Green Lume

[TJW]

Hi all.  Does anyone know the differences between the green lume on Sea Wolf dials and the lighter color(white?) lume.  Is it just age or other environmental factors or are they two different substances?    Thanks.    TJW

[jon p]

i dont know much about the lume, i believe the green and white are two different materials. my original 1968 SW that i bought NEW had the light green lume which has now turned dark with age and doesnt glow any longer. you see a lot for sale that have been relumed and covered up the 6-9-12 of the original.i have seen some that had the numbers re-applied, and you can spot these because the numbers are smaller than original and do not fill up the triangles as original. maybe one of the other members can add more on this subject.  JON

[TJW]

Thanks jon p.  Interesting that your SW lume was green when new.  I agree, it's fairly easy to spot a re-lume job; there must be a shortage of larger font numbers out there.     Cheers.  TJW

[JDS (Ohio)]

Thanks jon p.  Interesting that your SW lume was green when new.  I agree, it's fairly easy to spot a re-lume job; there must be a shortage of larger font numbers out there.     Cheers.  TJW

I have an all original Sea Wolf that I bought from Butch a few years ago, and the tritium lume is pretty green.  Same for my gold bezel Sea Wolf, so the only 1960s Sea Wolves I've ever seen in the flesh both have tritium lume that appears greenish in normal lighting. The arabics are full size on both, though I've seen those shrunken arabics in the relume jobs too.

In contrast, a Sea Wolf from the early-mid 1970s that I recently bought has cream colored lume, though it is still tritium (no arabics on this model though).  This might definitely be due to a change in formulation between the ealier models and this cushion case version.

I wonder if the differences in aging between the 1960s models might be due to anything from the amount of sun/UV exposure the particular watch saw, to slight differences in lume batch formulations.

[TJW]

I've also thought about the effect of UV on lume and the dial itself.  Since UV seems to be so destructive to dial, hands, lume and all, is it a million dollar idea to come up with a crystal that blocks UV light and spares the dial the ill effects?  Thanks for the photos, JDS.    TJW

[JDS (Ohio)]

I've also thought about the effect of UV on lume and the dial itself.  Since UV seems to be so destructive to dial, hands, lume and all, is it a million dollar idea to come up with a crystal that blocks UV light and spares the dial the ill effects?  Thanks for the photos, JDS.    TJW

Not a half bad idea, though it could prove to be a double edged sword for any lume dependent on sunlight to charge it up.  I notice that on my super luminova watches, just a little time in sunlight (or in some fluorescent light) makes it glow like a torch, but just regular indoor light has nowhere near the same effect.