Shopping Advice for Tritium Watches

Why are Luminox, Traser, and Protek underrepresented here? We rigorously analyzed the complete offering of all three major tritium watch makers. What we found is that their components and specs are unimpressive relative to the prices their watches sell for. We didn’t set out to exclude them, they were simply outcompeted by the likes of IsoBrite, Deep Blue, Bertucci, etc.

the most part, all three of the largest tritium watch makers are able to . As such, the components in their watches relative to the prices they offer are underwhelming.

What is Tritium: Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium watches use a gaseous form of tritium, captured in hermetically sealed phosphorescent tubes, that provides a constant, self-powered glow for up to 25 years. As radioactive particles go, tritium is extremely weak, significantly weaker than the background radiation from urban environments, and completely safe to wear on your wrist.

T25 vs T100: The short version is that T100 is brighter and thus preferable to T25. The long version is that these are designations of tritium gas concentration contained in the watch. T25 rated tritium watches contain up to 25 millicuries of tritium, while T100 watches contain up to 100 millicuries. Thus all other things being equal (like color, surface area of tubes, and half life), the T100 may appear up to four times brighter than the T25. If your objective is maximum brightness because it’s easier to read in the dark, choose T100. FYI, millicuries are a measurement unit of radioactivity named after Marie Curie. 

Choosing Tritium Color: Because of how human eyes perceives light, green tritium is by far the brightest and most legible. For maximum nocturnal visibility, choose green hands and markers, with a contrast color like orange at 12 o’clock. Other colors add visual interest, and can be aesthetically pleasing, but aren’t as functional if the goal is maximizing brightness.

Large Flat Tritium Tubes vs Numerals + Small Tritium Tubes: There are two main ways in which tritium watches are configured. They either have traditional watch numerals plus small tritium tubes at each marker, or no numerals and large flat tritium tubes instead of markers. Some hybrids exist. You may have aesthetic preferences, but functionally speaking, there are reasons to choose between them. Those who want to maximize daytime legibility should should a dial with numerals, while those prioritizing nighttime legibility should go sans-numerals with large flat tritium tubes. Tritium tubes that parallel the perimeter increase daytime legibility in the sense that they leave more room for numerals. Tritium tubes that replace hours markers and orient towards the center are are more accurate at night, but either replace numerals or require them to be smaller, making it harder to read during the day.

Tritium vs Lume: Traditional lume paint is the most common and economical way to make an analog watch legible at night. Lume charges up in the sun and glows brightly at first, often as bright or brighter than  T100 tritium. However, lume fades quickly, becoming difficult to read after only a few hours, and losing all legibility by the early morning. Large flat T100 tritium tubes rivals a fully charged lume glow, but retains its brightness, fading gradually over the course of 25 years, rather than over the course of a few hours. Conversely, lume does not degrade in the long time. When it comes to tritium watches vs lumed watches, taking all factors into account, tritium wins in a landslide. Your watch should be legible from 1:00-6:00 am; tritium provides this and lume does not.