Resources: Lume, Nixie & Timekeeping Links

Other interesting resources

International Spy Museum: Steineck ABC wristwatch camera

A post-war German camera disguised as a wristwatch, taking eight shots on a tiny film disk while the wearer pretended to check the time. One of the museum's collection highlights in Washington, DC.

NAWCC National Watch and Clock Museum: the collection

The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors' museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, holds one of the largest horological collections in North America. Its collection page shows highlights from a marine chronometer to an atomic clock.

American Clock and Watch Museum: watch exhibit

In Bristol, Connecticut, at the heart of the old American clock industry. Its watch exhibit shows pocket watches, movements and the American makers behind them.

Deutsches Uhrenmuseum: permanent exhibition

The German Clock Museum in Furtwangen covers Black Forest clocks, watches and timekeeping from sundials to radio-controlled clocks. The museum is currently closed for renovation, but its exhibition pages show the collection.

Musée international d'horlogerie

The International Museum of Horology in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, a watchmaking town that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thousands of watches and clocks plus a restoration workshop.

Ancient and early timekeeping

Before lume and Nixie tubes, the first glowing clock was the sun itself. A sundial tells time with sunlight and shadow, and it is where the story of the watch begins. The sun still powers timekeeping today: daylight charges the glow-in-the-dark lume on a watch face so it shines at night, and solar watches run on light with no outside electric power.

NIST: A Walk Through Time, early clocks

The US time lab's short history of shadow clocks, sundials, water clocks, hourglasses and candle clocks. A good map before you dig into the objects below.

North American Sundial Society

Sundial science, a glossary and a registry of public sundials across North America you can visit.

British Sundial Society

A UK charity devoted to the history, science and making of sundials, with a guide to how sundials work and a register of more than 10,000 dials.

Athenian Agora Excavations: klepsydra (water clock)

A clay water clock from around 400 BC, used to time speeches in Athenian law courts. The excavation record includes full bibliography.

Royal Museums Greenwich: table klepsydra

A circa-1670 thirty-minute glass that measures time with flowing water instead of sand, on display at the Royal Observatory.

Science Museum Group: four-hour sand glass

A big ship's watch glass from 1600-1800, used to time the four-hour watches kept by sailors at sea.

Science Museum Group: Chinese incense clock

Powdered incense burned along a maze-shaped path told the time, and different scents could even mark the hours. A lovely example of timekeeping by smell.

Freer Gallery of Art: al-Jazari's candle clock

A 1315 folio from al-Jazari's Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, showing an automaton candle clock. Part of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.

Prague City Tourism: the Old Town astronomical clock

The Prague Orloj has shown the time on the Old Town Hall for more than six hundred years. The official city page tells the legend of the clockmaker Master Hanuš, with illustrations of the clock's dial.

UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy: Strasbourg Cathedral

The story of Strasbourg's three great astronomical clocks and the cathedral's many sundials, from UNESCO's astronomy heritage project.

National Museum of Natural Science (Taiwan): Su Song's water-powered clock tower

A true-to-scale working reconstruction of Su Song's 11th-century astronomical clock tower, with its armillary sphere, celestial globe and time-announcing figures.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens: the Antikythera Mechanism

The museum that holds the Mechanism tells the story of its discovery, with a gallery of the fragments and other finds from the shipwreck.

Scientific Reports: a model of the cosmos in the Antikythera Mechanism

The open-access 2021 paper from the UCL Antikythera Research Team reconstructing the Mechanism's front display of the Sun, Moon and planets.

More timekeeping history

From Harrison's sea clocks to quartz and atomic time, these pages explain how clocks and watches actually keep time.

Mechanical Watch (interactive explainer)

Bartosz Ciechanowski's interactive 3D walk-through of a mechanical watch: mainspring, gear train, escapement and balance wheel.

NIST: A Walk Through Time, A Revolution in Timekeeping

NIST's illustrated history of mechanical clocks, pendulums and balance springs, from the verge escapement to Huygens.

