I've got a watch question.

[Hickory n steel]

EDIT: I confused some terminology,
I'm talking about hands and markers around the dial not the entire dial.

Normally you get luminous hands and markers or just luminous hands.



The watch in question is a Timex mk1 stainless, inexpensive yes so maybe that's a factor but it still makes no sense.

And it's got indiglo, sometimes the luminous hands on my weekender were useful but because of the indiglo I didn't miss them on my easy reader.

 

[Piso Mojado]

Luminous hands, non-luminous dial, good contrast

Luminous dial, non-luminous hands, good contrast

Timex Indiglo light colored dial, non-luminous hands, good contrast

IMO Indiglo doesn't work well with a dark colored dial, poor contrast.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Luminous hands, non-luminous dial, good contrast

Luminous dial, non-luminous hands, good contrast

Timex Indiglo light colored dial, non-luminous hands, good contrast

IMO Indiglo doesn't work well with a dark colored dial, poor contrast.

Thanks
I actually made a mistake, I'm just talking about hands and markers not the entire dial.

Usually it's both or just the hands glowing.
With just the hands glowing it's easy enough to tell the time, but what good are markers only?
And no on this watch they're not big and bright enough to make the hands visible.

 

[AMasterofMayheM]

Do you have the watch or just looking at pics? From the pics I found of that model it looks like the hands are supposed to be luminous as well as the dial markings

 

[Hickory n steel]

Do you have the watch or just looking at pics? From the pics I found of that model it looks like the hands are supposed to be luminous as well as the dial markings

I've had it maybe 5-6 months.

The hands are not luminous even though they do look like they would be.

 

[Piso Mojado]

Thanks
I actually made a mistake, I'm just talking about hands and markers not the entire dial.

Usually it's both or just the hands glowing.
With just the hands glowing it's easy enough to tell the time, but what good are markers only?
And no on this watch they're not big and bright enough to make the hands visible.

Dials, hands, markers, numbers, luminous paint, Indiglo®, the only rationale I can see is that some designer convinced some manufacturer that "this will sell." So there are watches with only the hands luminous, with only the hands and second sweep, with only the hands, second sweep and markers, and with all the hands, second sweep, markers and numbers luminous. The impulse behind this seems to be fashion design and marketing. I have not seen a scientific explanation.

This is the "high visibility" watch dial which Rolex patented in 1942.



Rolex offered this dial on its Oyster Perpetual watch, advertised as "fitted with our new 'patented' error-proof radium dial, error-proof radium hands." Yes, they used radioactive radium paint for luminescence. But there was no explanation why this combination of Arabic and Roman numerals was "high visibility" or "error-proof." Their patent application says "the fact that the Roman numerals occupy half the dial and the Arabic numerals the other, clearly distinguishes these two halves": but whatever the luminescent scheme, up and down should be clear when the watch is on your own wrist, even in pitch dark one hundred feet underwater. The high visibility dial did make clear, in a highly visible way, that you were wearing a Rolex.

 

[bdmicarta]

Some watches have very small luminous hour markers. There are some older fashion watch brands that don't even have hour markers of any kind so theoretically not having lume on hour markers is not the end of the world. Personally I don't rely on lume for my everyday watches because it won't last all night. If I want to be able to read the time during the night I will wear a watch with tritium markers, such as the Luminox I'm wearing right now. But back to the original question, if a watch is going to have lume on it I don't understand why they don't put good lume on it, both long lasing lume and large enough amounts of lume to be easily visible.

 

[Hickory n steel]

In case it wasn't clear, this is the stupidity I'm talking about here.
I was surprised but after some good charge with a bright flashlight I actually had a few seconds where my phones camera could actually pick it up.


It's gotta be there just for show, and it barely shows at that.

Other than this though I like the watch.

 

[Dadpool]

It's an Indiglo watch -- does the entire dial not light up when you press the crown?

AFAIK that's the defining feature of Indiglo.

 

[Danke42]

It's an Indiglo watch -- does the entire dial not light up when you press the crown?

