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The Swiss firm mb-microtec developed the technology to produce light sources so small, they can be installed on the hands and dial of your wristwatch.
These light sources, also known as trasers 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 40 people and is located in Niederwangen just outside Bern, Switzerland. It became an independent company in 1968 when it was split of from its sister company.
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 technology
Decades of research in the field of radio luminescence preceded the development and commercial use of trasers in watches. trasers are tiny glass vials, hermetically sealed, coated on the inside with phosphorescent material and filled with minute amounts of tritium gas. Electrons emitted from the gas excite the phosphor to give of a permanent cold light.
Depending on the type of phosphorescent material used, trasers 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 also an option 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 trasers requires precision technology. Individual trasers are laser cut and sealed airtight, so no gas ever escapes. After continuously improving the production process mb-microtec today manufactures trasers which only measure 0.5 mm in diameter and as little as 1.2 mm in length.
Unmatched in either size (small) or quality (brightness) mb-microtecs traser light sources are state of the art and without equal in the marketplace.