The Illuminati watch

Waking up early in the morning requires you to be able to know how early it really is before trying to educate SmallCat™ that turning the bedroom into a giant hamster wheel may have consequences which he might not like at all.

Fortunately for the over stimulated feline, I was wearing my Bulova Accutron II and they are not known for their lume. Therefore I already forgot about it by the time I dragged myself out of bed and switched the kitchen’s light on because otherwise the many legged animal would have gotten an earful.

But I’m smart and I know how to prepare, and therefore on the wrist the Marathon MSAR goes.

My Marathon MSAR has a white (Arctic) dial but this is not what makes it legible when it’s dark. This feat is accomplished by the tiny tubes that are placed on the hands, including the second’s hand, and on the dial where they serves as indices. The tubes are filled with tritium which is radioactive. The radioactivity is too weak to harm a human and the beta radiation produced by tritium can’t penetrate human skin, but it can sufficiently excite phosphorus materials to produce radio-luminescence, or in other words: a glow.

This glow is permanent and is not affected by external conditions. My MSAR will continue to bring light into darkness for at least 12.5 years, which is the half life of tritium. By then we should have everything that was promised to us during the 60’s – including flying cars, nuclear fusion, robot maids, and flat screen TVs that can be hung on a wall. This means that even if the rest of the predictions will fail to materialize, I’ll still be able to read the time in total darkness without having to use a flashlight.

The Marathon MSAR is only 36mm in diameter but this doesn’t trouble it at all during daylight when the permanent illumination is neither helping nor noticeable. The small dial is a masterpiece of legibility and is perfect for reading the time at a glance. Wearing it also has a soothing effect on my psyche, which is very good for the furry menace because otherwise I would have booted his well padded behind into the next time zone, which I assume is still blanked by darkness. Cats, being magical, don’t need tritium to see in the dark and he should do fine there as long as his tuna supply hold.

Me, I'm doing just fine now that I have my coffee.