AFAIK that's the defining feature of Indiglo.

Let's not get all bogged down with facts

 

[Hickory n steel]

It's an Indiglo watch -- does the entire dial not light up when you press the crown?

AFAIK that's the defining feature of Indiglo.

Yes.
I was just curious why a watch might only have the markers glowing, regardless of the fact that this watch has indiglo.

 

[Dadpool]

Yes.
I was just curious why a watch might only have the markers glowing, regardless of the fact that this watch has indiglo.

Gotcha. It is an odd choice, although I like the look with just the "teeth" picked out with lume.

 

[Silent H]

It's a Timex. They make some good watches but I doubt they put all that much thought into the lume on an indiglo watch.

If it was intentional I'd say, they lumed the hour markers so you could orient yourself on the watch in the dark, then just flash the indiglo on for a second to see where the hands are. That way you wouldn't have to hold the indiglo on for a longer time and theoretically save battery life. But, I doubt they put that much thought into it.

 

[Danke42]

I have an Indiglo watch that's got to be over ten years old that still glows and in all that time has never needed a battery. Meanwhile other technically nicer quartz watches like Luminox that doesn't have a light eats a battery every 2 years. Timex is very underrated.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I have an Indiglo watch that's got to be over ten years old that still glows and in all that time has never needed a battery. Meanwhile other technically nicer quartz watches like Luminox that doesn't have a light eats a battery every 2 years. Timex is very underrated.

I've had good luck with them.


I have always been told that the weekender is basically the default budget watch that a lot of watch enthusiasts tend to have an appreciation for as a beater that's reliable and looks pretty good.

 

[The Amazing Virginian]

Yes.
I was just curious why a watch might only have the markers glowing, regardless of the fact that this watch has indiglo.

Quality control. Indiglo is Timex' bread and butter. Lume seems at best an afterthought to them. The fact that their lume is for crap - particularly on the MK1 - is pretty well known. If you search you will find reviews saying the same thing as you. Frankly, you're lucky the markers have enough lume to be visible. Not here to bash Timex, but I think this is a pretty well established fact with the MK1. You have the Indiglo, which is cool and works well. They really shouldn't even bother with their paltry lume.

I've had good luck with them.


I have always been told that the weekender is basically the default budget watch that a lot of watch enthusiasts tend to have an appreciation for as a beater that's reliable and looks pretty good.

I was going to get a Timex as a beater watch, but there wasn't enough room on it for the "My Other Watch Is A Rolex" bumper sticker.

I have some relatively expensive (multi-thousand-dollar) watches, but I'm no watch snob. I think some Timex models offer a good value for what you pay.

In fact, I'm wearing a Casio G-Shock GW-5610U right now, which I modded into a snazzy looking metal affair with a kit I got off AliExpress. $100 for a nearly indestructable, 200 meter rated, solar powered chronograph with automatic atomic clock adjustment and a crap-ton of other features seems a pretty fair value to me. Sixty bucks more for the mod kit and now it looks pretty cool, too (IMO).

 

[Hickory n steel]

They really shouldn't even bother with their paltry lume.

My thoughts exactly.

It's passable on my weekender and it's useful once in awhile, but not enough to miss it.

 

[jbmonkey]

they did it for a style to match watches like this that use the hands and dial markers to see some time in the dark ....and it works with the indiglo, even without the hands lumed.

think of the dial lume as more style than function...and ya got your answer. timex solved the issue of readable in dark with the indigo, so its a case of form over function, on the dial lume markers.

 

[The Amazing Virginian]

they did it for a style to match watches like this that use the hands and dial markers to see some time in the dark ....and it works with the indiglo, even without the hands lumed.

think of the dial lume as more style than function...and ya got your answer. timex solved the issue of readable in dark with the indigo, so its a case of form over function, on the dial lume markers.

Somewhere I read someone suggest they did it just so they could check the "lume" feature box on Amazon and other sales sites when comparing features to other watches. Makes as much sense as anything else.