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BALL lume

15K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  CometHunter 
#1 ·
One of our newer members seems to have had a disappointing experience with his Tritium luminosity. This made me wonder what others think about their own watches...
How are you reconciling yourself with the fact that your watch is going to lose its glow in a number of years? What will you do when the Tritium gas's half-life progression makes it no longer visible? Did you already know that this would happen eventually? And if you knew then what you know now, would you still be a Ball owner?
 
#2 ·
This is not really a Ball-specific question - I am not aware of any 25 year old watch where the lume still works half as well as it did originally. There is the other question also of if we will still be wearing watches in another 25 years.

Other than the recent issue (which, IMHO Ball handled poorly), dial and hand replacement seems to be quite reasonably priced. My only question is how large is the stockpile of parts and what is Ball's commitment to re manufacturing items when they run out. They seem to be adopting the Rolex model in many ways, I hope this is not one of them.
 
#3 ·
One of the problems is that Trit. gas watches haven't been around for 25 years yet - so we don't have any kind of benchmark to go by.
Frankly, I got my Fireman II (used) because it was a super-affordable watch with a true Swiss ETA movement. If I want just Tritium and don't care about anything else, there are about 6 other watches under $90 and twice that many if I go up to $120. I will worry about it more when the time comes, but I, too, hope Ball won't become a Rolex clone. Mine has had two crown repairs already...I really hope there's nothing else for quite a while!
 
#5 ·
Tube colors do make a difference- green tubes will appear the brightest to the human eye. While I like the blue and yellow tubes on my original Night Train, the change to mostly green tubes on the later versions of the NIght Train was likely due to the perceived dimness of the blue and yellow color tubes.
 
#6 ·
I had a conversation with one of the management staff at Ball USA and he told me the charge for replacement tritium tubes is going to be "very reasonable". He also told me Ball USA is not allowed to bring tritium tubes into this country not mounted in watches. That's too bad, as watches needing tubes replaced will have to be shipped to The Swiss Ball Facility, leading to extra charges in shipping and longer times without watches. I believe this is a NRC issue, which makes no sense to me. It would take incredibly large numbers of tubes destroyed to collect enough tritium to do any harm. There must be easier ways criminals to obtain tritium. That said, why would I think government regulations should make sense:(!
I have a while to go before a either of my Ball Watches will need replacement tubes. Hopefully, regulations will ease by that time, allowing Ball USA to do the necessary chip tube changes here in the the States by the time I need them:)-o)



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#9 ·
(Whew!!!) For what's involved...you're right. If that kind of service can stay near the 200 mark, there isn't much to complain about.
 
#11 ·
Of course the number will be a factor! And probably their diameters too, as well as the lengths.

I don't know why I'm concerned about this. My Fireman II is only about 3-yrs. old. By the time the gas dies I'll be too busy chasing the nurses in my wheelchair over at the old folks home to worry about a watch!
 
#16 · (Edited)
When you say "30-second exposure" , may I assume you're talking about the iris in the camera lens?

(handsome watch, BTW!)

UPDATE 5/12/22: That was Darren's last thread. Was my question really that offensive???
 
#22 ·
If you're sure there's no lume, You should take it in and exchange it for a new one. I don't know what the hour dots are made of, but the hour hand, minute hand and sweep second hand have Tritium gas tubes. This radioactive gas needs NO exposure to light, since the gas should glow 24/7 for roughly the next 25 years.

If the tubes aren't glowing, they (somehow) missed being filled with Tritium gas or else they got damaged and leak. Either way, the watch is technically faulty. For the *extra you're paying for gas tubes, I'd want a fully functioning watch.


*I have a different brand of watch watch (with a quartz movement) that had great Tritium tubes. I paid about $225 for it. A couple months afterward I ran across THE EXACT SAME MAKE, MODEL, and vendor, except the plain dial DID NOT contain Tririum Tubes. That watch was priced at under $100. BIG DIFFERENCE!
The cost of those gas tubes can be shocking to the uninitiated.
 
#23 ·
One of our newer members seems to have had a disappointing experience with his Tritium luminosity. This made me wonder what others think about their own watches... How are you reconciling yourself with the fact that your watch is going to lose its glow in a number of years? What will you do when the Tritium gas's half-life progression makes it no longer visible? Did you already know that this would happen eventually? And if you knew then what you know now, would you still be a Ball owner?
I made the purchased back in 2015, suffice to say, at that time, i wasnt aware that the tritium tubes had a finite life. Had i known, i doubt that i would have made the leap. The glow of the tubes now, is very weak, and having trawled for info on the costs associated on tube replacement, it would be foolish to think these watches hold value on the second hand market
 
#25 ·
I HAD a Ball Fireman II. Fortunately I bought it off of a past WTF member, so being not NIB (new-in-box) the price was considerablt slashed. Along the way, the ETA movement developed a chronic setting stem problem, so I turned it over to Bernie, my WatchGuy with orders to fixit and then sell it...we'll split the money and call it even.
The lesson I learned?
Stay away from watches with 4-figure price tags! I'm happier with my $200 vintage Hammys and Gruens! :)
 
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