I don't mean which will still be going strong in 10 years, and I don't want tritium. Which pigment/ paint or superluminova color will be brightest 3, 4 or 6 hours after a full charge?
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Which lume paint lasts longest?
- Thread starter Mendel272
- Start date
Assuming you are refering to Strontium Aluminate Oxide in any of it's Trade "Lumina" or "Tri" names the white C1 or greenish white C3 lasts longest followed by aqua C9 (pale blue) then the other colours with much reduced persistence.
Charts from laboratory test equipment are fine but if you are unlucky enough to only posess human eyes it seems to be bright for 3-6 minutes then tail off over the next 2-8 hours.
The 'C' codes for colour are for the Luminova company but any supplier of Strontium Aluminate Oxide should be able to supply a colour chart and much cheaper prices.
The grain size will have a small effect also, 5 microns is better for watch lume. 15-50 microns looks increasingly patchy/grainy to the eye.
Charts from laboratory test equipment are fine but if you are unlucky enough to only posess human eyes it seems to be bright for 3-6 minutes then tail off over the next 2-8 hours.
The 'C' codes for colour are for the Luminova company but any supplier of Strontium Aluminate Oxide should be able to supply a colour chart and much cheaper prices.
The grain size will have a small effect also, 5 microns is better for watch lume. 15-50 microns looks increasingly patchy/grainy to the eye.
I don't know; as my experience has been with safety signs one of our watch lume guys should be able to better answer this.
The charge time is affected by the light source, UV charging the fastest so if your overpainting blocks UV I would think you should expect a slower or less charge.
- 30/3/08
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Yes but it will slow down charging. If you do make sure it is not a UV stabilised paint (out doors paint) as the UV filter in it will block the UV light the lume charges off.
Tell me tho, why would you want to?
The lume that last the longest is called W4, followed by C3 and W2. C1 and W9 are far behind. All these pigments come from a company called Tritec, the problem is that they only sell to watchmakers or registered companies from the watch industry.
But hopefully there are alternatives, the first one of course being W@tchlume, which is a trusted dealer here, but we can also think of Glonation (glonation.com - NOT A TD).
About applying a layer of varnish over the lume, please note that humidity will damage lume pigments, leading the lume to glow weaker, so if you want to apply lume on the outside of the watch (on a bezel for example), it's indeed necessary.
But hopefully there are alternatives, the first one of course being W@tchlume, which is a trusted dealer here, but we can also think of Glonation (glonation.com - NOT A TD).
About applying a layer of varnish over the lume, please note that humidity will damage lume pigments, leading the lume to glow weaker, so if you want to apply lume on the outside of the watch (on a bezel for example), it's indeed necessary.
You need to be a watchmaker or a registered company from the watch industry to buy W4, plus grey W4 doesn't exist.
This is getting interesting! A look at the Tritec literature talks about "new chemical compositions" of lume pigments.
Granted this is a commercial company that wants to sell and good luck to them but what are they selling if it is not Strontium Aluminate Oxide?
Apart from tritium mixtures and zinc sulphide what is it because I haven't seen any other non-toxic and non-radioactive materials that could make their product more "super" than a good supplier of SAO pigments.
Has anyone here made a side by side comparison of pigment from major retailers like Kilabitzzz (UK) or Glonation (US) and one of these named product companies?
Granted this is a commercial company that wants to sell and good luck to them but what are they selling if it is not Strontium Aluminate Oxide?
Apart from tritium mixtures and zinc sulphide what is it because I haven't seen any other non-toxic and non-radioactive materials that could make their product more "super" than a good supplier of SAO pigments.
Has anyone here made a side by side comparison of pigment from major retailers like Kilabitzzz (UK) or Glonation (US) and one of these named product companies?
I guess that's what they call innovationl :lol:
In order to do such a comparison you would have to use pigments of the same sizes, because larger pigments glow stronger and longer, but unfortunately most manufacturers use pigments of different sizes.
But more than that, they pretty much all lie about the size of their pigments. Pretty much all manufacturers advertise pigments of small sizes, but when you use them you quickly realize some are bigger than others.
I would trust Tritec about what they advertise, first because they're a Swiss company, but also because they pretty much supply the entire Swiss Watch industry.
The others I'm not so sure.
I could easily mix some charcoal or other pigment into the paint, and play with mixtures until I get it right. I am an artist, and have any number of pigments and binders on hand. I can mix it myself, but are there any watchmakers with w4 that would retail a smaller qty? Enough for, say, 3 watches and a bit of practice?
