Tell me why I am wrong. Part Deux.
I post a controversial watch opinion merely for entertainment purposes and you tell me that I am wrong. Change my mind!
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Greg
Restitutor Orbis. Aristocrat of beauty. Autocrat of time. (Trying to perfect trolling over at theescapementroom.com)
Charleston, SC
Member since
Last active: 1 hr ago
No. I back you on that one. As a curator (as I concluded me to be) of vintage watches I’m forced to take that stance.
Horology has never been a slave to lume...though lume sure looks pretty while walking the dog at night!
No! No, no, no, no! This is a bridge too far!
I'm considering reporting you.
Good day, sir!
I wear my watches to bed at night, particularly when at sea, or in the field. I need to know the time in the dark, so lume is not just a convenience for me.
That said, the amount of lume required to be legible at night with eyes adjusted to the dark is nowhere near as much YouTube videos would have you believe.
The best solution for those than actually need lume is tritium tubes, since they don't require a light source to work effectively.
I sleep with a watch on. The lume is important for those nights when I can't sleep and I like to freak out knowing I have to get up in 4, then 3 then 2, then one hour... then I fall asleep.
No! No, no, no, no! This is a bridge too far!
I'm considering reporting you.
Good day, sir!
Ya beat me to it.
I also wear my watches to bed, and really appreciate being able to glance at my watch to see the time if I wake up during the night rather than having to fumble for my phone. Quite often, if I've been wearing a watch without lume during the day, I'll switch to a watch with great lume for sleeping.
I agree though. Some of my best watches do not have lume. Come to think of it, those that do, I've never really used it. If I'm in the dark, then I'm in the dark. Then again, I'm always left in the dark. 😕
Depending on the season and latitude natural light is sufficient for most purposes. ✔
Most of us have a source of artificial light within arms' reach. ✔
Polished hands work in minimal light. ✔
Most of us sleep near alarm clocks or (if you are a Millennial) a phone. ✔
If you are camping you are trying to leave modern conveniences and distractions behind. After dark, does it really matter if it is 11:30 or 11:45? ✔
Most people are not in the military. Most in the military are deployed to desks. If you find yourself in the field you are statistically rare. ✔
Timex Indiglo is better than traditional lume. It is instantly readable and returns to dark when not in use. ✔
This is the way.
I love loom and when I am at the athorizized Deeler the furst think i askes him is How's iz the Loom? It is vary assentual to me espshully on clowdy daze.
No! No, no, no, no! This is a bridge too far!
I'm considering reporting you.
Good day, sir!
And your graphic shows why you have not reproduced at replacement level.....(looking around for the censors).
Least important? Yes. But most fun? Also yes. My watches without lume are far less fun and interesting to wear than the watches that have it.
I have very little fear of being sniped outside of eBay, therefore lume is very low down the list of priorities for me in a watch, alongside legibility, how much of a Seiko the watch is, or how large it is and whether I can eat my dinner off it.
Still holding my beer on this one…
I wear my watches to bed at night, particularly when at sea, or in the field. I need to know the time in the dark, so lume is not just a convenience for me.
That said, the amount of lume required to be legible at night with eyes adjusted to the dark is nowhere near as much YouTube videos would have you believe.
The best solution for those than actually need lume is tritium tubes, since they don't require a light source to work effectively.
cough Marathon cough
Always carry a torch.
Yeah I agree. There is a very little chance that you would be in a situation where you need lume to tell the time. You probably won’t be in an instance where its dark out and there is no light source or you don't have your phone. Still looks cool though.
You are correct, lume is not that important. My GS Snowflake is readable in the evening and has no lume. I have to make up reasons to look at the lume .... (on my other watches).
Having been holding my beer for a while, I will continue to prop myself up at the bar, but I have noticed that no one is really considering, or arguing about what lume is, or was, so perhaps this might change some of your minds.
Until the 1990s, lume was radioactive paint.
