Tritrium refresh for C600 TriTech Elites

Tonywalker · Post by **Tonywalker** » Mon Jan 16, 2023 5:59 pm

Does anybody have any experience/contacts for replacement of tritrium tubes on C600 hands?

I am guessing the hands may have come pre-manufactured with the gas tubes already applied, in which case the above may not be possible.

Thanks
Tony

Clach77 · Post by **Clach77** » Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:17 pm

Tonywalker wrote: ↑Mon Jan 16, 2023 5:59 pm Does anybody have any experience/contacts for replacement of tritrium tubes on C600 hands?

I am guessing the hands may have come pre-manufactured with the gas tubes already applied, in which case the above may not be possible.

Thanks
Tony

I’m can’t answer your question, but given that tritrium has a half life of about 12 years I’m not worrying about mine. I’m assuming that I will still find them legible in 50 years time. Which is probably longer than I’ll last.

Tonywalker · Post by **Tonywalker** » Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:34 pm

Have you owned your C600's for a long time?

I have only had mine a year or so.

I was figuring that the lume (tritium) may have been a lot brighter 10+ yrs ago.

How are yours faring, if owned from new?

Thanks

Clach77 · Post by **Clach77** » Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:46 pm

Not owned from new, but I’ve had them a while.

They do not appear the brightest when the lights go out and they never have. Conventional lume will initially look brighter. The advantage is though of course that they don’t fade. By the middle of the night they look quite bright.

Tonywalker · Post by **Tonywalker** » Mon Jan 16, 2023 10:49 pm

Agreed - same here. Just wasn't sure whether they should be brighter.
I.may buy a cheap bag of them off the bay to see how strong 'new' ones glow.

Or perhaps others who have owned C600s for many years may be able to throw some light (pun intended) on the subject.

Bahnstormer_vRS · Post by **Bahnstormer_vRS** » Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:09 am

It is the nature of Tritium tubes that they glow consistently all the time, 24/7, but not with the same intensity as freshly charged regular (SuperLuminova) lume, that then fades back to nowt. In daylight they are not bright enough for you to notice their glow.

I've had several C600 Tri-tech, and currently have a couple of Marathons, with Tritium lume and the trick is; I can keep then in a glass top display case inside a (dark) wardrobe, open the wardrobe door in the middle of the night and they will be shining with enough intensity for me to read the time (even without my glasses on). Any of my regular lume watches will not be glowing in these circumstances.

Guy

asqwerth · Post by **asqwerth** » Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:08 am

Clach77 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:17 pm
I’m can’t answer your question, but given that tritrium has a half life of about 12 years I’m not worrying about mine. I’m assuming that I will still find them legible in 50 years time. Which is probably longer than I’ll last.

Not sure their half life is so long. My Ball watch tritium tubes lost their glow in 10 yrs, and that's exactly how long their website said it would last. I had to send it back to Ball last year and they replaced the tubes (probably the whole dial).

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:52 am

CW is no longer able to replace the dial's or Tritium tubes in the C600 Tri Tech Elite. Tube replacement would need to be done by an outside source at this point when necessary.

Google searches will show several repair centers that will do this work.

tikkathree · Post by **tikkathree** » Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:35 am

Just to add a little experience, hands on you might say. My CW watches live on an open shelf in something akin to a walk-in wardrobe, they get only indirect daytime daylight and the last electric light to reach them was eight, maybe nine hours ago. When I walked in there a short while ago the Tritech trio were by far and away the brightest.

richtel · Post by **richtel** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:05 pm

While the half-life of tritium is 12 years (it's radioactive activity decreases to half the original), the effect is inverse-exponential so in another 12 years it'll be down to 25% and so on. That in itself would make a tritium tube last dimly for many years, however it's likely the phosphor in the tube which degrades faster to the detriment of light output.

JAFO · Post by **JAFO** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:16 pm

With a half life of 12 years, would you think an age of 24 to 36 with between a quarter and an eighth of the original would still be useful, or would it already be too faint?

tikkathree · Post by **tikkathree** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:24 pm

JAFO wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:16 pm With a half life of 12 years, would you think an age of 24 to 36 with between a quarter and an eighth of the original would still be useful, or would it already be too faint?

I'm not sure if you're asking about the current viability of the tubes in the old C600s? If so I'd take them over any other CW for reliable solid lume simply because they don't rely on being charged up by daylight.

richtel · Post by **richtel** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:27 pm

JAFO wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 10:16 pm With a half life of 12 years, would you think an age of 24 to 36 with between a quarter and an eighth of the original would still be useful, or would it already be too faint?

I think it’s largely immaterial what remaining activity the tritium retains if the phosphor has already degraded.

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Tritrium refresh for C600 TriTech Elites

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