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Best lume powder/paste kit to buy?

Jonno65
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Jonno65 Watch Enthusiast

Jonno65

Posted
Posted

Hi

 

I need to re-lume some hands and I was just looking for pointers on the best lume paste to buy or are any of the ones I turned up on eBay going to be ok?

Such as: here or here

Or Amazon: here

Or Etsy: here

AndyHull Distinguished Member

AndyHull

Posted
Posted (edited)

I guess this depends on who you are doing the job for as much as anything else. If it is for your own collection, and only for a few hands, then these ebay kits probably will work fine.

If you are doing this for a customer, and you are offering any sort of warranty,  then you might look at using a known reputable supplier like Cousins in the UK, as they are likely to have better quality control. However they are probably more expensive.

image.png.303a8d51ea597892a54cb5b6159a4c71.png


I have used inexpensive luminous powder from ebay. (Much cheaper even than the kits you listed), using PVA wood glue or acrylic nail polish as a binder and it does work pretty well too.

However the grain size of the ebay powders feels slightly more coarse (this may be my imagination).

Ebay offerings comes in a huge variety of colours, so if you are looking for something a little different, this might be the way to go.

See here for my latest examples of how this worked out ->
 

.. and here ...
 


I also have some "proper" watch grade powders and those work too, and they feel slightly less coarse grained.  You obviously need to use modern strontium aluminate based luminous materials, as they are non radioactive.

 

Edited by AndyHull
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  • 1 year later...
neevo WRT Addict

neevo

Posted
Posted

Apologies for reviving an old thread but I thought it best to add here than start a new one.

Can someone provide some guidance on the different grades of lume? As I’m searching I’m seeing:

1. Watch grade (lowest) $30

2. Newlite $60

3. Swiss high quality (maybe in further grades) $200+
 

Im just looking to match some hands to a dial. The hands are pure white and the dial is a white/very light green.

I can’t justify the price of the Swiss ones so Newlite C3 in the kit seemed like a good start. Does that seem reasonable?

Then if I can’t perfectly match the colour, I could buy whiter/greener colour next and mix to get the perfect colour?

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