NIST: A Walk Through Time, the Atomic Age of Time Standards

How quartz and then cesium atomic clocks replaced astronomical time standards, with photos of early NIST clocks.

NIST: Radio Station WWVB

The Colorado time-signal station that sets 'atomic' radio-controlled clocks and watches across North America.

Royal Museums Greenwich: Longitude found, the story of Harrison's timekeepers

How John Harrison's H1 to H4 marine timekeepers solved the longitude problem, with photos of each clock.

Royal Museums Greenwich: H4

Collection record for Harrison's H4, the watch-sized marine timekeeper that won the longitude prize, with images.

The Met: European Clocks in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Heilbrunn Timeline essay on pendulum and spring-driven clocks, illustrated with objects from the Met's collection.

Britannica: Escapement

Clear encyclopedia explainer of the escapement types (verge, anchor, deadbeat, lever) that let clocks tick.

NASA JPL: Deep Space Atomic Clock

NASA's mercury-ion atomic clock mission, which tested onboard timekeeping for spacecraft navigation.

Long Now: The 10,000-Year Clock

The Long Now Foundation's project to build a mechanical clock meant to run for ten thousand years, with photos and design notes.

Explain that Stuff: How quartz watches and clocks work

Plain-English explainer of the vibrating quartz crystal inside quartz watches and clocks, with diagrams.

timeanddate: The Gregorian Calendar

Why the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian one in 1582, and how leap-year rules keep it in step with the seasons.

Nixie tubes and clocks

Nixie tube site (tube-tester.com)

A deep collector reference for Nixie and other indicator tubes, from the first Burroughs NIXIE tubes of 1955 to later European and IN-series types. Tube-by-tube photos, data and history.

Nixie tube data pages (tube-tester.com)

Tube-by-tube data pages with photos, pinouts and operating voltages, starting here with the popular IN-14. The first stop when you need to wire up a tube.

Industrial Alchemy: Nixie and gas discharge displays

An online technology museum's gallery of Nixie, Pixie, Panaplex and other neon displays, with photos and notes on construction and history.

r/nixie

A friendly Reddit community for Nixie builds, repairs and tube identification. Good for photos of finished clocks and quick troubleshooting help.

Ronald Dekker's electronic project site (dos4ever)

Fully documented Nixie, Numitron, Dekatron and E1T clock projects, plus a much-loved beginner's guide to high-voltage flyback supplies. Also in-depth histories of unusual Philips tubes.

Other glowing displays

Industrial Alchemy: vacuum fluorescent displays

How VFD tubes work and how they differ from Nixies, with notes on early GE and Tung-Sol digits and later end-view tubes. The blue-green glow behind many retro clocks.

Noritake: a guide to fundamental VFD operation

A long-time VFD maker explains filaments, grids, phosphor anodes and multiplexing in engineering detail. Useful if you want to understand or drive VFD tubes yourself.

Industrial Alchemy: Dekatron glow transfer counting tubes

Dekatrons count by moving a glowing dot around a ring of cathodes. This page explains how they work, why fill gas changes the color, and which tubes collectors prize.

Industrial Alchemy: filament displays (Numitron)

Numitrons light a seven-segment digit with tiny incandescent filaments at about five volts. A clear history of this warm, low-voltage alternative to the Nixie tube.

Deep cuts

Computer History Museum: Burroughs B-5440 NIXIE tube

An early Burroughs NIXIE tube with its box, in the Computer History Museum's collection, a reminder that these glowing digits began as serious computing hardware.

Lume and luminous dials

RC Tritec: Swiss Super-LumiNova grades

The Swiss maker of Super-LumiNova explains its Standard, A, X1 and X2 grades and the grain sizes used for dials, hands and printed markers. A clear primer on why some lume looks brighter and lasts longer than others.

trigalight: how tritium gas tubes are made

mb-microtec walks through making GTLS tubes step by step, from drawing glass capillaries to laser sealing, with a color brightness chart and a plain-language dose comparison. The best short explainer on the tubes inside modern tritium watches.