Radium paint is an early 20th century invention. Radium itself has a potential half life of 1600 years, but the paint itself will break down a lot sooner. It’s not a long term invention, and one could argue it was supposed to be topped up at regular intervals. I could be very facetious and say that the very application of lume limits the lifespan of a watch by including built-in obsolescence before it leaves the factory, especially if it is a tool, but that might not make me any friends.
Radium paint was used until the 60s where it was decided that it was too harmful for the applicators rather than the consumers. Then they looked into Promethium, a beta-radiation emitter that had a half life of 2.5 years (so even more s*** and obsolence). Tritium came a little after, but that only has a 12.5 year half-life, but also had the habit of seeping through dials and cases into the users skin early doors, and needed revising very quickly. Tritium is no longer allowed to be used unless it is encased as well as it is a beta-emitter, and no-rads is deemed the most ideal scenario.
I would say it is only since the late 90s that lume development is only worthy of some the watches it adorns - therefore could potentially be seen as a novelty, and developed far too late into the watches life/history as technology improved and will essentially replace watches as tools. Fine, the Japanese were developing non-rad lume since the 60s, but I would argue that lume is least important because it was one of the last things they tried (and succeeded) to get right.
Oh, and to really stick the knife in, tritium tubes are f-ugly. Seriously, what is the appeal of having a watch looks like a dayglo etch-a-sketch rave after dark? The best watch luminesce solution that has been developed is Timex IndiGlo - and whilst that draws upon battery it is 1000x more ideal then something that requires UV or photo-luminous trickery.
Tritium tubes are nor f-ugly, they are utilitarian.
Patek Philippe will probably not consider them for a white gold Calatrava, but I've very happy Marathon does for the trusty Navigator #wakingupattwointhemorning
Tritium tubes are nor f-ugly, they are utilitarian.
Patek Philippe will probably not consider them for a white gold Calatrava, but I've very happy Marathon does for the trusty Navigator #wakingupattwointhemorning
If I paid $2000 and my watch looked like this when the lights went out… yeah, I’m standing by my opinion.
If I paid $2000 and my watch looked like this when the lights went out… yeah, I’m standing by my opinion.
Dude, forget this stupid Ball watch. Be the smart buyer and pay $400 for :
You will thank me later
Dude, forget this stupid Ball watch. Be the smart buyer and pay $400 for :
You will thank me later
I have UK-army issued field watches, I‘m not in the market for a Marathon, especially at $400. If I’m paying that much I might as well go all in and buy a CWC Falklands-issued Fatboy and getting it re-lumed at cost.
Radioactive tubes - not my bag. Give me dead paint, radium burn and decaying isotopes any day.
And watches aren’t the only thing that requires lume…
Gotta disagree with this. I have a hard enough time convincing my wife that my knives are proper tools and not silly toys without making them glow in the dark. 😄
Dude, forget this stupid Ball watch. Be the smart buyer and pay $400 for :
You will thank me later
I really want this…
Gotta disagree with this. I have a hard enough time convincing my wife that my knives are proper tools and not silly toys without making them glow in the dark. 😄
Maybe one of these would change her mind?
Is that last one the mermaid cause that would definitely work. 😂
Is that last one the mermaid cause that would definitely work. 😂
Yes, the legendary Boker Mermaid. You gotta have some fun once in a while!
Hey - I need to get my little child to sleep; so careful low light arrangement is paramount. Then I sneak out precisely 5min after she fell to sleep for earnest. How should I do without proper lume on my watch?! q.e.d
Hey - I need to get my little child to sleep; so careful low light arrangement is paramount. Then I sneak out precisely 5min after she fell to sleep for earnest. How should I do without proper lume on my watch?! q.e.d
Ok, for this one purpose you are permitted to like lume. (First child?)
No! No, no, no, no! This is a bridge too far!
I'm considering reporting you.
Good day, sir!
This made me laugh more than it should have., because I have done this. This hobby has changed me XD
Watches are all pretty jewelry. Lume is just one of many things overengineered and built into watches. I love my dive watches to have crazy lume. Everything else I don't really care. It's just the look for me. I too wear watches when I sleep. No other reason than it's all part of the addiction