Rolex Question

[Rolex2000]

Hey guys how come some rolex watches say "t swiss made" under the 6 and some say "t swiss t". Thanks for the replys. Joe

[sheldonsmith]

.... or superluminova. My general recollection is that Rolexes before 2000 used Tritium on the hands. Because there is a *slight* amount of radiation, the dial had to be marked with a T. After 2000, Rolex uses SuperLuminova which has no radioactivity.

I know there are folks who have more details on this than I do.... Maybe they can chime in...

-Sheldon

[colemanitis]

My dial only reads SWISS. Is this because it's a redial?

[Rolex2000]

My watch says "t swiss t" and its a 91 model

[Rolex2000]

My watch says "t swiss t" and its a 91 model, I havent seen very many that says "t swiss t" I was wonderin why.

[JJ Irani]

Those Rolex watches that have the letter 'T' means that they were coated with Tritium, a luminous substance. This was later replaced by Luminova. When the first Luminova coated watches came out, Rolex decided to print just SWISS at the bottom.

The new models now have SWISS MADE printed.

Whether it's 'T SWISS T' or 'T SWISS MADE T', doesn't matter. Any Rolex with "T" is tritium coated.

Cheers - JJ

[mike]

Originally Posted by colemanitis

My dial only reads SWISS. Is this because it's a redial?

Jeff, yours is a replacement luminova dial from Rolex.

Generally a dial marked with a T indicates the use of tritium as the luminous substance. The tritium compound used in watches is very slightly radioactive and has a half-life of approximately 12.5 years. This explains the loss of lume in older watches.
On many vintage sports models the The legend "swiss T<25" will appear at the 6 o'clock position. This indicates a tritium dial emiting less than 25 milli curies of radition--a measurement of radiation.


In the late 90s tritium as a luminating substance was outlawed in the use of watch dials.
For a brief period of time Rolex used luminova dials marked "swiss T<25" on certain sports watches---1675,5512,1680 etc.. untill the new replacement dials came out saying only "swiss" on the bottom. This seems to be between circa 98 till circa 03.
Factory new watches will normally state "swiss made" again luminova.

To muddy the waters a bit select vintage pieces did in fact state "swiss" at the 6 o'clock position when in fact they were radium or tritium dials. Normally these dials were also gilt or had inclosed minute rings.