One of the most impressive, yet under-the-radar features a watch can have is tritium lume. This has historically only been found in a few brands, like the elegant Ball Watches out of the US. Recently, however, Aliexpress brands have gotten their hands on tritium, and the ability to export it. Sadly, though, they haven’t quite struck gold with any of the designs they have incorporated it into. They are all either way too large or busy-dialed and poorly-executed. In walks the Yelang YT1010. This watch, strangely marketed as a women’s model, has classic field watch styling, and T100 tritium vials in the hands and markers. Is this the intersection of price, tritium, and understated styling that many of us have been waiting for?
Brand
Yelang is a very small Chinese micro-brand that is focused on its inclusion of tritium on a budget. It seems that a majority of their sales come from Aliexpress, and they aren’t really one of the more popular brands on the platform, which is perhaps due to tritium being somewhat of a small niche. While it is very impressive to be offering tritium sub-$200, like they are doing, most of their designs leave a lot to be desired, with many featuring crowded dials or strange color combinations. While I very much enjoyed this model, the brand’s reputation isn’t very high at the moment.
Value
I only need 1 word to describe this watch’s value proposition: tritium. For the $130 I paid for this bracelet version, that is unheard of. It’s as simple as that. The other specs could all be terrible, and it would still be a relatively good value due to the exotic material’s inclusion. Luckily, that isn’t the case- the rest of the watch is pretty well made, like sapphire and decent water resistance.
Case
The YT1010’s case is classic. It is finished with a simple brushed bezel, polished sides and lugs, and is stainless steel throughout. The lugs have a sort of angular-downturn to them which looks great, and makes everything look a bit sportier. One thing that pops out is the heavily-knurled crown at 2 O’clock. It is a bit too small, but it is a quartz watch, so you won’t have to use it often. Surprisingly, the crown is also a screw-down, as the water resistance is rated for 100m- a very pleasant surprise. Better yet, they were even able to fit a slab of flat sapphire in at this price.
Dial and Hands
The dial has a circular-brushed sunburst effect, and looks great when the light hits it. It has minimal words on the dial: the brand name and logo are applied, while printed is the movement’s origins, the water resistance and the tritium strength. The logo is too big for my taste- especially since I am not very fond of it. There is a lot going on: a shield, wings, a fox, the brand name printed again, and a star all collide. There is a minute track that’s well-printed, and a chapter ring with the minutes printed clearly. I wish that the font here matched the other text- it is just different enough from the other font to look a bit off.
The hands are simple white swords with tritium tubes running through the center of them, and a white needle seconds hand. The white hands here can be a bit hard to see in very bright conditions against the silver dial. Other colorways keep the white hands, but change the dial color, but It still would have been nice to see some more contrast. The hour markers are just bare tritium tubes. I think that this is a good look- it really draws the eyes to look at the vials, and doesn’t try to hide them as part of anything else. It’s a good look. There is a differently colored vial at the 12 O’clock, which can be seen even in the daylight.
Lume
Yelang YT1010 Lume Shot
In pitch darkness, tritium shines bright. The YT1010’s different colorways have different colored vials, all with a unique 12 O'clock color.
The luminous material applied to some watches, or ‘lume’, can vary widely in quality. Cheap watches tend to have luminous paint that doesn’t glow for very long after dark. Even luxury watches typically use luminous phosphorescent paint applications, which will fade before the sun rises again in the morning. There are only 2 ways to have lume that doesn’t fade: electronic backlighting, and applied tritium vials. Backlighting is self-explanatory (and cheap), but feels very out of place on mechanical timepieces, where you would have to include a battery solely for the lighting. Tritium, on the other hand, is fully passive, will glow continuously for decades, and seems a bit like magic without an understanding of the chemistry (and physics) powering it.
Yelang YT1010 vs. Casio Backlighting Lume Shot
While tritium will outlive all competition, it doesn’t glow quite as bright as some other methods’ peak brightness.
In short, tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which decays by giving off its electrons. So, if you trap it in a tube, and cover that tube in a material that luminously reacts with those decaying electrons, you get a vial that glows until the tritium inside is all decayed. A t100 vial is expected to glow for about 50 years after its manufacturing before becoming too dim to be useful. Before you ask: yes, it is completely and totally safe to have on your person. In short, it doesn’t get better than tritium.
Movement
For $130, there had to be a cut corner that made way for the tritium to sneak in, and that is the movement. It is a standard 1 Hz quartz movement, which isn’t great for the price. It’s obvious that this cut corner was how they accomplished the tritium’s inclusion. It does hit all the markers, however. There is a date complication at the 4:30 mark. I wish it wasn’t a circular window, but it’s very small, so I guess it doesn’t stick out too much. Yelang claims it is a Swiss Ronda movement, which I didn’t check, but I suppose could be a plus for some people.
Bracelet or Strap
There are available options with either a bracelet or a strap, but I’d really suggest the bracelet. For starters, it’s only a $10 premium, but more importantly, the strap is pretty ugly. The bracelet is attractive however, with polished center links, and brushed everywhere else, it is a bit dressy in an understated way. It has solid links that feel relatively good in-hand, and is comfortable. What I don’t like is the butterfly clasp. It is a bit finicky, and I think the whole product would have benefited from its exclusion.
Fit
This is a smaller watch, which is perhaps why the advertisements target women. It is not too small of a watch though. Unless you have a large wrist, this will work. With a diameter of 36mm, a lug-to-lug of only 42 mm, and a thickness of 9.5mm, this fits nicely into the current trend of smaller watches. On the bracelet, it fits my average, 7 inch wrist well.
Versatility
Tritium is an interesting material in that it is useful to everyone. Whether you are stranded in a jungle, or in a dark nightclub, tritium is an excellent feature to have. The YT1010 attempts to draw from this, exemplifying a GADA design (go anywhere, do anything). It is all stainless steel and has durable specs. It also has minimal text, and polished elements, so it can work in an office environment as well. I wouldn’t take it to your wedding though, it definitely has a sportier design language.
Originality
This watch isn’t obviously derived from anything else. At the same time, it isn’t really doing anything new. The nature of tritium vials means that the hands and hour markers are much thicker than a standard watch’s, so Yelang is constrained in what is possible. It’s sort of a standard-looking watch, but it is an original design.
Diameter: 36 mm
Lug-to-Lug: 42mm
Lug width: 18mm
Case Material: 316L Stainless Steel
Strap: Steel Butterfly Bracelet
Crystal Material: Sapphire
Movement: 1Hz Quartz with Date
Water Resistance: 100m
Lume: t100 Tritium
Crown: Screw-Down
Color Options: Silver, Pink, Rose Gold/ Black, Rose Gold/ White, Black, Gold
Brand: 1/10
Value: 8/10
Case: 3/10
Dial and Hands: 4/10
Lume: 10/10
Movement: 2/10
Bracelet or Strap: 6/10
Fit: 7/10
Versatility: 7/10
Originality: 5/10
WatchScore: 53/100
So what’s the verdict? This watch is a winner, but in part because its competition isn’t great. To get a tritium watch under $1000 is rare, so $130 is a bit absurd. Aliexpress has many tritium options, most more expensive and less attractive than this. Even with a design that needs some work, if you want tritium for cheap, the Yelang YT1010 is a great watch.
This model makes me excited to see the future of affordable tritium. I’m surprised Yelang was even able to sell the tritium tubes at this price, so I hope that they continue their trajectory and make other designs like this one, to fit everyone’s tastes.
: The Yelang V1010 Review){kind=link}
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