Opening a (possibly) Radium Seamaster

jtomaselli · Feb 16, 2021

I have had the below pictured Seamaster for a few years now and I am planning on opening the back to snap a few pics of the movement and get the serial number. I've worked on a couple junk watches before so I'm not at all worried about my ability to open/close the watch properly, however I'm wondering if I should be concerned opening it due to the lume on the hands. I'm pretty sure the old (and very crusty) lume on the hands is Radium, though I can't be 100% sure since I don't have the serial number to actually get a hard date on when my watch was produced.

Therefore, I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on whether it seems safe to open the back for a few glamour shots- I'll probably have the watch open for a total of 20-30 min or so...

(Crusty stuff closeup)

Franco · Feb 16, 2021

What is dangerous is mostly the ingestion-inhalation of radium dust. If I was to do it, I would wait for a sunny day and go on a table outdoors, possibly with some breeze away from me. Use disposable gloves to open it. Throw gloves in a bin. Take pictures, close it, wipe it , throw away all disposable.

it may be too much, in my lab I would just do it in a fume hood monitoring surfaces with a Geiger.

Melius abundare quam deficere.

PS: if you have a Geiger that you can borrow, and you see that is not radium, all of the above is nonsense.

jaegodylan · Feb 16, 2021

Jus be sure you have your Vintage Watch Restoration suit. You can get them on Amazon.

watchyouwant · Feb 16, 2021

Don't do it. Send it over and for a small fee, we can dispose it correctly in a cement block. You pay for the shipment and you get a last picture before pouring the block. Kind regards. Achim

gbesq · Feb 16, 2021

I would check it first with a Geiger counter to confirm whether or not it has radium lume. Radium is not tritium. It is highly radioactive and exposure to it is dangerous if inhaled or ingested. It has a 1,600 year half life, so if the lume is radium, almost all of it is still there and just as radioactive as it was when the watch was manufactured. There’s no appreciable danger with an intact case. Opening the case is something else. I wouldn’t take the risk of opening it myself. Why not have a watchmaker who is accustomed to working on watches with radium lume open the watch and take the photographs for you?

TasMike · Feb 16, 2021

Picture of a geiger reading on my (closed) 100 year old radium lumed pocket watch (courtesy of JiminOz)

Seaborg · Feb 17, 2021

jaegodylan
Jus be sure you have your Vintage Watch Restoration suit. You can get them on Amazon.

Hey, that's me 😁!

Shabbaz · Feb 17, 2021

gbesq
It is highly radioactive and exposure to it is dangerous if inhaled or ingested. It has a 1,600 year half life, so if the lume is radium, almost all of it is still there and just as radioactive as it was when the watch was manufactured. There’s no appreciable danger with an intact case. Opening the case is something else.

I know there are lots of threads about this subject but is this really true? Is it dangerous to open a watch that has radium? And in what degree? Because I've opened quite a few. Probably while I was smoking as well. Haha. Luckily I've quit smoking. And I did'nt turn into the Hulk despite of the radium.

gbesq · Feb 17, 2021

Shabbaz
I know there are lots of threads about this subject but is this really true? Is it dangerous to open a watch that has radium? And in what degree? Because I've opened quite a few. Probably while I was smoking as well. Haha. Luckily I've quit smoking. And I did'nt turn into the Hulk despite of the radium.

Probably not as dangerous as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily for 20 years. Certainly not as dangerous as vacationing in downtown Chernobyl. Does radium have a 1,600 year half life? Yes. Does radium omit both alpha and gamma radiation as well as radon gas? Yes. Is radium highly radioactive? Yes. Is ingesting or inhaling radium dust a very bad idea? Yes. So, yes, I think that my post is accurate. That being said, everything is relative. My preference would be to leave any kind of work involving a watch with radium lume to my watchmaker, but your mileage may vary.

Franco · Feb 17, 2021

gbesq
Probably not as dangerous as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily for 20 years. Certainly not as dangerous as vacationing in downtown Chernobyl. Does radium have a 1,600 year half life? Yes. Does radium omit both alpha and gamma radiation as well as radon gas? Yes. Is radium highly radioactive? Yes. Is ingesting or inhaling radium dust a very bad idea? Yes. So, yes, I think that my post is accurate. That being said, everything is relative. My preference would be to leave any kind of work involving a watch with radium lume to my watchmaker, but your mileage may vary.

Totally agree with you, I have between other things been teaching radio-protection to the medical students. Even if all needs to be seen as a total-yearly exposure and expressed in Sieverts (accumulation of exposure), there is no advantage in saying "I have done much more dangerous things" to justify an avoidable exposure.

Given that opening the back often causes a vortex of air and a puff of any dust in the watch, as I said before I would do it outside with a gentle breeze, or in a fume hood. If somebody wants to take personal risks, fine - its their health - but giving unsafe advice on this matters is unacceptable.

jtomaselli · Feb 17, 2021

Hmm, a lot of things to consider here. I might be able to get my hands on a Geiger at work which could eliminate the problem as you point out @Franco

I definitely don't want to put myself in an accidental exposure situation, but it also seems annoying to me to have to pay someone to do something I can do easily. I may just go with the outdoors breeze scenario.

Thanks for all the responses.

Opening a (possibly) Radium Seamaster

jtomaselli

Franco

jaegodylan

watchyouwant

gbesq

TasMike

Seaborg

Shabbaz

gbesq

Franco

jtomaselli

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