TRASER H3 Trigalight watches, available here @ yellowatch from 1. May 2009.


mb-microtec ag, maker of the TRASER H3 watches

Market leader with a unique technology
The Swiss firm mb-microtec developed the technology to produce GTLS ( gaseous tritium light sources ) so small, they can be installed on the hands and dial of your wristwatch.

These light sources, marketed as «trigalight» or «mb-microtec illumination» are independent of a battery or any other source of outside energy, never need recharging or servicing and do not require the push of a button. They glow permanently and a 100 times brighter than anything comparable, for up to twenty years.

mb-microtec employs around 50 people and is located in Niederwangen just outside Bern in Switzerland. Self luminating light Sources for EXIT signs in hotel corridors or on airplanes to lead people to safety in an emergency with power failure, were some of the early and more traditional applications of this technology.

The TRASER technology
Decades of research in the field of radio luminescence preceded the development and commercial use of mb-microtec «trigalight» in watches. «trigalight» are tiny glass vials, coated on the inside with a phosphorescent material and subsequently filled with a minute amounts of tritium gas. Electrons emitted from the gas excite the material to give of a permanent cold Light.

Depending on the type of phosphorescent material used, «trigalight» can be made to give off light in different colours. Green is the preferred colour because the human eye perceives it to be the brightest. Orange is also available and only slightly less bright. Blue is an option as well but primarily used in watches for divers because under water, blue remains visible at up to 60m / 187 feet in depth, longer or deeper than any other colour.

The serial production of «trigalight» requires precision technology. With a high tech laser, specifically developed for this purpose by mb-microtec, individual light sources are cut and sealed airtight so no gas ever escapes. After continuously improving the production process mb-microtec today manufactures «trigalight» which only measure 0.5mm in diameter and as little as 1.2 mm in length. Unmatched in either size (small) or quality (brightness and longevity) mb-microtecs «trigalight» are state of the art and without equal in the marketplace.


The science behind it

mb-microtec illumination technology
Mention radioactivity and the image of men in orange radiation protection suits holding geiger counters may come to mind. However, many industries are making good use of radioactive isotopes and in the process, are saving lives in the medical arena and/or manufacturing products containing the mb-microtec GTLS (gaseous tritium light source)- illumination technology powered by the decay of tritium.

What is Tritium?
Tritium is a heavy form (isotope) of hydrogen and for this reason behaves chemically exactly like it. Pure tritium therefore, forms a gas T2 (like hydrogen forms H2).However, tritium is not stable but decays to the inert gas helium with a half-life of 12.3 years. This means that after this time half of any amount of tritium will have become helium. This transformation process is called a pure beta-decay. In this process no gamma radiation occurs and only a low energy electron is emitted.

What are the risks of using Tritium in a GTLS?
None. The low energy electrons of tritium cannot escape the glass body of a mb-microtec trigalight (tradename).
Only the rupture of such a light source would free the tritium gas and it would quickly disburse. A typical traser® H3 watch contains anywhere from 15 to 20 mb-microtec trigalight for a total of no more than 25 millicuries. On a yearly bases, the wearer of such a watch must figure on an additional exposure of 0.1 micro sievert, which is about equal to the increase the human body would absorb due to cosmic or random radiation, by living an additional 12 inches above sea level. This 0.1 microsievert is also about 30’000 less than the average yearly exposure due to that same background radiation. Now, lets assume that in a closed, unventilated room all the GTLS of 40 such watches (also 1000 millicuries or 600 to 800 GTLS) would simultaneously burst open and release their tritium gas, the resulting exposure to a person in that room would still be only about 50% of the yearly, random background exposure that every living creature on earth is exposed to. This example, as unlikely as it may seem, serves well to illustrate the scientific facts about this technology and further demonstrates the safe nature of this product.

Comparing mb-microtec illumination (trigalight) and SuperLumiNova
If the luminous markings on a watch are reasonably sized and arranged, the readability in the dark is primarily determined by their total light emitted. In order to assess the relative merits, the light intensity of two dials with identical markings by mb-microtec trigalight ( traser® H3-watch ) on one and SuperLumiNova on the other, were measured and compared.

The radio luminescent trigalight of the traser® watch remains constant, while the purely phosphorescent light of the SuperLumiNova may initially be brighter but diminishes within minutes and becomes progressively less luminous.

The conclusions are plain: LumiNova provides limited night reading capability whereas traser® H3's permanent and constant illumination provides safe, unfailing and unlimited night time readability.

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TRASER H3 WATCHES, SWISS MADE.