We all know that the lume in vintage watches is radioactive. It bombards us with beta and gamma radiation all day long (in generally low, meaningless doses). As long as the crystal is on, it shields us from the alpha radiation. Turns out the US government did a very in depth study about the amount of radiation exposure that one would encounter by either: wearing a radium watch, working/repairing one, sleeping next to a luminous alarm clock, serving your family dinner on vintage Fiestaware pottery, etc. (NB: The study was released in 2007. I'm just now finding it. Infer what you will). It's tedious reading... until you get to the part where they calculate average radiation exposure for both an amateur watch fiddler vs. a professional watchmaker. http://www.orau.org/ptp/PTP Library/library/Subject/Consumer Products/timepiece dose.pdf
In other news: If you're the owner of a large, vintage alarm clock or the like, North Korea is paying top prices on eBay. Who knew Kim Jong-what's-his-face was such a collector.
OK, so it's time to flip some of my collection of NOS, vintage hands and any watch that pre-dates tritium gets sent away for servicing.
It did make me stop and think about where I store my collection of NOS dials and hands. I'd never even considered that I was getting gassed (with Radon) by hanging out in the same room. Oh well.
How long have you been storing these parts, how often are you exposed to them, and how do you feel? Your experience could serve as a true field experiment!
3-4 years. Exposure for multiple hours a day. I feel great. I did buy a cheap Geiger counter that is incoming. Not out of health concern, so much as a tool to vet/verify vintage watches and parts. Maybe I'll hold my breath when I take off crystals now, so I don't suck up the radon
PM me when you're ready to flip your priceless parts and move your 'scary' watches. I think the take away message is what has been discussed previously in other threads: be cautious. Don't inhale lume dust if you're fiddling. Be thoughtful about how you're going to 'decontaminate' your work space when you're done fiddling, particularly since most of us don't have dedicated watchmaker benches and may eat/work off of our benches. And, the biggie: don't lick your watches... no matter how much you like them. The interesting part (to me) was simply seeing a rigorous scientific study that quantified exposure levels as most of what's discussed is purely anecdotal. A geiger counter won't detect Radon gas, nor will it detect Tritium. But if I end up with any interesting findings, I'll report back.
The study assumes that watch repairers, both amateur and professional, will be "sanding/scraping" radium off the dials. Although lume may crumble and fall off, I think that assumption misses the mark personally. I personally will not remove lume from a radium watch - dial or hands - if someone wants that done, they can find another watchmaker. When you get your Geiger counter, please post with a review of it because I do want to get one at some point. Cheers, Al
Well, I sorted through my collection and out of about 400 pairs of hands, 60 are radium. I just need to make up a lead box in which to keep them.
I think as long as you aren't painting your teeth and nails with radium or injecting it like they did when radium was very new to the world...you should be okay. Although the first Panerai's are often store in a safe location for worried collectors.
I figure with those early ones if you wear them on your wrist long enough you might eventually be able to shoot out spider webs like Peter Parker
I remember seeing something on tv about women dial painters from the twenties I think. After several years of painting dials and habitually licking the brushes bristles rotted out the tip of their tongue. By the time this was apparent they were riddled with cancer. If I remember correctly the manufacturers knew about the dangers but kept schtum.
I used to wear a WW2 LeCoultre navigators pocket watch, one of the GSTP pieces..... big radium numbers, skeleton hands packed with the stuff..... then my right nut fell off. I dunno, just sayin..... maybe there's something to it............
I have love affairs with my vintage watches, too, but please do tell.....Where were you 'wearing' your watch?
I always thought that this would make a good movie. All the old articles I have read about the cancer rates that were known at the watch factories with nothing ever done. It just quietly went away when tritium came along.
