Many watches, especially diving watches, have lume somewhere on the face of the watch, which can include the dials. It is this lume that gives the watch a glow-in-the-dark capability, enabling the owner to see the time much better regardless of the time of day.
When you own a watch with lume somewhere on the front of the watch, you’ll have to occasionally “charge” it so that it keeps working the way that it’s supposed to. This task is a lot easier than you think.
How to Charge Your Watch Lume: Four Easy Methods
Learning how to charge watch lume isn’t difficult because all you do is find a light source and shine that light at the lumed watch parts for a certain length of time. The time that you hold the light source to the watch depends on many factors, including the type of lume used and the type of watch you’re working with.
You can use either natural or artificial light, and below are some of the light sources people have used to recharge the lume in their watches.
- Natural sunlight. If you’re outside a lot, the sun will continuously charge the lume on your watch dials and hands, which means that you won’t have to take your watch off and place it outside or on a window sill to keep the lume charged. Many people who are outdoors a lot throughout the day don’t have to make a special effort to charge their watch lume because the sun does the job for them all day long.
- A standard flashlight. Shining a flashlight onto your watch is a great way to recharge the lume on the dials and hands. The brighter the flashlight, the faster the lume will recharge. And if you don’t feel like holding the flashlight on the watch as you’re wearing it, you can place the watch on a flat surface next to the flashlight and let the watch recharge without any effort on your part.
- A lamp. This is one of the easiest ways to charge your watch lume because all you have to do is place the watch underneath the lamp and leave it be for a while. The lamp can be either a UV or even an LED type, although most people find that the UV lights work best and work much faster than other types of light.
- Use a light on your smartphone. Smartphones usually have flashlights or some other type of light that you can shine on your watch lume to recharge it. While they are not always as strong as a regular flashlight or a lamp, they do the trick when you’re in a pinch. Any type of light that you can find on your smartphone should work when it comes to recharging your watch lume.
Regardless of the technique you use, it’s important to remember that you can use either artificial light or natural light to recharge your watch lume. If your watch comes with instructions that tell you how long to charge the lume, make sure that you go by that number. Charging the lume on your watch isn’t time-consuming, but you do have to complete the task correctly in order to get the results you want.
How Long Does It Take to Charge Lume on a Watch?
Charging lume involves exposing it to light for a certain length of time. This gives it back its glow-in-the-dark function so that it is easy to see once again. You can charge lume using various types of light, and the type of light will directly affect how long the lume must be charged.
As a general rule, watch lumes are charged in one of two ways. The first is natural light, which means the sunshine. If you use this type of light, your watch lume can be fully charged in about 10 to 15 minutes. The second way is to use some type of UV or LED lamp (artificial light), which will take about 30 minutes to do the job.
Many articles you read tell you to charge your watch lume for 60 seconds or less, but keeping your light source on the lume longer means that the glow-in-the-dark effect will last much longer in the end.
Can You Overcharge Watch Lume?
The answer to this question depends on where you look to get the information. Most experts agree that overcharging your watch lume is nothing to be concerned about because as it is being charged, it will essentially cease being “charged’ at some point. In other words, once the lume receives enough light to be fully charged and ready to go, the light source simply isn’t necessary any longer, meaning it won’t do any damage or harm.
Nevertheless, it is still a good idea to charge the lume only as needed and remove the light source after the process is complete.
How Many Hours Does Watch Lume Last?
Watch lume doesn’t exactly last all day long, but once it’s fully charged, most people get about two hours’ worth of brightness from it. Dials and numbers that are larger usually last a little longer, while smaller lumes may not last two full hours.
Nevertheless, one to two hours is usually long enough to accommodate most people, especially since most people aren’t exactly looking at their watch all night long when it’s dark outside. Moreover, more expensive watches, such as Rolex and Seiko, may have the ability to shine bright for much longer than one or two hours, but you’ll be paying a lot of money for this privilege.
How Do You Make Lume Last Longer?
Since recharging your lume means that the light source you’re using only charges the lume for a certain amount of time, and anything after that amount of time doesn’t give it any additional charge, it is difficult for lume to last any longer than one to two hours once you get it fully charged. That being said, some watch brands and some sizes of dials and numbers may last a little longer than two hours.
It all depends on the watch itself, the type of lume used, and the charging method, but you shouldn’t expect more than two hours of glow-in-the-dark effect once the lume is fully charged. If you do, you might be disappointed.
