Life expectancy of Rolex lume

[danwang0520]

Hi guys,

What is the life expectancy of the lume on a Rolex models? 10 years? 15 years? (before you actually have to send it in to RSC to replace the dial, bezel if on a Sub, and hands.)

What is the lifetime for a Chromalight on a Rolex Sub? for a GMT-Master II/Daytona/Day-Date/Datejust that has SuperLuminova on it?

Thanks for the info.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by danwang0520

Hi guys,

What is the life expectancy of the lume on a Rolex models? 10 years? 15 years? (before you actually have to send it in to RSC to replace the dial, bezel if on a Sub, and hands.)

What is the lifetime for a Chromalight on a Rolex Sub? for a GMT-Master II/Daytona/Day-Date/Datejust that has SuperLuminova on it?

Thanks for the info.

Well Luminover was first introduced to the Rolex line up around 1998 there have been no reports of the lume fading it's been around 20 years.Now Luminover is made by Nemoto a Japanese luminous paint maker they moved a part of its factory to Switzerland in 1998 in Joint-ventured with RC-Tritec AG.This was to establish Luminova AG Switzerland for supplying Luminova to all the Swiss watch industry including Rolex and most all of the major brands.Later around 2001/2 the name was changed to super-luminover and many other names for basically the same product under the various brand made up names. But its mostly all basically the same paint with a slightly different colour pigments plus today its surface area that gives the glow more surface area the brighter the glow.And now we have Chromolight which is more of a blue/green colour again depending on person's eyes and viewing condition, Chromolight is a Rolex trademark name now, but again this could be a special colour blend of luminous paint by Nemoto for Rolex, I would doubt if Rolex themselves would make the lume paint.So it's very doubtful any dials with Luminover or Chromolight will fade like the older Tritium dials.

[jimcameron]

My Tritium dial on my 16800 was shot in about 12 yrs.

[Tomas Eriksson]

Good read regarding modern luminova: http://timetransformed.com/2015/08/3...nova-runs-out/

And if you want some vintage information: http://rolexpassionreport.com/15606/...olex-luminous/

[Rashid.bk]

The chromalight will surely outlast any ownership one has today, particularly because the watch will likely be flipped before it matters to the original owner. As for those keepers among us, Rolex has designed the modern watch to look prestine in every facet for decades.

[Kostas]

The obligatory pic :$

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

The chromalight will surely outlast any ownership one has today, particularly because the watch will likely be flipped before it matters to the original owner. As for those keepers among us, Rolex has designed the modern watch to look prestine in every facet for decades.

Yes, and be that as it may.

Surely nothing lasts forever that includes the Luminous compounds used.
The question is.
How long does it last?

The answer is.
Nobody here knows for sure.
Except to say that so far, the newer luminous materials that replaced Tritium based lume have already lasted longer than the Tritium based lume, with no sign or evidence of being depleted or having reduced performance.
They are in effect seemingly as good as the day they were made.

[dnslater]

Supposedly modern strontium aluminate based lume - which is what everyone uses now - does not degrade. Lume used by Rolex is just like Superluminova used by the rest of the industry and Seiko's Lumibrite. The lume particles are held in place by a resin binder, which is the weak link, and like any binder, will gradually dry out and be damaged, especially with heavy UV light exposure. I'm sure the better brands have UV resistant binders, but it will eventually happen. Who knows how long it will take. People have 20+ year old watches with this lume that still glow bright.

[junamuan]

Does the lume deteriorates faster if its always 'on' or exposed to lights?

Because whenever I have the chance, I always take my watches out of vault for 'sunbathing' just to charge the lume. I thought it would deteriorate faster if its not being exposed to outside light.

[Kostas]

It will last 56.3 years , 54 if you’re constantly bathing it

[jaisonline]

quick question slightly off-topic.

anyone else notice the Sub models' chromalight last longer than other maxi-dial models? e.g. my 2018 Sub 116610lv glows longer than my 2018 GMT 116710 GMTblnr. my 2018 gmt last about the same duration as my 2006ish GMT 116710nr despite the tech diff (superlume in the latter).