Which is brighter? Tritium vs. Superluminova, Seiko Lumi brite and other watch lume!

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[JusttheWatch]

A few people have asked, this comparison features Tritium T100 tubes on the dial, T25 on the hands.

[ProfessorPesca]

Thank you SO much for not making this video 30 minutes long like some channels would have. To the point, informative. Cheers.

[sailordave]

Would be interested to see how cheap brand watches last in the same test. I was in the Navy starting in 1990. Majority of the guys in my division went to Timex with Indiglo. When the ship lost power or when sleeping in our racks we could easily check the time with a touch of the button and they were cheap enough that they could easily be replaced when damaged from the work we did in the engine room. Another benefit was in a power outage on the ship we could literally use our watches like a flashlight to walk through passageways if the emergency light batteries had died or weakened.

[Getouttahere]

Tritium is great. It's not "in your face" bright but it is always on and the darker it gets, the more legible it becomes. Thanks for the explanation and comparison.

[WatchUPMrRangeman]

Firstly this is without doubt the best lume comparison video out there (Relative Time is also a top contender so don’t get too big headed LML) Lume on Diver’s watches is going to be the preference because it glows brighter, as you need to note your dive time, and light fades the deeper you go, also your eyes need a little time to adjust to darker conditions. With an average of 45/60mins total dive time, the lume is also possible to charge with lighting (you’ll have lighting anyway if in darker waters)
When surfacing, you’ll need to time this carefully, so if anything this is where a Diver’s bezel becomes a your backup. You’ll notice (this is for looks mainly) that many Diver’s watches have a colour for the first 15/20mins. This is timing your surfacing duration. So you set the bezel so when the minute hand reaches zero (which has a luminous pip) that’s when you begin your surfacing stages. It’s very crucial not to surface too quickly, so it’s not about just diving to 30mtrs or so, then just surface with 2mins of air left. Using these watches as your main diving aid isn’t something unless you’re desperate, or maybe very old school, but these are really for secondary backup. Tritium gas tubes in a Diver’s watch is nothing but for show, as it’s in the wrong environment. Tritium is perfect for total/partial darkness when you need it for a long duration, but as your eyes are adjusted to darkness you’ll see the tritium easily, whereas when diving to depths it’ll be dark, thus you’ll be using bright lighting which effects your eyes, thus why lume is better. Just my little comment about this to how they work best, as it’s not always about strength.
And again, this video is brilliant, and can imagine the amount of editing it took even if it’s a short video. I will share this on my community page, as I know many are lume obsessive like a kid (have to admit, this goes for me also LML)
HaPpY Weekend buddy and thanks for sharing *)

[nclar]

You deserve much more reach! Excellent video and content. As always! Thank you

[DD-ixbm]

I bought a used Ball engineer 2....and at first I thought I had bad tritium tunes because I was expecting it to be as bright as super Lume. It's hard to see with any ambient line, but it's a ear winner when it's fully dark! Makes it very easy to read throughout the whole night!

[finophile]

literally the best presentation I've seen on this subject. Thanks for taking the time to make and publish.

[johnnybegood]

I was tought that, when it comes to lume, it's not only about the strength. More precisely, it's about the following 4 things:
1. The strength of the lume.
2. The duration of the lume, once low light conditions kick-in.
3. Most important: continuity. Is the very low light condition also enough to keep it going, keep it charged?
4. Longevity. Is it going to be that strong in 2, 5, 10, 20 years?


For me, number 3 is the most important. Number 3 goes infront of number 1 and also automatically means number 2 condition is satisfied.

Being a collector, number 4 plays a role also.

Example: for some reason, you'll find a lot of people complaining about Invicta's lume strength (similar with Casio Duro), but what they've never done is to test it, PROPERLY. Longevity beats the strength any day, unless combined, than it's a better deal.

[DovidSal]

Excellent Dave!!
Like I said before: this lum assessment is unique AND yours.. highly technical btw..👍

[andrei-cosmin.popa]

Suppose I have to walk in pitch dark for half and hour before I check on my watch and notice it's time to have that sandwich. Tritium turns out to be useful then. For me, personally, it's more fun to notice how my watch glows bright as I walk away from the sun outside. I can do that pretty much all day every day. Then I'm thinking about the 1 time I woke up this month in the middle of the night and I instinctively checked time and was able to read it in a heartbeat since the eyes did not have to struggle to adjust from light to darkness, as it happens when you turn off the lights.
Thank you for the comparison! I had doubts in regards of tritium watches, now I know I don't need one.

[johnnybegood]

I think you've made the most original watch lume video online. Nice

[hangpilot]

Excellent video! I've worn my Ball Hydrocarbon Aero GMT daily for 4 years. I tried Super-Luminova, but the Lume just doesn't last on those long nights in the air or on the road. Re-Lume or re-tube in 20 years, win/win for either technology.

[kevinpeat]

I have a Nite Hawk tritium watch which is overpriced but wins out because of the lume. I work nights and in the dark a lot. I have also found it useful for checking the time whilst in bed with minimal movement of my arms which has made it an essential item for me. If only Seiko would use tritium.

[marcdecock]

Wonderful comparison of lumes, great idea you implemented here!

[storm]

Tritium rocks! Honestly there is no substitute for me. Luminescent paint is never charged when I need it to be & most LED backlights require a free hand to press a button (I know, there's Casio's auto-EL as well, but that comes on way too often if you move around a lot like I do so it just drains your battery superfast, even the solar ones). My Traser P67 has kinda ruined most watches for me sadly, or at least in winter-time when daylight is scares over here.

[keithsada]

There seems to be a lot of confusion between T25 and T100 tritium. There is no difference in brightness. The T100 just allows them to put more tubes of tritium in the watch. Most watchmakers have to send their watches out to a place that's certified to install tritium tubes. The hands on this watch appear to glow dimmer than the face because the face has flat tritium tubes in it which come across as being brighter. Trust me you can see tritium just fine whether it's T25 or T100 in the dark. Light charged lumes are nice to look at initially but they're pretty useless for any length of time as this video showed. With that being said, I still feel that the Timex Indiglo is the best lume on the market.

[peterm]

So Tritium for longevity and lume for briteness . BOTH side by side WILL BE A WINNER.
Watch makers take note .

[anonimushbosh]

Holding tritium under UV would make it easier to illustrate on camera just how bright it really appears in the flesh in the middle of the night. So long as you make it clear what you’re doing so the C3 gang don’t get too bent out of shape!

[goteckwah]

A question I had was how long will traditional lume last until it can't be charged? Probably depends on the number of layers coated. But will its longevity outlast tritium? Because once tritium runs out, it's gone for good, unless you refill it.