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chronos
·So I've been to two watchmakers in Switzerland (one in Berne, the other one in Bienne) for a watch which suddenly lost its lume of the hour hand. Now it just lies around on the dial, randomly blocking the hands.
It's an old Astrolux (approx. 1940) running just fine without having it serviced in my possession. So I asked the watchmakers to take a look at it and do the following:
1: try to put the lume back to the hour hand, if that's even possible.
2: if not, just remove the lume that fell off
3: take a look at the movement, do a sympathetic service if needed.
I bought the watch 7 years ago and it ran fine up to the point the lume fell off. So I thought a service would surely be needed.
The lume contains radium and the Geiger Counter shows a high range of radiation.
Both watchmakers told me they would not be able to work on it and if so they would need to replace all parts containing radium, replacing hands and dial. I was like: Are you serious?!!🤬
They both answered they wouldn't have a choice, they signed something (?!) which makes them do so... 😕😕😕
Of course I took my watch home, but the problem remains.
Now I wonder: What are your experiences with radium and Swiss watchmakers? Both watchmakers I asked are specialiced in vintage watches.
In the picture you can seemthe lume blocking the hands around the 4 and 5 hour markers. Sorry for the bad pictured, no sunlight here at the moment.
It's an old Astrolux (approx. 1940) running just fine without having it serviced in my possession. So I asked the watchmakers to take a look at it and do the following:
1: try to put the lume back to the hour hand, if that's even possible.
2: if not, just remove the lume that fell off
3: take a look at the movement, do a sympathetic service if needed.
I bought the watch 7 years ago and it ran fine up to the point the lume fell off. So I thought a service would surely be needed.
The lume contains radium and the Geiger Counter shows a high range of radiation.
Both watchmakers told me they would not be able to work on it and if so they would need to replace all parts containing radium, replacing hands and dial. I was like: Are you serious?!!🤬
They both answered they wouldn't have a choice, they signed something (?!) which makes them do so... 😕😕😕
Of course I took my watch home, but the problem remains.
Now I wonder: What are your experiences with radium and Swiss watchmakers? Both watchmakers I asked are specialiced in vintage watches.
In the picture you can seemthe lume blocking the hands around the 4 and 5 hour markers. Sorry for the bad pictured, no sunlight here at the moment.
