Do you guys ever worry about it? What's your stance on the danger, real or imaginary, over a lifetime of wearing vintage watches? I'm hunting for my first, but I'm a little nervous of something that a geiger counter registers.

 

there are a few tests on the net. military watches and early russian watches. eventually we all will die one way or the other, luminous material from old watches will not play a big role in that...... if you fear that, send them to me. we will dispose of them in a resonsible way. kind regards. achim

 

IIRC, the main issue with radioactive paint was that the girls that painted it on the dials used to suck the brushes to a point between applications. I don't think wearing the result on your wrist is so much of an issue.

 

Not far from home we have an ongoing issue -
http://www.sepa.org.uk/radioactive_substances/dalgety_bay.aspx
Now if only some of the old instrument dials etc. mentioned in the link were in one piece

 

O_O

 

If the radium on your old watch makes you nervous, don't use the microwave!

 

I am not afraid when wearing them,
but: be careful when you work on the movements, when you dismantle the watch!
There might be some fine radioactive dust from the luminous numbers inside the watch - if you aspire this dust this will be dangerous for you health - lung cancer! Half-life time of Radium is extraordinary long compared to the life of a watch (or person who wears it).
It is still there and dangerous even if it does not glow any more in the dark!
I would be very cautious when working with Radium dialed watches...
This is what I know as a natural scientist -
just my 2 cents
Erich

 

To put it in perspective, though, smoking is probably a lot more dangerous . . .

 

I bought a large collection of unused, vintage spares last year and as a matter of interest, I opened a couple of the packets to see how the parts had stood the test of time.

Included in these were a few sets of Radium hands. All I will say is that where the hands were in contact with the waxed paper inner packaging, they had eaten through the waxed paper - a bit like a mutant Pacman.

 

Radium can be dangerous, but more for the watchmaker than for the person wearing the watch. I am very careful when working on a watch that still has radium paint on the hands or dial. For the most part, the movement and case will block the radiation, and the crystal will also, so generally speaking they are safe to wear.

Now to illustrate how the radium can damage things, here is a vintage Illinois pocket watch I serviced a while back - note the radium burns on the crystal at each number:



The owner thought it was on the dial, and sometimes hands can burn the dial if left in one spot for a very long time, but in this case you can clearly see it's the crystal:



Disassembled - replaced the mainspring:



All finished and with a new crystal:



Cheers, Al

 

Wow that is a little freaky what it did to the crystal! Is that a new crystal or did it clean up off the old one?

 

I'll quote it again for you:

"All finished and with a new crystal:"

 

...
Looks fantastic Al

 

I glanced at the photo of the crystal, noting some burns were heavier than others. Once I got my orientation (the area missing the burn is sub-seconds) I looked again. I CAN JUST MAKE OUT THE NUMBERS FROM THE ACTUAL BURN MARKS! like seeing a ghost or something...truly freaky!

 

I remember years ago being advised on how to clean a dial " cotton bud and saliva " on radium dials ? no thanks

 

I thought radium was part of a healthy diet.