Obligatory Wristwatch Thread

[APS-PF]

My fav night watch is a Marathon with tritium.

I do like the brightness of a tritium watch and I have a couple of Luminox. But due to the tubes needed, the dial is a bunch of equal length dashes. When I wake up brain dead at 3am, lumed Arabics like on your Solar Vaer Tactical, require less thought to determine the time.

[BillSWPA]

The problem with tritium watches, unlike tritium sights, is that the tritium is difficult or impossible to replace when it goes dim. Tritium is really nice, but the amount I would be willing to spend for it is limited given the temporary nature of the benefit.

Unlike sights in a concealed carry gun, good luminous material on a watch is likely to have been exposed to light before it is needed. Some of the luminous materials available today are bright and long lasting.

[GJM]

I do like the brightness of a tritium watch and I have a couple of Luminox. But due to the tubes needed, the dial is a bunch of equal length dashes. When I wake up brain dead at 3am, lumed Arabics like on your Solar Vaer Tactical, require less thought to determine the time.

That is interesting, as I have been off an hour a few times when I looked at my watch during the night, probably because my wrist was tilted a little bit.

[Wondering Beard]

It's hard to figure out how much water resistance I need in a watch. They rate it in depth (which is a stand-in for pressure) or atmospheres (which is actually pressure), but that's "static" pressure. I'm probably not going to swim or dive with it (but would like ti to survive a quick emergency swim); I'm looking for water resistance in the range of "need to take a quick shower" or "someone pushes me into the pool/lake off a boat" or "my impertinent nieces shoot me with a water hose."

For what you describe, I'd say 5 atm and up. The more "up", the more security but no need to go over 10 atm.

Personally, If I was going to find myself on a boat that I could fall off or get pushed off, I'd go with 10 atm, but a shower, plunging hands in the water to retrieve something or being hosed by your niece, 5 atm is fine.

At 10 atm you can also "dive" in the sense that, unless it's a professional dive with all the equipment and going to a wreck deep underwater, you likely won't ever go past 100 meters. I saw an interview with a retired SEAL where he said that in none of his water ops did he go below 100.

[Crusader]

The problem with tritium watches, unlike tritium sights, is that the tritium is difficult or impossible to replace when it goes dim. Tritium is really nice, but the amount I would be willing to spend for it is limited given the temporary nature of the benefit.

Unlike sights in a concealed carry gun, good luminous material on a watch is likely to have been exposed to light before it is needed. Some of the luminous materials available today are bright and long lasting.

That’s true but good tritium last a very long time, over the years it will dim some but still be effective. On a quartz watch it most likely will last as long as the watch, you’ll have changed the battery about a half dozen times before the lum is dead. Effectively eliminating whatever water resistance it had when new. I’m sure lum paint degrades some over time too. I recently checked the tritium sights on a 15 year old CZ SP01 I have and was pleasantly surprised to find they still had enough lum that they were easy to pick up in low light.

[BillSWPA]

That’s true but good tritium last a very long time, over the years it will dim some but still be effective. On a quartz watch it most likely will last as long as the watch, you’ll have changed the battery about a half dozen times before the lum is dead. Effectively eliminating whatever water resistance it had when new. I’m sure lum paint degrades some over time too. I recently checked the tritium sights on a 15 year old CZ SP01 I have and was pleasantly surprised to find they still had enough lum that they were easy to pick up in low light.

When my wife and I were first married, we both had Luminox watches. The tritium in mine was generally usable for about 15 years, and by then something else in the movement had also stopped working. For my wife’s watch, the tritium lasted less than 10 years before it was totally dim. Her movement also died. If I recall correctly Luminox’s repair center could have replaced the movements but not the vials, or the hands and dials containing those vials.

I have never, ever had tritium sights stay bright enough so that I considered them beneficial for more than 5 years, but that is applying a different standard of usability - being able to pick them up instantly in a variety of low light conditions. Trijicon has typically lasted this long, but I just ordered Night Fision replacements for some Trijicon that I became unhappy with after 3 years. The Night Fision sights I now have on a few guns are doing remarkably well, but my oldest set is still only 3 years old. Anything else I have tried has lasted 2-3 years or less.

[Wondering Beard]

For what you describe, I'd say 5 atm and up. The more "up", the more security but no need to go over 10 atm.

Personally, If I was going to find myself on a boat that I could fall off or get pushed off, I'd go with 10 atm, but a shower, plunging hands in the water to retrieve something or being hosed by your niece, 5 atm is fine.

At 10 atm you can also "dive" in the sense that, unless it's a professional dive with all the equipment and going to a wreck deep underwater, you likely won't ever go past 100 meters. I saw an interview with a retired SEAL where he said that in none of his water ops did he go below 100.

I should have added that a 5 atm watch with a screw down crown is a lot more water resistant than one without.

[Crusader]

When my wife and I were first married, we both had Luminox watches. The tritium in mine was generally usable for about 15 years, and by then something else in the movement had also stopped working. For my wife’s watch, the tritium lasted less than 10 years before it was totally dim. Her movement also died. If I recall correctly Luminox’s repair center could have replaced the movements but not the vials, or the hands and dials containing those vials.

I have never, ever had tritium sights stay bright enough so that I considered them beneficial for more than 5 years, but that is applying a different standard of usability - being able to pick them up instantly in a variety of low light conditions. Trijicon has typically lasted this long, but I just ordered Night Fision replacements for some Trijicon that I became unhappy with after 3 years. The Night Fision sights I now have on a few guns are doing remarkably well, but my oldest set is still only 3 years old. Anything else I have tried has lasted 2-3 years or less.

Darn I’ve never had a set of Tritium sights last less then 7 years, most considerably longer. I have a blue label 43 I bought in 2015 and installed a set of Trijicon HD’s on it. About 9 years later those puppies are still bright as hell. Same for a 19 I bought in 2013, put Ameriglo Spartans on it 11 years later still serviceable and plenty bright. I find that expecting 10 years of good service out of night sights is not unreasonable, at least with my experience with them.

[BillSWPA]

Darn I’ve never had a set of Tritium sights last less then 7 years, most considerably longer. I have a blue label 43 I bought in 2015 and installed a set of Trijicon HD’s on it. About 9 years later those puppies are still bright as hell. Same for a 19 I bought in 2013, put Ameriglo Spartans on it 11 years later still serviceable and plenty bright. I find that expecting 10 years of good service out of night sights is not unreasonable, at least with my experience with them.

Perhaps a lot depends on what we consider to be bright.

I have tritium sights on a North American Arms Guardian with inserts that are well over 10 years old (miniature Novak sights using Trijicon inserts). I no longer carry the gun, so there is no point in replacing the inserts or trying to see if replacement sights are still available. When I open my secure storage in the dark, the inserts appear bright. However, I would not depend on them to be bright enough for a semi-lit street.

I check the brightness by taking the sights into a semi-dark room and seeing if I can immediately acquire a sight picture. A sight which might appear bright under many other circumstances can sometimes be difficult to pick up quickly. This will also depend on whether my eyes are dark-adjusted when I attempt to quickly see a sight picture. That is the best I can do to replicate whether the sights will be usable if I ever need them in low light.

Also keep in mind that the tritium is decaying more rapidly in the first 5-6 years than in the next 5-6 years. You will notice less change from year 5 to year 10 than from year 0 to year 5.

[Wyoming Shooter]

Y'all cost me money, again. Here is my new Vaer C5 Solar with my much used Fenix 5X.