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The colour of radium and tritium based luminous material is not from the radium itself (which is only present in very small amounts), but from the "phosphors" that are included with it. Confusingly these materials generally contain little or no phosphor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor#Radioactive_light_sources If you are planning on removing the old lume, you might like to take a look at this thread too. It goes in to some detail regarding these materials. Generally they are relatively safe so long as you treat them with respect and avoid getting them airborne or ingesting them. They do however remain radioactive, long after the "phosphor" looses its ability to produce light. On the subject of colour, if you look on line you will see quite a number of different shades for old lume, but generally they tended to be somewhere on the bluish green spectrum, with some variation in to yellow. Modern lume comes in a much broader group of colours and intensities, and there is a bit of an art in producing something that looks authentically old, without being too bright or clean looking

Old radium based luminescent paint will age to rust red color but I think it all started green. If moisture gets to it, it will turn an ash black. Generally, collectors look for a mocha color. Haven't seen much of that in radium watches though.

Yes unsure if it is radium or not, so will treat it as is it is radium lume. I'm guessing the watch was made around the time Radium was being phased out. Thanks for the tip on Noctilumina, I wasn't aware of that brand and it will now require some further investigation

Got this on Ebay...more amusement for me and practice (as if I don't have a ton of watches here already in the queue). It is fun to work on something I am familiar with. This is no doubt the simplest watch I have worked on since there is no sweep second hand to deal with. It was pretty froze up. I guess oil dried up in the barrel. I had to manually let the power off with a screwdriver as the mainspring could not overcome the friction. Anyway...disassemble and cleaned the proper way. Always my biggest challenge for these non-shockproofed watches is the reassembly of the balance wheel after removing it from the cock in order to remove the cap jewel. Extremely tedious and very time consuming. Hey...I am an amateur...have not learned the tricks to making this easy...give me time. Here it is...running. I have not timed it yet. You can see that it has a new crystal. Another one from a box of crystals I bought off of Ebay. Steadily improving my ROI. But, frankly, just being able to grab something from stock is very satisfying!! Oh...I was surprised to find that this was a snap-together case vs. screw back. I removed the lume from the hands carefully in a baggie in case it was radium. Baggie is sealed and in the trash. Hands are a little rusty. Need to research cleaning them up.

A friend loaned me a geiger counter...it is radium!!

Wife and I just watched "Radium Girls" last night. Crazy Coincidence. Based on past true events. Not a terrible flick. I have a few Ingraham and Westclox "dollar watch" vintage pocketwatches that have the stuff on em. When I dismantled and serviced them i was careful to wear regular exam gloves, I didn't handle the dial any more than I had to, and washed my hands when I got done. The only time I had pause was thinking about the tragic history and people lost associated with the stuff. Thanks for the valuable info shared tho.

Does it contain radium? ?

Just to inform fully on the health dangers, Radium assumption must be sizeable and continous to be dangerous. Nothing happens with the occasional manipulation on a single set. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium

They say that ABS fumes can have negative impact on your health. The solution is to enclose the printer and exhaust through a HEPA filter. If the ABS doesn’t kill me, the radium will.

There was a water dispenser called a "Revigator" that had radium and supposed to have health benefits. I had one. Buried it.

Did you know that at the time radium was the most valuable substance on Earth, selling for $120,000 for a single gram—$2.2 million at today's value ,just a bit of trivia.

Hi all ,a new study from the good folks at the University of Northampton has shown that we all forgot one essential fact: radium decays to radioactive radon GAS, which is readily inhaled and will in sufficient doses significantly increase the risk of lung cancer. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the USA after cigarette smoking; the EPA estimates that radon is responsible for about 21,000 cancer deaths annually. but it seems that logical steps to take might include considering ventilation issues, and investing in a radon detector for the room in which you keep your collection (radon monitors are inexpensive and recommended for most homeowners anyway).

These have been in the watch bench for umpteen years. Glass vials. I don't see any indication of radium burn on the inside of the cover/lid.

I would try to get some opinions from vintage tudor experts, who don't have commercial interest. The whole rolex and tudor (which is some kind of sister brand to rolex) vintage world exploded some years ago into complete price madness. So this watch (if genuine of course) could be worth several thousand bucks for a collector, especially because it has a "SWISS" marked early dial and a PCG (pointed crown guard)-case. Here is a link to give you an idea about original parts prices: https://tswisst.de/tudor-ersatzteile/rolex-zeigersatz-fuer-tudor-7928-3/ I would take some good pictures (daylight, smartphone-camera and 6 inches distance do the job) and ask your questions on www.rolexforums.com (as mentioned tudor is a sister brand so they deal with tudor too). A very good picture of the dial is essential, so it would be best to take the movement out of the case and take a pic then. BUT: The dial is marked "SWISS", much lume fell of the hands and the lume on the dial is black dirty. This shouts: Be careful, could be radium! So I personally would not open the watch. Maybe you can polish the plexiglass a bit to get a got pic of the dial? Anyway good luck with that piece. Nowadays about 98% of the rolex/tudor-talk is about money, I hate that. But I love such stories of watches with a personal history.