Non-toxic glow paints and pigments

RC Tritec: Swiss Super-LumiNova

The Super-LumiNova maker's main page, covering its strontium aluminate pigments, emission colors and Lumicast luminous ceramic parts. ("Old Radium" in its catalog is a vintage-style color of non-radioactive pigment.)

Radium history and safety

ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity: radioluminescent items

Oak Ridge Associated Universities' health physics museum traces radium paint from its 1902 invention to its use on watches, clocks and instruments. A calm, well-sourced history with object pages from the collection.

ORAU: radium dial watch

A single 1927 radium dial watch from the ORAU collection, with dose estimates from NCRP Report No. 95 and a short history of the dial painters.

US EPA: radioactivity in antiques

The EPA's plain guide to radium dial clocks and watches and other radioactive antiques, and what to do if you own one. Start here if you own an old luminous piece.

NIST: New Jersey's Radium Girls and the scientist who came to their aid

How physicist Elizabeth Hughes used an electroscope to measure radium in the breath of dial painters suing their employer. A gripping piece of measurement history from NIST.

Smithsonian: radium and the gift from the women of America

The National Museum of American History on Marie Curie's 1921 US visit, the luminous hourglasses made for the occasion, and how the dial painters' suffering helped set radium exposure limits.

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Patents behind the glow

The original patent filings behind Nixie tubes, modern non-radioactive lume and electronic watches. The radium patents are listed as history only; radium is dangerous and ChronoLume does not sell it.

US2874320A: Indicating device (Burroughs Corp.)

Herbert J. Hampel's Burroughs patent, filed 13 Dec 1955, for the stacked-cathode glow indicator: Burroughs (US, 1955) is the origin of the Nixie tube.

US2898500A: Indicator tube of the glow lamp type (Burroughs Corp.)

Leo R. Landrey's Burroughs patent, filed 29 Aug 1955, describing the neon glow indicator tube behind the first Nixies.

US2906906A: Indicator tubes (Burroughs Corp.)

A 1958 Burroughs follow-on patent for indicator tubes with interleaved cathode sets and mesh anodes.

US2991387A: Indicator tube (Burroughs Corp.)

Another 1958 Burroughs indicator-tube patent from the company's Nixie development line.

US2142106A: Signaling system and glow lamps therefor (H. P. Boswau)

Hans P. Boswau's 1934 filing for a numeral glow lamp, which collectors cite as an early forerunner of the Nixie tube.

US1364951A: Radium luminous article and method of producing same (E. O'Hara)

History: a 1919 filing (granted 1921) for glazing radium luminous compound onto articles. It shows how radium glow was patented before its dangers were understood.

US2028241A: Method of making self-luminous element (United States Radium Corp.)

History: a 1934 United States Radium Corporation patent for sealing luminous material in glass for dials and pointers. Historical record only.

US5424006A: Phosphorescent phosphor (Nemoto & Co.)

Nemoto's 1993-priority patent for europium-activated strontium aluminate: the non-radioactive long-afterglow pigment known as LumiNova.

US5686022A: Phosphorescent phosphor (Nemoto & Co.)

Nemoto's follow-on strontium aluminate phosphor patent (filed 1995) that widens the activator and co-activator ranges.

US7427365B2: Phosphorescent phosphor and method of manufacturing thereof (Nemoto & Co.)

A later Nemoto patent that tunes the europium, dysprosium and aluminium ratios for brighter early afterglow.

US2971323A: Electronically-controlled timepiece (Bulova Watch Co.)

Max Hetzel's 1957 tuning-fork timepiece patent, the basis of the Bulova Accutron that hummed instead of ticking.

US3672155A: Solid state watch (Hamilton Watch Co.)

Hamilton's 1970 patent for the all-electronic Pulsar watch with its glowing red LED time display.

US1283432A: Self-starting synchronous motor (Warren Clock Co.)

Henry E. Warren's 1916 motor patent that made mains-synchronized electric clocks (Telechron) practical.

US1788533A: Frequency-control system (Bell Telephone Laboratories)

Warren A. Marrison's 1927 crystal frequency-control patent, filed the year he built the first quartz clock at Bell Labs.

