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Cogsworth
222
Aug 30, 2016
Some misinformation here. There is no such thing as a T-25 tube or T-100 tube. These are designations used in watchmaking to express the total radiation in millicuries emitted by all the tritium mounted to the dial. Therefore, a T-100 watch will have more or larger tubes than a T-25. The catch is that the T rating is the maximum, so a T-25 watch could only have enough tritium to emit 15 or 20 mCi but still carry the T-25 mark. Same with a T-100 watch, it may only have enough tritium to produce say 75 mCi which exceeds the T-25 rating but falls under the T-100 maximum. I own several T-25 and T-100 watches and the difference is obvious side by side...for example an Android watch I have with 68 tubes of varying sizes is marked as T-100 while another with only four small tubes is a T-25.
So basically, all tritium tubes are the same brightness, the difference is in the size. Obviously more or larger tubes will appear brighter. Also technically speaking, all colors of tritium emit the same amount of light, but due to the different wavelengths some appear brighter than others to the human eye.
Last I read the vast majority of tubes are produced by a Swiss company called MB Microtec, especially for watches. There is also a Canadian company called SRB Technologies that produces tritium products. I imagine there could be Chinese companies producing tritium vials but I have never seen confirmation of this. Regarding legality in the United States, tritium is legal for use in things like watches and gun sights, but banned for what they call "frivolous uses" like keychains and such...which is why most vial vendors are located overseas.
Mocifer
4
Aug 30, 2016
CogsworthYou know millicurie is a 1/1000 unit of radiation. If the radioisotope in tritium vials is H3 then a T100 vial has 4x the millicurie's as a T25 meaning it has 4x the H3 to react with the phosphorus isotopes in the vial shrugging off more photons humans provide as brighter light. If T25 vs T100 equate to the total curie value of the watch face why do watches with equal vial counts but different at slurs vary in apparent brightness? T100 simply means the vials are filled to a higher pressure. Why are those two watches so different in noticeable brightness if they have the same amount of tubes in the face? And why are those high pressure vials much much brighter if all tritium vials decay at the same rate? Are you familiar with cpfmarketplace.com
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Cogsworth
222
Aug 30, 2016
MociferYes, I've been on cpfmarketplace many times and I've bought tritium vials from Merkava there. I have been collecting tritium watches and "glowrings" for many years now and I know what I'm talking about.
I will say it again. There is NO SUCH THING as T-25 and T-100 vials. There may be high pressure vials that contain more tritium gas and therefore glow brighter, but this has nothing to do with the T designation. The T ratings are standards set forth by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which dictate how much total radiation can be emitted by the tritium contained in a timepiece for import. Up until a few years ago T-25 was the maximum total contained in a watch that could be imported, until Ball Watch Co. challenged the NRC and won the right to import T-100 watches. Every watch company must obtain a license to import tritium equipped watches, and they must have separate licenses for T-25 and T-100. Ball watch was the first to obtain a license to import T-100 watches from Switzerland and others followed.
I can't tell what's going on in that picture. It looks to me like three images pasted together, and the two watches were photographed with different exposure times. The two vials side by side may be Ice Blue vs Dark Blue tritium, as Ice tends to appear brighter because of it's wavelength.
If you still don't believe me, a quick Google search on T-25 vs T-100 tritium will bring up numerous discussions on various watch collecting forums explaining the difference.
aa6rv
9
Apr 19, 2017
CogsworthI ordered my vials based on size, not by a model number and they fit perfectly. I bought mine from mixglo.com and the were perfect.