Hi guys, First proper post on the forum. Thanks again for having me. Just took receipt of an Omega Chronostop 145.010. Cracking watch but the hour hand has a lot of crud on it. Just wondering: 1. Is it rust or something else like decayed radium? 2. Any ideas on how to correct this? Risk removing the hands and going over it with pegwood or try and track down spare hands (having trouble finding them). Cheers in Advance, C

Hi there. Different countries had and still do different regulations,mostly related to tax purposes. Luminosity Explained Letters SWISS Luminous material Radium used until 1960 radioactive Letters T SWISS - T < 25 luminous material Tritium used from 1960 until 1998 radioactive, radioactivity less than 925 MBq (25 mCi) Letters T SWISS T luminous material Tritium used from 1960 until 1998 radioactive, radioactivity less than 277 MBq (7,5 mCi) Letters SWISS OR SWISS MADE luminous material Superluminova used from 2000 not radioactive Then you have the Swiss made markings legislation to protect the integrity of Swiss watch companies https://www.cosc.swiss/en/quality/swiss-made-controlled-label Hope this helps

Thanks for bringing this post to life again with this link to Unitednuclear fluorescent paints. These are really no different than the others such as Luminova or the ones sold by Ranfft. Sorry George to be so late with a reply. The only radioactivity in everything that has been mentioned in this post is the very old residual radium paint on the dial and hands of vintage watches. The radium is still active but not the fluorescent material that was destroyed long ago by the radiation.. If a thin layer of paint such as Luminova is applied over the old dial numbers or hands then it will glow because of the radium underneath, and this glow will be permanent lasting longer than the short-lived glow from exposure to light or ultra-violet rays (sunshine). This short-lived glow is phosphorescence caused by light, whereas the radium induced glow is usually called fluorescence. In Tritium fluorescent watches (marked with a T on the dial) the radioactivity is from the Tritium gas that is contained together with the fluorescent material in glass micro-spheres. The radioactivity emitted by Tritium is low energy (penetrating power) and so it does not pass through the glass. If the glass spheres are ground down by accident the Tritium gas would just fly away presenting no hazard.

Yes you should be concerned about Radium as it makes toast taste like rubbish. Not recommended. Good reason to not eat it. ?

Seiko dial codes are a mere part number identifier. A R in there doesn't mean, and has never meant Radium, which has been completely been banned in 1968. And even before then, it's use in the industry had already dropped to almost zero, because the potential health issues were well known already. So, no need to be paranoid, you can wear and work on any Seiko in total safety. You can also check SCWF - thewatchsite.com for any discussion about.

Thanks for the info JohnR725. Interesting reading. The dial codes for these two watches are Black one 7009 468R R and dated 1993, the silver/grey one 6309 892M R dated 1984. Incidentally, my friends brand new 7S26 has a dial code 04M4 R2. So I'm not sure what the significance of R is but surely not radium as per the Swiss watches? I don't seem to becable to get a definitive answer on these watches as it may be lost in time?

The high end vintage watch market is dominated by "untouched" stuff these days. A Rolex from 1980 with a perfect dial is looked at with suspicion, if there are cracks and sun damage the price goes up 5k. In the thousand buck and under range folks still prefer "original with wear" to restored. This is talking case/dial/hands. For antique stuff, talking movement, it's case by case. A 17 jewel Longines pocketwatch, I won't hesitate to bore out a plate or bridge to replace a cracked burished in jewel with a friction jewel (it can be done so it's invisible unless disassembled). If it's a really nice, rare piece, then it's a question of what the client wants. And price. In school we were taught there are 3 levels, repair, restoration, and conservation. A repair might bring back original function, but like above, would be evident on inspection. Restoration you try to bring it as close to original condition as possible. Conservation, you might clean things and remove rust and such without altering it in any way, even if the end result isn't functional- the goal is to keep as much originality as possible. I remember 20 years ago it was normal to buff cases and send dials out as a matter of course. Now if a case gets retouched there are folks who will laser weld dings and refinish to absolute factory original condition, with lapping machines that can reproduce the original crisp lines or the crazy "brushed" finish that was never done with a brush in the first place. Dials likewise are often left with their age showing, hands with manky oxidation around the radium might get a little coat of lacquer on the underside to stabilize them.

Hi folks, I just wanted to say hello after finding this forum today. I am a total newb to watch restoration, and have recently acquired several Ingersoll midget wrist watches with wire lugs from an estate. They are all intact and as I am told were collected in the mid 20's and put into storage after the local regiment sprang for new watches for all the officers. There are six in total. All with original canvas straps and one with a leather strap. I am hoping to get them all serviced and running and yes I know they were throw away watches in the day, but many have said they can be serviced and I have the means to dispose of the radium, so that is a good thing. Any and all help is much appreciated. Cheers, Trench

My dad's watchmaking career was from 1947 until 1990. He handled many many watches with radium. He died at age 93...cancer free (as far as we knew). It is a single data point, however. He was also a big fan of Chlordane...used it on everything except his breakfast cereal. Go figure.

I would worry about it to much however read up about the radium girls who used it as florescent lipstick

Never touching radium dial might be tough to do if you're in watch repair. There may be a general perception that radium was discontinued a long time ago and is not really an issue today. I have some links below the talk about radium and when it was discontinued notice it wasn’t that long ago. Then watchmakers have a habit of accumulating things like hand assortments that look brand-new filled with radium. Or even things like the wax kits made for fixing the hands can be radioactive. Then for your watch I agree with everyone else there doesn't appear to be anything that looks like florescent material of any type.. https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/radioluminescent/radioluminescentinfo.htm http://www3.epa.gov/radtown/antiques.html http://elginwatches.org/help/luminous_dials.html