I understand that it’s not designed to be used in the light! And that’s the issue, because that’s when it’s works best! It doesn’t make sense to me to need to recharge your loom when you want to use it, The whole point is that you can just glance over at your watch when your in a dark place and still be able to tell time, . . . .

In the early days the watch paint was radium. It still glows and will for another thousand years or so, but it was a health issue.

Lume was then changed to tritium because it was less of a health risk, but it degraded after about a decade, and still presented a health issue if ingested.

The latest lume is a compromise and made up of photoluminescent paint, the same stuff used on outdoor street signs. Light excites it and it slowly returns to a non-excited state over time.

Personally, I seldom find a time or place when I can't find a light source of some sort to see the time if I really need it; watch lume isn't a big deal.

[KBM]

Originally Posted by schoolboy

True story! Hahaha

I remember thinking “come on dude!”

Haha

Things that we only see on watch forums!

[Mifune]

does anyone know if the current generation of lume in Rolex pieces have a life expectancy?

[campfire]

I've never really paid much attention. But for the few times that I need the lume to read the time in the dark, the normal usage of the watch has been enough to charge the lume.

Interestingly, I have watches that have no lume. And I get slightly annoyed when I see absolutely nothing when I need to reflexively check the time in the dark.

[schoolboy]

Originally Posted by kauebm

Things that we only see on watch forums!

Of course hahaha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[XplusYplusZ]

Good fresh lume lasts, for hours into the night. I think for diving, you’d generally pass a torch over the watch in order to see it..

[RJRJRJ]

Originally Posted by YYR

I understand that it’s not designed to be used in the light! And that’s the issue, because that’s when it’s works best! It doesn’t make sense to me to need to recharge your loom when you want to use it, The whole point is that you can just glance over at your watch when your in a dark place and still be able to tell time, the point is not to be intentional about it and how plan ahead in order to see the loom, while watches are not tools these days that’s what they wore made for and it doesn’t make to much sense that you need to plan before using this basic feature, that would be like saying that my date only watch is a perpetual calendar all you need to do is make sure to set it on the first day of every month, other then that it’s a perpetual, the whole point of a perpetual is that you don’t need to be intentional about it and it still tells you the correct date, I would argue that the same should be with the loom, the need to be intentional about the loom and plan ahead, kind off misses the boat.

You may have misunderstood what I was saying. I'm simply saying that if your watch has seen sunlight or UV or any kind of light for that matter within the last few hours, you should be able to see the lume once your eyes have adjusted to the darkness. The initial brightness of it disappears within a minute of "charging" it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

[Dirt]

DMBD

[YYR]

Originally Posted by RJRJRJ

You may have misunderstood what I was saying. I'm simply saying that if your watch has seen sunlight or UV or any kind of light for that matter within the last few hours, you should be able to see the lume once your eyes have adjusted to the darkness. The initial brightness of it disappears within a minute of "charging" it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

Thanks