Modified S&Y 590 with Luminova

[Max]

I modified the Stocker & Yale 590 watch I bought from DBrier by painting the hands and markers with some Luminova paint I bought. The watch still has a malfunctioning movement -- the watch keeps time but the second hand jumps in 4 second increments every 4 seconds (weird). The watch also still has the broken crystal. I have a replacement crystal for it, but I'm holding off installing it until I figure out if I want to fix the movement.

Anyway, here is a picture of the result. Notice that the Luminova doesn't obstruct the tritium vials, so you get dual mode glow in the dark.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea?

 

[gadgetnut]

Very cool! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif I'd love to see a pic of it glowing in the dark. Now that you have the hang of it, you should do it to a functioning, non-broken watch!

 

[Max]

I have already boosted the Casio watch on my wrist to good effect, although it was a little messier -- a mercedes style hour hand is tough.

I do have a fully functioning S&Y 590F that I held on the side first to see how it comes out.

 

[gadgetnut]

Do it! That turned out great. You do nice work. Seriously, I'd love to see a pic of it in the dark.

 

[Max]

 

[gadgetnut]

Looks great! Is the reason that the tritium doesn't show in the pic because the Luminova is just so bright at first, or have the tritium vials lost some of their glow?

 

[TOB9595]

Very precise painting of the hands.

Same Q re the tritium vials. Can't have dimmed can they?
Don't all tritium have 10 year 1/2 life?

Nicely done
Tom

 

[Max]

Charged up Luminova is much brighter than tritium vials. My camera isn't sensitive enough (I think the max it does is a 1sec exposure) to pick up just the tritium.

And yes, all tritium has the same half life of 12.3 years.

 

[gadgetnut]

[ QUOTE ]
Max said:
Charged up Luminova is much brighter than tritium vials. My camera isn't sensitive enough (I think the max it does is a 1sec exposure) to pick up just the tritium.


[/ QUOTE ]That's what I figured. My Luminox vials glow really bright, but superluminova glows even brighter for the first few moments after "charging".

 

[flownosaj]

the first few minutes of luminova is great--super bright! And with the tritium dials, this thing would look great even if you stayed in the dark for a whole 24 hours.

I'd love to see what this looks like at the 8 hour mark with slow exposure. The 8-10 hour mark is when my luminova watch hands really start to dissapear and the tritium is king.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Jason

 

[Tomas]

Uh, that four second jump every four seconds is what some of the Ronda movements (like in the 590) use to indicate the battery is low - have you checked to make certain the battery is healthy and that there is no corrosion or anything on the contact areas? If the battery voltage is just a tiny fraction of a volt low the watch can jump like that ...

 

[yclo]

What Tomas said, could be the EOL (End of Life) indicator function of the movement.

 

[Max]

It was the battery. Thank you Tomas and yclo!

 

[Tomas]

Glad the battery was all the problem was, Max. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Speaking of Luminova, the watch in the center in this pic (the Seiko Kinetic) has the entire face coated. Amazing stuff. That watch is bright enough to use as an emergency light source.

(Actually it's Lumibright, Seiko's proprietary version of the same stuff.)

 

[Max]

The modified Stocker & Yale 590 (sans broken crystal) is currently up for auction on eBay.

 

[vcal]

[ QUOTE ]
Max said:
The modified Stocker & Yale 590 (sans broken crystal) is currently up for auction on eBay.


[/ QUOTE ]
Is that your auction, Max?

Any opinions on what the exact same watch without the crystal but with phosopho red tipped seconds hand carefully painted on would bring? (I did mine).
-the Tritium on mine is about 50% as bright as new.

Doing a really neat job of dial painting ain't nearly as easy as it might seem. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Edit:
Nice job on the Luminova application.

 

[Max]

[ QUOTE ]
vcal said:
Is that your auction, Max?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes.[ QUOTE ]
Any opinions on what the exact same watch without the crystal but with phosopho red tipped seconds hand carefully painted on would bring? (I did mine).
-the Tritium on mine is about 50% as bright as new.

Doing a really neat job of dial painting ain't nearly as easy as it might seem. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Edit:
Nice job on the Luminova application.

[/ QUOTE ]First of all, I'd say go ahead and replace the crystal before auctioning it off. It's a 1.5mm thick 30mm diameter mineral glass. Really not a big deal to replace.

And, I don't know what one with a red tipped seconds hand would go for. Some might view my mod, for example, as a defacement of an original classic.

 

[DBrier]

Good to see something happening with my old watch.