Vintage patina

[Repplay]

Hi everyone,
it´s quite shocking for me ( and maybe some of you have the answer), how come some , theorically, rodium dials are orange, cream, pumpkin color after 20 years....and some others no.

I mean, I have found some vintage watches in chrono24 , that are supposed to be 50 year old...but the dial is crispy whitle like new... do I have to assumed that are service dials with luminova? does luminova get patina or a yellow look over time?




thanks

 

[dpd3672]

Watches age for different reasons, and every individual specimen has led a different life, so to speak.

Moisture/humidity, physical "trauma" or abrasion, misguided maintenance and overpolishing, UV exposure, and other factors all conspire to give every vintage watch a unique look. Some have sat in a drawer for 50 years, some have been used as dive watches for even longer. Replacement parts adds to the random character of each watch.

Generally speaking, watches will age "consistently," in that a 30 year old watch will likely look nearly new, if cared for, and look similar to other watches of the same vintage. A 50 or 70 year old watch, even if well kept, will show at least SOME signs of age, but will still generally look like other watches of the same period.

In general, however, specific to radium dials (which haven't been used in new watches since the late 1950s/early 1960s) give off radiation that will actually "burn" the area around them. Most of the watches we deal with here, with some exceptions, never used radium dials. About the only ones you'll see in rep form are the very early Rolex Explorers and Submariners, which used radium dials for the first few years of production. After the early 1960s, almost every watch was using Tritium, and later Luminova.

 

[Repplay]

Watches age for different reasons, and every individual specimen has led a different life, so to speak.

Moisture/humidity, physical "trauma" or abrasion, misguided maintenance and overpolishing, UV exposure, and other factors all conspire to give every vintage watch a unique look. Some have sat in a drawer for 50 years, some have been used as dive watches for even longer. Replacement parts adds to the random character of each watch.

Generally speaking, watches will age "consistently," in that a 30 year old watch will likely look nearly new, if cared for, and look similar to other watches of the same vintage. A 50 or 70 year old watch, even if well kept, will show at least SOME signs of age, but will still generally look like other watches of the same period.

In general, however, specific to radium dials (which haven't been used in new watches since the late 1950s/early 1960s) give off radiation that will actually "burn" the area around them. Most of the watches we deal with here, with some exceptions, never used radium dials. About the only ones you'll see in rep form are the very early Rolex Explorers and Submariners, which used radium dials for the first few years of production. After the early 1960s, almost every watch was using Tritium, and later Luminova.

Thank you for your response. I meant Tritium.
So, for instance, a submariner from 1972 with a Tritium dial could be seen as the one I posted above if it wasn't exposed too much to the sun?
I thought that if the watch had a Tritium dial, after x years it would became yellow... No matter what. After what you told me.. I realized I was wrong