The Old Girl Still Has A Glow

[R-H]

Had a LED flashlight shining on my 67 5513 for a few seconds tonight, when I turned it off my watch was glowing, I never seen that out of her before, had to shoot a quick photo.

SAM_0527.jpg

[figsgrandpa]

Yeah, my 67 5513 will also glow, but only for a short time. Back when she was youngster, a good dose of light could keep her glowing until the next morning. Of course, at my age, I can't go all night anymore, either. LOL.

[nick c]

My old snowflake

[mineral]

Cool.

[R-H]

When I first got the watch, I read a post on how some years would still glow after all this time, so I took mine outside and let the sun shine directly on it for an hour, brought it into a dark room but not much luminous at all, but last night was a different story.

Nice Snowflake Nick.

[ROGERB]

This I find confusing as tritium doesn't need light to glow as it is a radioactive reaction not an absorption product(luminova)?
R

[R-H]

Originally Posted by ROGERB

This I find confusing as tritium doesn't need light to glow as it is a radioactive reaction not an absorption product(luminova)?
R

I do not know, we need someone with more knowledge then myself to answer that one?

[nick c]

Originally Posted by R-H

When I first got the watch, I read a post on how some years would still glow after all this time, so I took mine outside and let the sun shine directly on it for an hour, brought it into a dark room but not much luminous at all, but last night was a different story.

Nice Snowflake Nick.

Thank you Robert

[harry in montreal]

My 76100 is still pretty good in the dark.

[figsgrandpa]

I read a piece that said that the tritium paint used in watches, is a mixture of tritium and phosphor. The radioactive tritium glows on its own, and it emits electrons which cause the phosphor to glow as well. As the tritium decays, it loses its luminous qualities, however, the phosphor can still be made to glow by exposure to UV light. So, the tritium in our vintage watches is probably gone, and what we're seeing is the phosphor.

[R-H]

Sounds good to me.

[ADINVA]

The glow is so even that you can't even tell that it is a 1967 watch in the dark! Wonderful piece!

[R-H]

Originally Posted by figsgrandpa

I read a piece that said that the tritium paint used in watches, is a mixture of tritium and phosphor. The radioactive tritium glows on its own, and it emits electrons which cause the phosphor to glow as well. As the tritium decays, it loses its luminous qualities, however, the phosphor can still be made to glow by exposure to UV light. So, the tritium in our vintage watches is probably gone, and what we're seeing is the phosphor.

Ha there Figsgrandpa how's your 67 doing, this might be a link to that post, and thanks for the input, I get to learn something new every day on this forum.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=123465

[AS1]

cool photos!

[figsgrandpa]

Originally Posted by R-H

Ha there Figsgrandpa how's your 67 doing, this might be a link to that post, and thanks for the input, I get to learn something new every day on this forum.

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=123465

Yeah, that was the post I was talking about. It's amazing what you learn on this forum. You start out with questions about a watch, and before you know it, you're learning about World War II, the value of the Swiss Francs in the 1950s, and, the decay rate of radioactive isotopes.

[Michael M.]

I'm guessing your 5513 has a serial number in the 1.5-1.8mil range (or very close)? From my experience sport models produced within that serial number time frame had especially potent and strong tritium (luminous material).

[R-H]

Originally Posted by Michael M.

I'm guessing your 5513 has a serial number in the 1.5-1.8mil range (or very close)? From my experience sport models produced within that serial number time frame had especially potent and strong tritium (luminous material).

Your right mines a 1.7m

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Michael M.

I'm guessing your 5513 has a serial number in the 1.5-1.8mil range (or very close)? From my experience sport models produced within that serial number time frame had especially potent and strong tritium (luminous material).

Was it the tritium, or the luminous paint blend used during that period? I thought tritium was limited to 25 millicuries (could be wrong though).