The Beauty of Warmth: Two New Triumph Dials
Today, we’re excited to unveil two new Triumph dials, Blue and Silver sunburst, both with warm “Old Radium” lume on the hands and indices. Unlike the 10th-anniversary Neuchatel X collection, these two Triumphs join the permanent collection and are not limited.
A Brief History of Lume in Watches
Soon after Marie Curie discovered radium in 1898, watch companies began mixing it into paint and applying it to hands and hour markers, allowing people to read watches in the dark. The highly radioactive material stayed in use until the early 1960s, decades after its health risks first came to light. At that point, most brands switched to tritium, a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen mixed into paint. Tritium was the standard from the ’60s to the late ’90s. Over those decades, the radiation from both radium and tritium breaks down the phosphor and the binder holding it, and the paint yellows.
That process produces the warm cream tone found on so many vintage tool watches. The exact shade varies from watch to watch depending on the original paint, the dial, and how the watch was stored and worn.
Modern lume, with Super-LumiNova as the standard, works differently. It is non-radioactive, charges from light, and holds its color for decades. A watch made today with white Super-LumiNova will look much the same in thirty years, so its hue has to be chosen at the start.
“Old Radium” Lume Brings That Warmth to the Triumph
The new dials use Super-LumiNova in a pigment called “Old Radium.” The name nods to the radium era that came before tritium, but the tone we were after is the cream of a well-aged tritium dial. In daylight it reads as a soft cream. In the dark it charges and glows like any modern Super-LumiNova.
We applied the same Old Radium lume to the hands and the indices, so the color matches across the whole dial. On a vintage piece, hands and markers sometimes age to slightly different shades.
Warm lume is a color choice, and everyone has their own opinion on it. Collectors who prefer crisp white still have the black-dial Triumph with white lume.
Blue and Silver Return to the Triumph Lineup
Blue and silver were both part of the Triumph lineup when it launched in 2017. That first Triumph is the watch that, as Justin wrote in Destiny: How the Triumph Changed the Course of MONTA, carried us through our hardest early year.
The new versions use a sunburst finish, brushed in fine lines radiating from the center so the dial brightens and darkens as it catches light. On the Blue, the cream lume stands out clearly against the darker center. On the Silver, the contrast is lower, and the cream reads as a quieter accent against the brushed surface.
Both Dials Are Built on the Triumph V2
The case is the updated Triumph we introduced last year. It is 316L stainless steel, 40mm across, 10.5mm thick, and 47.8mm lug to lug, with crown guards protecting the screw-down crown. The case sides and bezel are polished, and our design team drew the applied 3 and 9 numerals by hand.
Inside is the MONTA Caliber M-22, based on the Swiss Sellita SW300, with a 56-hour power reserve. That means a fully wound watch keeps running for more than two full days off the wrist. The steel bracelet tapers from 20mm to 16.5mm and closes with a quick-adjust clasp offering three micro-adjustment positions.
Both Dials Join the Permanent Collection
The Blue and Silver Triumph are permanent additions to the lineup, priced at $1,850 on the steel bracelet. Both are available now for immediate delivery from the Triumph collection.