# Which Ball models are T100?



## DHL (Oct 31, 2008)

Besides the Aviator, which Ball models are T100 rated? 

Doesn't this rating (which is the maximum amount of radiation in millicuries the dial and hands can emit) indicate how much light is generated by the tubes? So, aren't T100 versions brighter than the T25 versions?

Seems that's the theory, but it seems that models like the NT might be brighter even though they are T25, judging by photos. Can anyone who owns both an Aviator and a NT comment?


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## scottw44 (Aug 16, 2006)

The NT's r rumoured to be about T65. The T100 designation has been removed and all future higher millicure watches will say T only. For sure I have seen T100 on the Aviator, including my GMT. After my company leaves I will try to see what else has the T100 dials.


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## josephc78 (Aug 24, 2007)

I had just bought a NT here in Singapore 2 months ago and the dial states T100 on it. The watch is a new stock from the Ball Distributor here (it is the all green lume version) hence perhaps the T100 designation is still appearing on Ball watches in different market? 

I will post a picture of my watch shortly.


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## scottw44 (Aug 16, 2006)

thanx Joseph. Keep 'em coming guyz. Lets try to put together a list.


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## Nihcch (Jul 23, 2009)

josephc78 said:


> I had just bought a NT here in Singapore 2 months ago and the dial states T100 on it. The watch is a new stock from the Ball Distributor here (it is the all green lume version) hence perhaps the T100 designation is still appearing on Ball watches in different market?
> 
> I will post a picture of my watch shortly.


I just bought this Ball Fireman Ionospher watch yesterday here in Malaysia, the dial states T25, what it mean? also what is T100:-s


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## roberev (Mar 15, 2006)

Don't forget the T100 Trieste!

Rob


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## sukispop (Nov 13, 2006)

Hi Nihcch,

"T25" indicates that the watch dial on your Ionosphere has up to(but not more than) 25 millicuries of tritium contained on it. To my understanding, the "T100" indicates that the watch dial has more than 25mCi, and up to(but not more than) 100 millicuries of tritium contained on it. Having the "T100" designation doesn't necessarily mean that the watch has 100 millicuries.

If I recall correctly, the Night Train was Ball's first model to actually have a full 100mCi on the dial. If I'm mistaken, please correct me...anyone?

I have an EMII Classic, which has the lone "T" on the dial. Marc Ofte, Ball's National Sales Mgr, once told me that he believed the EMII Classic had ~65mCi. This would seem to be correct, as my EMII Classic isn't quite as bright as the Night Train I used to own...but it's markedly brighter than my T25 rated Mad Cow.



Nihcch said:


> I just bought this Ball Fireman Ionospher watch yesterday here in Malaysia, the dial states T25, what it mean? also what is T100:-s


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## sukispop (Nov 13, 2006)

Okay, this is NOT a good night shot(sorry, guys!), and I used my uv flashlight to juice the tritium for better viewing...but here's an old shot that I once took of my EMII Classic, Night Train, and Fireman, to illustrate the relative brightness differences between the 65mCi, 100mCi, and 25mCi dials:









It's a poor shot with uv-enhanced help...but it does a pretty good job of illustrating the relative differences in brightness. ;-)


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## Nihcch (Jul 23, 2009)

sukispop said:


> Hi Nihcch,
> 
> "T25" indicates that the watch dial on your Ionosphere has up to(but not more than) 25 millicuries of tritium contained on it. To my understanding, the "T100" indicates that the watch dial has more than 25mCi, and up to(but not more than) 100 millicuries of tritium contained on it. Having the "T100" designation doesn't necessarily mean that the watch has 100 millicuries.
> 
> ...


Hi Sukispop,

Thanks a lot for your details information, now I get to know more about Ball watch since this Ionosphere was my first Ball watch,.:-!:thanks


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## sukispop (Nov 13, 2006)

Hi Nihcch,

You're welcome! And welcome to the forum, and congratulations on getting your Ionosphere! It's a beauty, and a great first Ball watch to acquire! :-!



