I don't buy radium watches for this exact reason. Radon is no joke. I don't like the idea of radioactive gas floating in my home because I can't stop hoarding vintage watches.
To each his own, of course, but I doubt that a few radium dialed watches are going to produce a serious radon gas hazard. The amount of radium based paint used in the lume is tiny. Radon gas occurs naturally in the environment as a byproduct of the decay of uranium ore. There are areas of the United States where many homes require radon abatement systems due to higher concentrations of naturally occuring low grade uranium in subterranean rock. The Reading Prong, particularly in certain parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, is a prime example. The danger posed by naturally occurring radon gas in such areas is well documented and I suspect is far more of a health hazard than a modest collection of radium dialed watches when propertly stored.
I don't buy radium watches for this exact reason. Radon is no joke. I don't like the idea of radioactive gas floating in my home because I can't stop hoarding vintage watches.
I recommend reading this article from the University of Northampton: WWII Military watches ‘potentially pose serious cancer risk’.
"The authors, Dr Robin Crockett, University of Northampton, and Professor Gavin Gillmore, Kingston University, warn these levels are high enough to be dangerous even in much larger spaces, such as whole houses." Worryingly even individual (military)watches can spike radon to an unsafe level.
I think radium as such is not very dangerous in this context, it's the decay product radon that has the potential to cause harm. The old watch forum saying 'just don't lick the dial and you're fine' is simply not true. If you are concerned about radon, you should measure the level in your home like the wise @Dan S has done.
Here's a similar thread from earlier this year. There are of course many others. Tends to be a bit of a provocative topic.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/wearing-radium.125431/
they site a fairly large collection kept in a poorly ventilated area. I doubt 3 or 4 pieces in a well ventilated room are much of a hazard. I read other reports on this and the hazards were higher for the person servicing the watch as most of the problem materials were trapped in the case.
there’s a nuclear powerplant about 100 km from my home, the town in which it is situated requires osmosis type water purification systems in all new homes and has the highest instance of birth defects in the nation. There’s another town not too far from here that has an entire area designated as uninhabitable due to toxic waste dumping in the 50s & 60s. That shit worries me much more than a few contaminated watches.
I've read quite a bit on this subject and the amount of radium used in the dials of my watches is pretty small. The fact that there's a metal case, often double walled in the case of military pieces, means that its not exactly dumping a ton of radiation into my body. The risk lays in the residue from the broken down radium paint which is floating around inside the watch. So open them up damn little and do it in a well ventilated area if you have to. Both of the watchmakers I've used over the years have serviced dozens of these things and somehow not grown flippers or had their nuts drop off.
I think the hazard is low enough that there's a lot of other things in the world I should worry about first.
