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Robert, consider that a new US Army M2 compass (of reasonable quality with
Tritium dots, not a single capsule) can be bought for less than $70 now.
Assuming you had a watch maker (or a compasswright?) go to repair your
compass, they would charge you as much or more for the hour of their labor
here. Substantially less in Khyber and other places, but I expect something
similar in your own home.

Then there's the matter of the tritium in the used capsules, classes as an
ecohazard and toxic waste--so you can bet you'd pay a disposal fee. Plus the
cost of new capsules.

I'd suggest that what you want is indeed still possible, simply "not
economically feasible" at the local level the way you'd like it. Replacement
capsules do exist, they are used in several brands of watches. You could
obtain a replacement dial from those firms, or capsules from their
suppliers, but I'm sure you'd wind up paying more than the replacement cost
of the compass.

Yes, times are changing. Overall, thousands of ships are not being lost at
sea or wrecked on the rocks every year compared to what once were. So this
may not be a bad thing after all. After all, tritium capsules are hardly
"traditional" in any sense of the word, they just shouldn't be used for Real
Celestial Navigation, now surely?

   

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