Horological Meandering

... but by a phosphorescent substance. this can be phosphor, but also some other substances were used frequently during the history of luminescent dials. the radioactive agent (tritium or radium) is there only for the energy-supply. These elements have their half-times as absolute constants, so two tritium-activated dials produced at the same time emit the sam amount of energy today. However, the luminescent component might more or less effective. For example: many binding agents used do lose their clarity ofter many years, due to aging, or due to the UV-ray bombardment at daylight. So the binder might shield the luminescent particle from the energy emitted by the radioactive substance more or less. Then there are substances that can be charged by daylight as well, but will lose that energy very quickly. I had several tritium-based watches that glowed strongly after being exposed to broad daylight, but lost that strngth quickly, to be reduced to the fainter, tritium-caused glow.

Regards,
Marcus

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about an interesting topic.

Thanks a lot, Marcus!

Oliver

cheers

PAt

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Thank you, Marcus for a great writeup!

 

Best

Blomman

Very interesting, I've enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do and post it.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Vte

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the scientific process applied to watches..love it..

and I did find your report most interesting. Nice work and look forward to making it to the next one!

I have thought about this subject many times and your post as well as others has helped to answer most of my own thoughts.

I am glad you liked the article!

Regards,
Marcus