Nihcch said:


> Hi Sukispop,
> 
> Thanks a lot for your details information, now I get to know more about Ball watch since this Ionosphere was my first Ball watch,.:-!:thanks


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## waterbrook (Jan 19, 2008)

The COSC diver is T rated. I think it's the only diver with the higher rating.

Mitch


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## scottw44 (Aug 16, 2006)

Hi Nihcch:

Welcome and congrats on a great watch.

Good call Rob on the Trieste.


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## putnam dan (Sep 24, 2009)

as the tritium ignites the lume and doesn't glow in itself, using a blacklight just shows which watch has more lume surface and not which will glow brighter under self illumination 

Nice shot though


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## DHL (Oct 31, 2008)

josephc78 said:


> I had just bought a NT here in Singapore 2 months ago and the dial states T100 on it. The watch is a new stock from the Ball Distributor here (it is the all green lume version) hence perhaps the T100 designation is still appearing on Ball watches in different market?
> 
> I will post a picture of my watch shortly.


That's interesting. I was told by an AD here in the US that only US imported watches have the T100 tubes. Guess you can't believe evrything these guys tell you.


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## DHL (Oct 31, 2008)

BTW, read the post that contains the interview with Jeff Hess. I quoted his response about T25 vs T100:

*"As to our strongest tritium watches, those just say "T" on the dial. The designation T is better explained as meaning "self-luminous". While It does not designate a limit, the licensing limit for BALL is "less than 100mCi". Our most luminescent watches that use between 100 & 90mCi include the Fireman Night Train, Engineer Master II Aviator, Engineer Master II Aviator Dual Time, Engineer Master II Classic & Engineer Master II Moonglow."*


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## jhess (Sep 3, 2007)

DHL,

As to your comments "I was told by an AD here in the US that only US imported watches have the T100 tubes. Guess you can't believe evrything these guys tell you.", let me explain the mixup.

The normally accepted "limit" for millicure rate was 25 in the USA. Hence the millions of watches you have seen with the T25 designation. In fact, when we inadvertently imported a few "T" watches a few years ago, the NRC charged us with serious infractions noting the 25 MC limit.

Dan Hall one of my senior VP's thought they were wrong and was able to prove to them that they had been misinterpreting their laws and quickly applied for a a licence for 100 MC watches. ("up to" that is). It was approved. Therefore we are (and still are as far as I know) the only brand that had a license to import up to 100 MC watches. Eveidently, the AD mixed up this info and misconstrued it a bit. Sorry about that!

Jeff


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## HoustonBallDealer (Feb 27, 2008)

Wow, must have been a misspeak of the lume. As Mr. Hess (you can see we are both early risers) explained, not all Ball Watch models have 100 MC. The second hand on my EM II diver is quite visible at 5 AM.

Ya'll get some Balls.


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## scottw44 (Aug 16, 2006)

Thanx Jeff for a great explanation.



jhess said:


> DHL,
> 
> As to your comments "I was told by an AD here in the US that only US imported watches have the T100 tubes. Guess you can't believe evrything these guys tell you.", let me explain the mixup.
> 
> ...


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## DHL (Oct 31, 2008)

jhess said:


> DHL,
> 
> As to your comments "I was told by an AD here in the US that only US imported watches have the T100 tubes. Guess you can't believe evrything these guys tell you.", let me explain the mixup.
> 
> ...


Jeff:
Thanks for clearing that up. I think the 25 millicurie limit was the US Govt Mil specification (MIL-W-46374F) in 1991to Marathon for the military watches designed for soldiers in the first Gulf War. See:

http://home.earthlink.net/~exresearch/InfoPages/W46374F.html

The limit was determined as a maximum that would not trip radiation detectors on US military bases. The tritium lume came about because the older style radium lume watches were tripping these detectors on some bases. Here we are many years later with the NRC trying to enforce a Mil spec that probably should not be applied to a civilian product.

