Restoring luminosity of Rolex dial & hands

[Traurig]

Hi all,

I've just become the proud owner of an 8 year old Submariner, however the
dial and hands are not luminous in the least.

Would anyone have an idea of what it costs to refurbish/replace the dial
and hands? Is anyone doing "real" tritium upgrades (vials, like Luminox),
or painted on tritium? IMHO it's not worth doing anything if tritium is
not involved in some way.

Dumb Rolex question: I assume it's normal for the Oyster bracelet to
"jingle" a lot?

Thanks,

Scott

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[Greg Reid]

Send it back to a real Rolex service center for a new dial. Any work
involving tritium, which is radioactive is strictly regulated in the USA.
Are you sure it's a REAL Rolex? The Half life of tritium is around 12 yrs.
You should have some glow...

greg

In article <nospam-2609...@ppp17.mainstream.net>,

[Traurig]

In article <rotnappl-280...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>,
rotn...@ix.netcom.com (Greg Reid) wrote:

> Are you sure it's a REAL Rolex? The Half life of tritium is around 12 yrs.
> You should have some glow...

Hmmmm...all of the usual markings are there, and in the right places:
serial number, model number, "SWISS-T<25". Sweep second hand. Highly
respected local watchmaker was the source. Good markings on the band, too.

While I'm fairly confident that it's real, age may be another story. No
glow at all. Under high magnification the (used to be) luminous markings
have a "dried out", yellowish appearance. The dial face also has a
slightly mottled appearance. If anyone is an expert at dating Rolex
watches by serial number, the number on my watch is R744xxx. I've heard it
mentioned that the R series started around 1987, but that's all I know.
Anyone know about when an R744xxx might have been made?

Thanks,

Scott

[Rich Verdi]

Traurig <nos...@nospame.com> wrote in article
<nospam-2809...@ppp13.mainstream.net>...

> In article <rotnappl-280...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>,
> rotn...@ix.netcom.com (Greg Reid) wrote:
>
> > Are you sure it's a REAL Rolex? The Half life of tritium is around 12
yrs.
> > You should have some glow...

Are you sure that the material Rolex uses is tritium? Tritium glows at a
steady brightness without requiring any light to "charge" it. My submariner
is pretty dim after sitting in the dark all night but if I come in from
bright sunlight it is very bright. Doesn't sound like tritium.

[Ashwin Kittur]

I would not recommend exchanging the dial. Part of the collectability of
a vintage watch is the original dial (and the patina of age that
accompanies it). It's also expensive! Though at 8 years of age, the
watch - I would think - should not show too much evidence of age.

If it really bothers you, I would recommend you switch to newer hands (at
least that way you can read the time in the dark). In an 8 year old
Rolex, new hands will not look conspicuously different from the original
equipment.

I have heard of people re-doing the tritium. Usually they just replace
the radioactive tritium with simple phosphor paint (usually green in
color), which means that the dial will glow brightly after being exposed
to light (the paint captures and releases the photons oflight), but will
dim rapidly after a few minutes. In my experience, a true tritium
treated dial tends not to charge up when exposed to the light, and will
not dim over the course of the night.

As a point of comparison, I have a 25 year-old Explorer II which had
fairly legible dial indices (in complete darkness) but the hands are
almost invisible except for the big dot on the end of the second hand.

The tritium can look much worse (discolored, mottled etc) if moisture had
gotten into the case somewhere in the past.

[Traurig]

I wore the watch to bed last night (no, I'm not that attached to it :-) as
an experiment. Although the dial and hands have no usable glow, once my
eyes were fully dark adapted I could see the dial and hands glowing
faintly but steadily with what I would consider a tritium color
characteristic. When I awoke again around 4 AM, without any exposure to
light during the night they still looked the same (no, I didn't turn the
light on before looking :-). Thus it appears that it is simply tired, old
tritium.

So what does a new or refurbished tritium dial and hands cost? Also, any
idea on what year a R7xxxxx serial number watch was made?

Thanks,

Scott

[George R.]

Rolex date production by serial number:
9766000=1987
9999999=1987.5
R00000=1987.5
R99999=1988

Hope this helps
George
1966 SS GMT
1994 SS Datejust
1991 SS Datejust
1974 Explorer II
1980 Submariner
1978 2-tone Datejust

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[Chronograf]

serial numbers beging with "R" were made in 1987 i believe

[2r...@my-dejanews.com]

My submariner glows bright, however after the entire evening the brightness
will dim and need a "re-charge". As seen below there was talk about constant
glow whether it be day or dark. Is this true? My Sub is brand new (from an
authorized dealer) am I to assume the glowing material is faulty since it
seems to dim after several hrs. of no exposure to light? (ie if I keep it in
the box over night and open it in a dark room in the morning it will not glow
brightly)

> > > Are you sure it's a REAL Rolex? The Half life of tritium is around 12
> yrs.
> > > You should have some glow...
>
> Are you sure that the material Rolex uses is tritium? Tritium glows at a
> steady brightness without requiring any light to "charge" it. My submariner
> is pretty dim after sitting in the dark all night but if I come in from
> bright sunlight it is very bright. Doesn't sound like tritium.
>
>

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[Frederick]

Does yours have the "T" belows the 6 O'clock position? Most do, but mine doesnt
and was wondering if maybe Rolex has stopped using Tritium on the faces of the
subs.
Frederick

[2r...@my-dejanews.com]

Yes the T is there

In article <3631CADC...@dircon.co.uk>,

[david.b...@gmail.com]

The tritium charges the phosphor but I know what you mean. After about ten years, my watch face went dim. After 26 years, I almost can't see it at all.

I used to turn the watch face-down to keep it from shining in my face all night. Not a problem anymore :-(

[david.b...@gmail.com]

On Monday, September 28, 1998 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Greg Reid wrote:
> Send it back to a real Rolex service center for a new dial. Any work
> involving tritium, which is radioactive is strictly regulated in the USA.

> Are you sure it's a REAL Rolex? The Half life of tritium is around 12 yrs.
> You should have some glow...

Considering Rolex stopped making Tritium dials in about 1989, they could certainly replace your old dial with a new one but it would also be dead if it used tritium. Rolex uses that Luminova stuff. Bleh. Dies after a few minutes in the dark. :-(

[allen...@bigpond.com]

Hello there.
I have an inherited Tudor Oyster Prince circa 1940s.
The watch sat in a box in the wardrobe for nearly twenty years.
When picked it up to look at it, it started working.
The thread in the winder had stripped all those years ago, so the watch was put in storage.
Needless to say, no luminosity.
Can the actual luminous dots and lines on the hands be refurbished?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[J.B. Wood]

Hello, and I'm not sure just keeping the watch continuously in a dark
environment hastens the degradation of the phosphorescent paint if
that's what you meant. I'm quite sure the hands, dial, stem and just
about anything else on the watch can be restored (for a price). And
don't expect that just because Tudor is a lower-priced Rolex brand that
restoration will be inexpensive (certainly not if performed by a Rolex
authorized watchmaker). Sincerely,

--
J. B. Wood e-mail: arl_1...@hotmail.com