Radium dial on 1964 Railmaster. Correct?

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Dgercp

·Sep 22, 2021

Hi all. I bought this 135.004 radium dialed Railmaster from a longstanding OF memeber a while back. Extract dates watch to Jan 13 1964.

i listed it for sale on IG recently and a potential buyer told me radium dial on this early 1964 is wrong, it should be tritium.

I am having a really hard time believing/explaining that this radium dial is not original to this watch. Am I being naive?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

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Tony C.

·Sep 22, 2021·Ωf Jury member

Reportedly Omega stopped using radium after ~1962, but there could well have been dials that were affixed yet not immediately sold. I wouldn't worry about it being non-original, though I am not an expert on the model.

 

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ndgal

·Sep 22, 2021

Dial & hands are correct for a late 63' early 64' 135.004-63. (~20.4##.### serial range).

 

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Dgercp

·Sep 22, 2021

ndgal

Dial & hands are correct for a late 63' early 64' 135.004-63. (~20.4##.### serial range).

Serial #20474xxx
Thanks,

 

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Marcel81

·Sep 23, 2021

Is it radium? Did you geiger it?

 

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Tony C.

·Sep 23, 2021·Ωf Jury member

Marcel81

Is it radium? Did you geiger it?

I seriously doubt that you would find that type of degradation on a tritium dial.

 

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ConElPueblo

·Sep 23, 2021

Tony C.

I seriously doubt that you would find that type of degradation on a tritium dial.

It is quite similar to what you see on early DS Amagnetics, no? They are also tritium. I would suspect that the iron dial is to blame, rather than the type of lume.

 

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Dgercp

·Sep 23, 2021

Marcel81

Is it radium? Did you geiger it?

Yes, lots of it! Guess I did not make that clear.

 

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Tony C.

·Sep 23, 2021·Ωf Jury member

ConElPueblo

It is quite similar to what you see on early DS Amagnetics, no? They are also tritium. I would suspect that the iron dial is to blame, rather than the type of lume.

Could be, but I consider the degradation to be a bit different. This one has that 'burnt' look that I did not find on my DS Amags. The Tritium did degrade, and possibly, a s you suggest, due to some interaction with the iron, but not in quite the same manner.

 

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ConElPueblo

·Sep 23, 2021

Tony C.

Could be, but I consider the degradation to be a bit different. This one has that 'burnt' look that I did not find on my DS Amags. The Tritium did degrade, and possibly, a s you suggest, due to some interaction with the iron, but not in quite the same manner.

Okay. To me the burnt appearance on this one looks just like rust in the manner that the brown colour from the lume onto the dial.

 

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Tony C.

·Sep 23, 2021·Ωf Jury member

ConElPueblo

Okay. To me the burnt appearance on this one looks just like rust in the manner that the brown colour from the lume onto the dial.

My understanding is that Omega, like IWC on their non-date 666 Ingenieur, used a soft iron plate behind the dial on the early Railmasters, so I would not really expect rust to appear on the surface. Rust did appear on the surface of the 666 with date, but those dials were made primarily of soft iron, as the "cage" had to be stronger due to the aperture.

I'm not an expert on Railmasters, though, so perhaps there are examples that counter my view.