UV Light for Watch Lume Guide & What you Need to Know
You have probably heard about the fact that you can use a UV flashlight to effectively charge your watch’s lume before. If not, keep on reading and we’ll tell you all about it.
Watches and lume
Most analog watches have luminous markers and/or hands that feature a luminous material in order to make them glow in the dark. The purpose of this is simple: to improve legibility in low-lit conditions.
Different brands use different luminous materials, but regardless of which they use, the main principles are mostly the same. The exception is tritium and radium, which glow completely by themselves. Tritium and radium are mostly not used in watches anymore because they are radioactive and, at least for tritium, deteriorate after some time.
Charging Lume With UV Light
All other luminous materials, which most watches use, get their energy from outside light. They are charged by light, and then, depending on the type of material, how much of it it has, and how well it has been charged, glow for different amounts of time.
You have probably noticed that if you have been out in the sun and get into a dark room, the luminous material glows much stronger than it normally does. This is because the luminous material has been ”charged” with energy.
The fact is that you can also charge your lume with a UV light, and this is also one of the most effective ways to charge it. UV light stands for ultraviolet light and is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from 10 to 400 nm. This is shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays.
With that said, UV light works exceptionally well to charge luminous material. If you have tried, you know that it only requires a few seconds of the light on your watch to get it to glow extremely bright. This is because the lume pigment is more sensitive to UV light, allowing it to charge faster.
Does UV light damage your lume?
A common question about using a UV light to charge your watch’s lume is if it damages the luminous markers in any way, and gets it to degrade. The answer to that is that lume decorates a tiny tiny bit every time it is charged, but UV light does not particularly degrade it, and it is not something you have to worry about. This is because of the fact that UV radiation is present in sunlight, and so charging it for a few seconds with a UV light will be a big difference from simply having it in the sun for a while.
With that said, charging your watch’s lume with a UV flashlight is very simple. All you need to do is direct the light to the watch for a few seconds and then it will glow brightly. Charging the lume with a UV light is unarguably the most effective way if you need it to glow as strong and bright as it possibly can. For a faster effect, you can opt for a more powerful and bigger UV flashlight.
UV lights for watches
UltraFire UV Flashlight 395-405 nm
uvBeast Black Light UV Flashlight – HIGH Power 100 LED with 30-feet Flood Effect 385nm-395nm
TaoTronics Black Light, 12 LEDs 395nm UV Blacklight
Here is a demonstration of just how effectively UV light works for charging lume:
