Rolex 16570 tritium hands under UV help needed

[timlo]

Hi all

I have a 1995 16570 T dial with tritium hands that do not reflect UV light like the markers and only the tritium dust reacts to UV light. On the markers, when hit by UV, the whole marker reacts. I can see on some photos that the hands should also react like the markers under UV (Or not react but rather reflecting the UV). When UV light is removed, the hands glow with the markers for maybe 0.1 seconds and fade together at the same rate. Is that unusual for the hands to have only the tritium dust reacting/reflecting the UV? Can anyone provide some T dial 16570 under UV photos?

Thanks all

[Tools]

I've never understood the fascination with UV light and dial lume.

Tritium doesn't react with anything, it is the paint pigment that does all of the reacting. The main component of tritium lume is that it is radioluminescent for the most part, and tritiums radioactive emissions kept it excited at all times, until the tritium is depleted.

There is always some other pigment in paints that may react with light momentarily. UV can make your t-shirt glow, so it stands to reason that some of the white particles in paints will also glow.

Markers and hands were not painted with the same bottle of paint, so there will always be differences in how they react to stimulation.

[baumare]

So tritium does his job to stimulate the paint until is depleted, after that is the pigment that reacts to UV light.
That's very interesting, learn something new, thanks!

[timlo]

Thank you for your reply. So it seems the hands may not reflect UV the way the markers do?

[swish77]

Originally Posted by timlo

Thank you for your reply. So it seems the hands may not reflect UV the way the markers do?

The dial and hands should react the same under UV if it’s original tritium. Usually they reflect a uniform white-ish light (maybe with just a hint of green) and then quickly fade when you remove the UV. A different reaction between dial and hands can occur if the hands have been color-matched or relumed. If the hands had been replaced with luminova hands they’d light up like a torch under UV and glow for awhile, so that doesn’t sound like the case here.

Can you post a photo with the dial/hands under UV?

[timlo]

The watch is not with me anymore. What I can see is when put under UV, the markers reflect the UV with a greenish color but the only the tritium dust on the hands reflect the UV but not the whole hands. However, when the UV is removed, the whole hands and the markers appear greenish for maybe 0.5 seconds and fade together.

[timlo]

What characteristics should I look for to spot relumed hands?