Carrying tritium hands with you on your hand luggage

[Rudi99]

Dear fellow members of OF,

Tomorrow I will be flying from Germany to Brazil to visit family and friends and I wanted to take a set of tritium hands for a vintage Heuer (that Bundeswehr one) to a friend and collector of mine.

They are of course very small and were purchased from a watchmaker who put the hands inside a small plastic container that seals tight and has two plastic foils on each half, so that the hands do not move when the container is closed.

The question is: theoretically it can be a problem to try and carry radioactive stuff with you into a passenger jet as part of your hand luggage. However, the hands are really small and surely it would not be a problem if they were inside a watch. Would it really be a problem to take them like that into a plane?

I asked some friends and more experienced collectors and no one thinks this is a critical issue but I wanted to throw the question into this forum and ask if anybody had a similar experience.

Best,

Rudi

 

[redpcar]

No documentation they are tritium. They could be luminova for all you know.

 

[Dan S]

If that container were a little smaller, you could simply swallow it. Problem solved.

 

[Tayne]

Do airports have scanners for radioactivity?

I thought that baggage went through a visaul scanner for suspicious items, people were supposed to de-metal (belts, keys, jewellery etc) and go through a metal detector, occasionaly things were tested for explosive residue and sniffer dogs searched for drug and explosive residues.

I don't think radioactivity fits into that.

 

[Evitzee]

How is this any different than wearing a watch with those hands already on the watch? Non issue.

 

[samweldspoorly]

If you are storing in luggage, I would recommend (besides the obvious custioning) to put a post-it note or or some kind of identifying strip of tape on it that says, "WATCH PARTS". Just in case you get randomed and a snooping security officer doesnt know what he is looking at. Always pays to correctly identify things, it keeps unwanted questions from being asked.

 

[padders]

You’ll be fine. Even if they are tritium, even the newest will be now so weak as to be virtually inert. It’s been 2 half lives + since they were being made and the plastic case will attenuate what little beta is left. I think you credit the airports with more tech than they actually possess and as already noted above, there is probably more shielding there than in a watch itself. I too would be more worried about what customs might say perhaps.

 

[redpcar]

Don't do this:

Customs Declaration Form
1. Radioactive watch hands

 

[Dan S]

Slight thread-drift here, but as I was going through TSA Pre-Check recently, the guy in front of me had his carry-on pulled aside after going through the X-ray machine. The agent asked him, "Are you a barber?" and the passenger said he was. My imagination was running wild.

 

[Braindrain]

I wear/bring my vintage watches all the time - ones with tritium hands. Never ever had an issue - EU / N Amer / Asia.

Radium hands? Never brought one with those yet....

 

[Rudi99]

Thank you guys for the input! I appreciate it. Have a great day and beginning of Spring, you all!

 

[hen]

Lead lined box?

 

[BlackTalon]

Dan S

Slight thread-drift here, but as I was going through TSA Pre-Check recently, the guy in front of me had his carry-on pulled aside after going through the X-ray machine. The agent asked him, "Are you a barber?" and the passenger said he was. My imagination was running wild.

That was his CIA code name, and one of the agents was his handler.

 

[vibe]

Why would anyone ever worry about this??? Makes me wonder about your anxiety level on normal day to day stuff. Chill out.

 

[lawler]

I can’t see this being an issue at all.

 

[JimInOz]

I'd be more concerned about using those membrane type containers to sandwich the hands between plastic film.
Other users have had damaged dials when stored in this type of container.
I don't know if the paint/lume on the hands has any afinity with the plastic film, but I'd wrap each hand in watch paper before sandwiching it between plastic membranes.

Probably too late for advice now though.