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Vintage 123B dial question.

1061 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  wkw
I’ve owned the 123B 3-4 times since the early 2000s when it came out. Every time I sell it, I end up regretting it and finding another.

Now I’ve landed a keeper.

Every other example I’ve had, and most I’ve seen, had more or less pure white luminous markers/hands.

My latest one however, has a decidedly warm tone to the markers, not unlike what you’d see in aging tritium. I’ve seen the same coloration on perhaps one or two examples for sale online in the past.

Does anyone know if B&R might have used tritium on these older watches? There’s no T on the dial, which I thought was required by law. Could they have used it early on and skirted the rule? The watch was originally sold in Asia.

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How is the glow?
Can you "charge" it with a light, and then over a few minutes it starts fading a bit? (Check it in a dim or dark room.)
If so, that is some form of Luminova.
If the watch is from the early 2000's, by now a TRITIUM lume will have pretty much died out and it will not glow at night.
Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years, so after this many decades it would be dead.
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