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JimJupiter
·Hey guys, lately I was visiting Nicolas from Cenic Watches near Bienne. Despite a huge stock of furnitures, he also has a marvelous collection of official catalogs and documents. One that was new to me, were some issues of what looks like the Omega Magazin for their dealers. I hadn’t time to scroll them all, but I found some interesting pages about the seamaster 300 I would like to share with you:
First is an article about the radium lume in the SM300 and the „hysterical“ dealing with it
Translation:
"September 1963 No.200
Omega express
THE RADIOACTIVITY OF WATCHES WITH LUMINOUS DIALS IS NOT AT ALL DANGEROUS
Various articles, published in various countries, have drawn public attention to the so-called dangers presented by watches with luminous dials. Journalists, ill-informed and anxious to maintain so-called "sensational" rumors, have succeeded in throwing a wrench into the minds of twentieth-century man, already seriously affected by "atomic psychosis" and for whom "radioactivity" is synonymous with the worst evils.
Also, anxious to contribute to shedding light on a matter detrimental to everyone, we provide you with the latest scientific discoveries made in this area and the solution that OMEGA saw fit to adopt.
HOW ARE THE HANDS AND INDEXES LUMINESCENT?
The dials of watches and alarm clocks are made luminescent by incorporating a phosphorescent substance into the numbers and hands, which is most often zinc sulphide prepared under very delicate conditions.
Mr. G. Carpentier, professor at the Sorbonne and President of the Space Research Committee, defines phosphorescence as a phenomenon of light emission which occurs with greater or lesser intensity and duration when certain substances are placed in the dark after having been subjected to the action of a light source or various radiations including radioactive radiation.
For watch dials, it is appropriate to use a substance whose light emission persists for about a dozen hours without it being necessary to re-expose it to daylight or artificial light. The intensity of the re-emitted light depends on the intensity of the exciting light, it decreases exponentially with time.
Zinc sulfide, when exposed to light, absorbs light radiation, undergoing a change in its energy state, which is raised to a higher level. By spontaneously falling back to a lower energy state, zinc sulfide re-emits light radiation of a wavelength greater than that of the absorbed radiation.
OMEGA, before the introduction of Tritium, already used continuous emission coatings, which did not need to be exposed from time to time to an exciting light. The incorporation of one ten thousandth of radium sulfide in zinc sulfide in a luminous dial gave, when observed with a magnifying glass, a scintillation effect on the luminous dial.
We cannot stress this point enough:
THE AMOUNT OF RADIUM SALT USED TO MAKE A WATCH DIAL LUMINOUS IS FAR TOO SMALL TO BE DANGEROUS."
First is an article about the radium lume in the SM300 and the „hysterical“ dealing with it
Translation:
"September 1963 No.200
Omega express
THE RADIOACTIVITY OF WATCHES WITH LUMINOUS DIALS IS NOT AT ALL DANGEROUS
Various articles, published in various countries, have drawn public attention to the so-called dangers presented by watches with luminous dials. Journalists, ill-informed and anxious to maintain so-called "sensational" rumors, have succeeded in throwing a wrench into the minds of twentieth-century man, already seriously affected by "atomic psychosis" and for whom "radioactivity" is synonymous with the worst evils.
Also, anxious to contribute to shedding light on a matter detrimental to everyone, we provide you with the latest scientific discoveries made in this area and the solution that OMEGA saw fit to adopt.
HOW ARE THE HANDS AND INDEXES LUMINESCENT?
The dials of watches and alarm clocks are made luminescent by incorporating a phosphorescent substance into the numbers and hands, which is most often zinc sulphide prepared under very delicate conditions.
Mr. G. Carpentier, professor at the Sorbonne and President of the Space Research Committee, defines phosphorescence as a phenomenon of light emission which occurs with greater or lesser intensity and duration when certain substances are placed in the dark after having been subjected to the action of a light source or various radiations including radioactive radiation.
For watch dials, it is appropriate to use a substance whose light emission persists for about a dozen hours without it being necessary to re-expose it to daylight or artificial light. The intensity of the re-emitted light depends on the intensity of the exciting light, it decreases exponentially with time.
Zinc sulfide, when exposed to light, absorbs light radiation, undergoing a change in its energy state, which is raised to a higher level. By spontaneously falling back to a lower energy state, zinc sulfide re-emits light radiation of a wavelength greater than that of the absorbed radiation.
OMEGA, before the introduction of Tritium, already used continuous emission coatings, which did not need to be exposed from time to time to an exciting light. The incorporation of one ten thousandth of radium sulfide in zinc sulfide in a luminous dial gave, when observed with a magnifying glass, a scintillation effect on the luminous dial.
We cannot stress this point enough:
THE AMOUNT OF RADIUM SALT USED TO MAKE A WATCH DIAL LUMINOUS IS FAR TOO SMALL TO BE DANGEROUS."
Edited:
