Help finding watch

O

Orion Major

Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
4
I need some help finding a watch. I have (what I believe) are some simple requirements, but so far am not having much luck.
1. Be manual winding or automatic
2. Be readable all night with no back ground light
3. Have date
5. Have second hand
4. Must have a rotating bezel that shows minutes
5. Water resistant to at least 3 ATM
6. Less than $400
Any help and suggestions will be much appreciatted.
 
Hrm...

I think the most difficult part to fulfill here is the "be readable all night" part vs. the "manual winding/auto" part.

Indiglos and other lamps are cool. I think luminox and the equivalent is great stuff too, and many watches come painted with it, but I'm unsure it can last an entire night. Maybe I'm wrong?
 
The hard part is going to be a mechanical with excellent night readability. The Ball trainman has tritium tubes and is an auto, but it is more than your stated price range.
 
Good Evening All-

Orion Major, here is the result of a search in the Gadgets & Gear section of BladeForums.

It returned over five hundred matches, so you'll be able to review some very informative threads. Good luck with your watch purchase.

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
If ou are open to using a chronograph function rather than a roatting bezel to kep track of elapsed time then you should take a look at the Poljot 3133 series.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far guys,now for a few more questions:
I've been all thru Bill Yao's site and didn't see any mention of Tritium being offered, does he? All his custom dials seem to hide the date, or am I missing something? Hadn't heard of the Ball Trainman and can't get any of the links to Ball to open, anyone else have problems with the links?
Fishbulb how is the luminescence on the Poljot? Their web site seems to only talk about luminova which to my experience seems to last a couple of hours at best.
Thanks for the 500 links Blue Jay, gee, I hadn't thought of doing a search or reading any posts besides my own ( are you for real or was that a joke for newbies?)
 
Bill Yao does have a MOD dial that shows the date. I do not believe he offers tritium. His dials are Luminova.

The address for Ball watches is http://www.ballwatches.com/
Nothing is going to beat the tritium vials for luminescence, but the only auto I know of that has them is the Ball.

2-DM1012B-BK.jpg


Model : DM1012B-BK
Case : Anti-magnetic & shock- proof function
Bezel : titanium blue or black with luminous indicator
Glass : Anti-Glare Sapphire
Crown : Screwed type
3H Gas Light : 12 Points Indicator, 3 Hands & Hour Markings
Movement : BALL caliber 2836-2 25 jewels
Size : 45.5 X 45.5mm
Height : 13 mm
Bracelet : Solid Stainless Steel
Water Resistant : 200 M / 660 ft.
Dial : Black, Navy and White
Price : US$820
 
The Poljots have Super Luminova.

I have never had a problem with night visibility on mine. I've used it as a bedside clock more than a few times and it is visible all night as long as you "charge" it well before the lights go out.

I find that it is actually much easier to read a watch with no ambient light, as the hands and indices appear much brighter in total darkness.
 
That Ball Watch looks a LOT like Luminox...what other watches have tritium tubes? I think thats the best idea for a watch, unless you plan on useing that watch 10 years later....when the vials will be faded. I often show people the night sites on some of my guns, like my H&K USP is a few years older than my duty Glock 22, and you can see a huge difference in brightness...At least on guns you can just buy new sites...wish you could just buy new watch hands...
 
Ball does make large variety of watches. I really like the ones that have the date using Tritium Vials. Can you say flashlight :eek:

Ryan W
 
Sorry, I could have sworn I saw tritium tubes offered on a custom Bill Yao somewhere.

I'll have to find the site I was looking at, they had the option of Luminova or tritium tubes on the hands.
 
Bill Yao does have watches on his site with tritium tubes. He customizes Luminoxes. Those are the only ones with tritium on the site though. Some of his O&W and Seiko watch faces are marked with a T in a circle, the British MOD marking for tritium, but that is just for show. The only watches on the site that acually contain tritium are the Luminoxes. All the rest are Luminova.
Peter
 
Fishbulb, does the Poljot shown on your posts have a rotating bezel? The Poljot.us site shows it but doesn't say if the bezel rotates.
 
www.broadarrow.net has some marathon watches with tritium. I don't think they are going to meet the water resistance he wants though.

You could get a Marathon SAR. It uses Super Luminova. Not near as bright as tritium, but pretty bright nonetheless.
 
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