D'Arcy


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## josephc78 (Aug 24, 2007)

josephc78 said:


> I had just bought a NT here in Singapore 2 months ago and the dial states T100 on it. The watch is a new stock from the Ball Distributor here (it is the all green lume version) hence perhaps the T100 designation is still appearing on Ball watches in different market?
> 
> I will post a picture of my watch shortly.


As promised, here is a picture of my new Fireman NT with T100 stated on the dial between the 7 and 8 o'clock markers.

I


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## josephc78 (Aug 24, 2007)

josephc78 said:


> I had just bought a NT here in Singapore 2 months ago and the dial states T100 on it. The watch is a new stock from the Ball Distributor here (it is the all green lume version) hence perhaps the T100 designation is still appearing on Ball watches in different market?
> 
> I will post a picture of my watch shortly.


As promised, here is a picture of my new Fireman NT with T100 stated on the dial between the 7 and 8 o'clock markers.

As this is the only Ball watch I had owned so far, I am unable to tell if this version is brighter than the NT without the T100 stated on the dial but night-time visibility on this watch has been nothing short of excellent for me so far in the 2 months I had it.


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## morrison2951 (Apr 14, 2008)

josephc78 said:


> As promised, here is a picture of my new Fireman NT with T100 stated on the dial between the 7 and 8 o'clock markers.
> 
> I


Hmmm, very interesting. I have noticed that my NT GEN I UTC dial actually has 2 "T" markings on it- one before the "Swiss Made" at the bottom of the dial and then one after it- Is this the same for everyone else??


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## avr6130 (Jul 19, 2009)

DHL said:


> Besides the Aviator, which Ball models are T100 rated?


Hello DHL,

I'm kinda' new here but I thought I'd chime in and add the new (and not yet officially released as of today) Engineer Hydrocarbon *Space Master Glow*. (There are at least two separate threads on the new Space Master version(s) if you are interested in more details.) The dial on the Glow has only a "T", but it is said to have 80 millicures, and to be available for sale in the US in mid to late November '09.

Regards,
Tony


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## asmbricre (Oct 26, 2009)

Wow, very lovely picture. I will use this cards as my backgroung in my blog.


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## Timewaster (Nov 24, 2007)

jhess said:


> Dan Hall one of my senior VP's thought they were wrong and was able to prove to them that they had been misinterpreting their laws and quickly applied for a a licence for 100 MC watches. ("up to" that is). It was approved. Therefore we are (and still are as far as I know) the only brand that had a license to import up to 100 MC watches. Eveidently, the AD mixed up this info and misconstrued it a bit. Sorry about that!
> 
> Jeff


Jeff, as the only license holder for "T" lume pieces, do you happen to know the reason why the US is so strict about keeping the amount of mCi under 100? Considering the reports about how safe it is with these small amounts of tritium (e.g., a thousand tubes breaking is still less dangerous than a day in the sun, and can be countered by drinking a single can of beer, etc.), I have always wondered why they are so strict about such a low limit of mCi, from a public health standpoint, a public safety standpoint, or even a national security standpoint. Any discussion of this in the course taken to become licensed?

Regards,
-Jeff

PS, sorry if this derails the OP's thread a little bit.


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## myrr (Oct 1, 2009)

I thought it was a military thing, to keep troops from setting off detectors with their timepieces...



Timewaster said:


> Jeff, as the only license holder for "T" lume pieces, do you happen to know the reason why the US is so strict about keeping the amount of mCi under 100? Considering the reports about how safe it is with these small amounts of tritium (e.g., a thousand tubes breaking is still less dangerous than a day in the sun, and can be countered by drinking a single can of beer, etc.), I have always wondered why they are so strict about such a low limit of mCi, from a public health standpoint, a public safety standpoint, or even a national security standpoint. Any discussion of this in the course taken to become licensed?
> 
> Regards,
> -Jeff
> ...


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