Glow science and pigments

How glow-in-the-dark materials work, plus guides for adding glow powder to your own projects. Some links in this section are affiliate links, so ChronoLume may earn a small commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure.

Strontium aluminate (Wikipedia)

Overview of the europium/dysprosium-doped phosphor behind most modern long-afterglow lume and glow powders.

Zinc sulfide (Wikipedia)

Covers copper-doped zinc sulfide, the older glow pigment that strontium aluminate largely replaced.

Phosphorescence (Wikipedia)

Plain explanation of why phosphorescent materials keep glowing after the light source is removed.

Jablonski diagram (Chemistry LibreTexts)

University-level open textbook page showing the energy-state steps behind fluorescence and phosphorescence.

Strontium aluminate podcast (Chemistry World)

Royal Society of Chemistry podcast episode on how strontium aluminate was developed and where it is used.

Secrets of a prominent luminous material uncovered (Phys.org)

2023 news report on research into why strontium aluminate glows so long, about 30 years after its introduction.

How Does Glow-in-the-Dark Stuff Work? (Mental Floss)

Short, general-audience explainer on phosphors and why glow items need charging with light.

How does glow-in-the-dark stuff work? (HowStuffWorks)

Classic explainer on phosphors, zinc sulfide vs. strontium aluminate, and why glow fades.

Art 'N Glow guides

Glow powder maker's how-to guides for mixing pigment into resin, paint and other media.

Make any project glow (Art 'N Glow blog)

Step-by-step article on choosing a binder and ratio to add glow powder to craft projects.

Glow-in-the-dark resin and epoxy (Techno Glow)

US glow-pigment maker's page on glow resin and epoxy products, with mixing notes (different page from the Techno Glow powder link already on the site).

Fun glow shops

Glow-in-the-dark novelties, ceiling stars, clocks and jewelry. Search results change over time. Some links in this section are affiliate links, so ChronoLume may earn a small commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure.

Amazon search: glow in the dark poop

Amazon results for glow-in-the-dark poop novelties: mini resin poop figures, prank toys and party favors.

Leyndo 30 Pcs Glow in Dark Poop Figures (Amazon)

A 30-piece pack of small glow-in-the-dark poop figures sold as prank toys and party favors.

Glow in the Dark Poop gag gift (Etsy listing)

Etsy seller's glow poop figure sold as a gag gift, stocking stuffer and night-light novelty; seen live in Etsy's glow-poop results on 2026-09-26.

Glow in the Dark Mini Poo Figurine (Etsy listing)

Tiny resin glow poop 'desk pet' figurine for desks and plant pots; seen live in Etsy's glow-poop results on 2026-09-26.

eBay search: glow in the dark poop

eBay listings for glow-in-the-dark poop toys and figures.

Amazon search: glow in the dark stars

Amazon results for glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars, moons and star-sticker packs.

Glow in The Dark Stars with star map, 200 stars (Amazon)

A 200-star ceiling kit that comes with mounting putty and a star map for arranging real constellations.

Glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars (Etsy listing)

Small Etsy shop's glow ceiling stars, sold on their claimed long glow time; seen live in Etsy results on 2026-09-26.

Amazon search: glow in the dark wall clock

Amazon results for glow-in-the-dark and luminous-dial wall clocks (about 300 results).

JoFomp 12 Inch Glow in The Dark Wall Clock (Amazon)

A 12-inch silent (non-ticking) battery wall clock with a glow-in-the-dark dial.

Amazon search: glow in the dark watch

Amazon results for new watches with luminous hands and dials, analog and digital.

Etsy: Glow in the Dark Jewelry

Etsy makers' glow necklaces, earrings and rings, including resin and glow-glass pieces.

An amazing world of things that Glow and Grow

Nature makes its own light, from glowing plankton and mushrooms to fireflies. After the science come grow-in-water toys, glowing plants and crystal kits. Some links in this section are affiliate links, so ChronoLume may earn a small commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure.