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Lovely looking movement. It would be good to see under the dial and get a movement diameter to help identify it. Any marks under the balance? I can feel it glowing from here That's a lot of radium. The first thing I do with a radium watch is (wearing a mask) seal the dial and hands in a plastic bag. It looks to be a nice enamel dial, so removing the radium in water should be easy.

It's really nice of you get a sensitive Geiger counter with audio. In other words if I turn the Geiger counter on that I have about every 20 to 30 seconds there is a little pop sound some random piece of something flying through space. But slowly bring it up near the packet of brand-new watch hands I have and it starts to pick up where though there is more and more of them in the wood bursts get closer and closer and then it sounds like a rapid machine gun fire. But it does bring up a problem my brand-new hands that look brand-new how old are they? The fact that the Geiger counter makes an interesting sound tells you that they must be reasonably old. If you're looking up brand-new hands on a card with the way they used to come if you move the hand a little bit C can see underneath on usually the radium ones you will see that the paper is a darker color. But otherwise it could be a card of hands made last year or whatever you can't tell. Or when you are buying old watchmakers stuff it used to be the feel the hands in they had a wax substance you'd melt it and you put that on the hands and I was thought that was all newer except once again the Geiger counter got really excited so maybe it's not that new. Then yes they did make some actual radium and refilling kits there was once one in the material house that I managed to acquire. It's very clearly labeled radium but it's not labeled touch it and you'll die they weren't afraid of radium back then. Then conceivably you're going to find that almost everything that fluoresces before a certain age is probably radium. Maybe I should work on military watches oh wait they have like 1 million times the radium of a normal civilian with each. Like a ships clock for instance I've heard stories of people going day Canada for watch show coming back to the US and getting pulled aside just for the possession of one ships clock with radium hands because the detectors at the border able to pick up something like that in your car. Then depending upon who you are determines how nicely they treat you. One was a older couple in a nice car slid invited him inside I think they gave moved coffee asked if they had any medical procedures asked if they could search the car and then they brought the offending clock in. The other person apparently they were out with their M-16s and more concerned about the way he looked. But it's interesting one radioactive ships clock you can't even come back to the country and no I don't know if they got confiscated or not The definitely if you want to be upset get yourself a Geiger counter and start looking at everything you have. Oh and here's a YouTube Channel you might find interesting. The last video covers what were talking about now which Geiger counter to buy and then go look at his early videos where he visits antique stores and other places where you'd think it would be safe but well it isn't https://www.youtube.com/@RadioactiveDrew Yes I suspect if radium was the killer of watchmakers it would be a much bigger thing than it is. Radium almost falls into a category of if you don't know it's bad then it's not going to hurt you..

I haven't searched for any, but "anecdotal evidence" with a sample of one is not evidence. To back up my point, I can give you real evidence of people who fell out of aircraft and survived, or smoked and lived to old age. I'm not saying there is a problem, but "anecdotal evidence" does not prove there isn't. Nullius in verba (Just found this, interesting. I only have one radium dialed watch, which I keep in a ziplock bag. I don't know if that contains the radon) https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/new-report-shows-radium-dials-might-pose-serious-danger (BTW I'm with you in thinking that the danger is generally exaggerated)

My dad serviced many thousands of watches from 1947 to 1990. He never worried about radium. He died at age 93. Was not caused by radium.

some folks collect the radium watches, i would prefer not to. i mistakenly bought a few and will sell them with full disclosure about the radium. this one, however, is a family heirloom so i'm going to keep and hopefully wear it once i get it restored and get rid of the radium. Good luck.

Good morning all, I read through this entire thread and other materials online and still have this question: How can I, or how should I, dispose of a small amount of radium from a watch dial? I've made numerous calls to state agencies and have yet to find a place that accepts radium for disposal. I live in Oregon. Thank you. Arron.

we have an interesting problem is radium a problem if you don't know about it? Finding lots of things interesting I assembly Geiger counter, partial kit. So mine is in calibrated but I can tell by how fast the clicking sound is that that's probably not good. Like the bag of military clock hands you'll pick it up several feet away and up close it sounds well very bad. But what about the cards of watch hands. Watch hands come on paper cards if they have radium strong radium that I actually burn the paper which you can see the burnt paper look see you can tell it's radium but what about the other handset haven't burnt the paper are they a problem? So if you look up radium was discontinued a certain year so we should feel safe that there is no radium left except a vintage. But watchmakers hold on the stuff forever what about those cards of florescent colored hands they haven't burnt the paper yet does that mean there's safe? As I said there's been a discussion somewhere else on the group there are sites that talk about this so it's hard to tell how big of a problem it is unless you have a Geiger counter then it's a problem. Because now you know you have a problem otherwise you live in happy bliss that you don't realize what's going on. So I was surprised that a sizable quantity of the hands I had our radioactive. I can't remember where I banished the cards a radioactive hands are no longer in the bench. Even one of the hand refinishing kits later generation ones have a wax and something that looks like it might go ahead and and I thought all of those were safe but I have one of those it's radium. I also actually have a radium and refinishing kits one of the material houses found one of their back stocks I purchased it because I thought it was nifty so it's an banished I think the attic the same places the hands are. So yes it's an interesting problem radium no matter what isn't good for you. Purchasing new old stock hams that look brand-new but you can't tell when they were made a Geiger counter goes crazy well maybe that wasn't a good purchase after all

Merry Christmas to all! Glad to see some got watchmaking related gifts. I got a watch storage box. Much nicer than just tossing them all in a drawer. I also got an Amazon gift card, which I will apply to maybe a Geiger counter, to check for radium, and a copy of Henry Fried's The Watch Repairer's Manual.

Another 404 club prospective member is on its way. This one is an automobile style long stem "pocket watch", with radium lume dial and hands. The seller claims that it ticks, so that's always a bonus. It is missing the seconds hand, and the crystal is somewhat yellowed. There were a couple of enamel dials in the lot too.

I have done a far amount of reading on radium dials etc and I have have a good base understanding of radioactive decay. I think that wearing gloves and a mask is adequate and your exposure time will be limited. However I know some people are wary of working with radium.

Can you see any lettering under the balance? (BTW There looks to be a lot of flaking radium from the dial and hands. So read the postings about the precautions you need to take before removing the movement)

They would have to pay me to take it away (and then I'd bin it) Cheap pin pallet movement, radium dial, lots of entertainment. You could put a lot of time and effort it, and it still might not run very well. I'd go for something Swiss with at least 15 jewels, that way there's a fair chance of it running pretty well after all your effort. It's amazing what you can find for £10-£30. I recently bought two great quality ladies watches (Movado and Longines) for less than £30.

I know radium doesn't seem to be a huge problem from the watchmakers perspective. Again seeming that you don't breath it in or anything. However I think its always good to know so you can at least feel a little more inclined to handle with care. Especially when reluming old watch hands. I didn't get into watchmaking to deal with radioactive material. I got into watchmaking because I love the puzzling idea of putting all of these gears and wheels apart and putting them back together again. Reviving old watches especially since I work on vintage most of the time. There seems to be two opposing and completely contrasting sides to these arguments: Iv seen people swear that radium watches are not worth the risk of working on them and Iv seen others say its harmless. I like to err on the side of caution when it comes to these things. I know what your saying John. A lot of things are radioactive to some degree, and funny enough when my Geiger counter came in I did look at everything I had lol. Just to experiment a little. I mean what if some radium got onto my tools? My floor? My bench? I guess I do tend to overthink these types of things, and radium watches certainly got me anxious when I learned how "dangerous" they could be. I started seeing comments on watch repair related YouTube videos talking about how the repairer should be worried about the radium in the air when they were reluming hands. Then I spiraled down to a panic. Just thought I'd add. These are really cool little boxes you. I didn't know they had radium reluming kits. Interesting

I haven’t worked on a Swiza yet- some inventive designs, certainly, but I’m not a fan of pin levers or the alarm/movement running off a single spring. I prefer CYMA, Looping (particularly the cal. 50-55) and Imhof from the 50s-70s period as they are more like pocket watches than clocks. They are usually very cheap to buy- I recently bought the smaller version of the Sonomatic, with calendar, for £6. I avoid the prewar alarm clocks and 8 day timepieces having read the Horological Journal articles on the dangers of radium dials! For lubrication I tend to use HP1300, 9020 and 941 for the escape wheel/pallets with a thick grease like DX or 8300 on the barrel arbor pivots. I’ll get some Windles though as I do occasionally work on larger clocks.

White powder I don’t know- radium lume? The first bit of kit looks like the chips and wand for bluing screws and hands and such. what hold and control the heat perhaps…wand for holding over the flame How about borax flux for the powder?

Oh your dial looks vintage vintage military and depending upon who you ask on the group possibly a cause of concern as the florescent material that's on there now is probably radium. So ideally you'd like to leave that alone.

Well I got a Radex RD1212-BT Outdoor edition - obviously so I can take it off roading in a hurricane. Actually it was nominally more expensive than the base model but offered with next day Amazon Prime delivery. Fired it up and tested it on my suspect dial...nothing. Nothing at all. Well, it did indicate 0.10 background radiation. I suppose that's good but part of me was hoping it would indicate Radium just so I could see it work. But this poses a question for me - this particular device only detects Beta, Gamma, and X-Ray. NOT Alpha. I'm no nuclear scientist so here comes my dumb question: do I need a geiger counter that detects Alpha particles to determine if I have a Radium dial?

Do you mean mass? The weight of the escapement, the whole watch and indeed yourself is constantly changing. An interesting thought, any watch undergoing radioactive decay, radium/ tritium etc will be slightly less massive for eternity.

I sometime work on radium watches- I've just removed the radium from the dial and hands of a 60s Rotary. I have a "Pocket Geiger" so I can check any suspect watches - I didn't expect this mid to late 60s watch to have radium. Glad I checked. After plenty of research, I decided it's OK to work with radium (I try to avoid the watches*), but taking the following precautions (probably more than I need to) : I cover my work surface with cling-film, I wear a mask and latex gloves (probably not needed). The radium dissolves easily in water. To remove dots from the dial I used wet cotton buds. For hands - I put then in a very small plastic bag/container and a blast in the ultrasonic. Change the water, do it again until no reading on the geiger. I only use a teaspoon of water each time, then soak it up in to a tissue and bag it. Everything disposable used gets sealed in plastic bags and disposed in the household waste bin. All tools used get washed in the sink. *With some "more valuable" watches, people want the original patina of the dial and hands. I have a Universal Geneve with radium, but I'm leaving untouched. I'm just careful when working on it (seal the dial/hands in a bag)

I looked hard with the microscope but couldn't see any sign of a a 'DxxxxH' stamping and given the original look of the case I don't think it was polished away... ...and yes - radium hands. Bad stuff and you can see the missing piece inside the crystal in the before photo. I take precautions but am not frightened of it, though I will pass on anything where its all turned to dust...

Lovely watch. Have a look here https://www.watchprosite.com/girard-perregaux/mimo-wwii-dienstuhr--a-closer-look/6.1004143.7068013/ Are there faint markings on the back? Could it be German military and the marks have been erased? Looks like the radium is flaking.

You can buy them from Amazon for cheap. I would hazard a guess that it is radium due to the vintage. You may not be able to test it by charging it and observing in the dark. What glows is not the radium itself but the phosphorous paint has become inactive. There is a lot of info on this forum about radium...just search it. If you are afraid of the radium, you can send the watch to me and I will deal with the risks!!

I have a can (may be empty now) of One-Dip in my desk drawer, and I was never impressed with its effectiveness. I only used it a few times because it just didn't get the job done as well as the L&R solutions in my usual US process. Last I checked, that was the consensus. It sounds great on paper to be able to clean a balance with little or no agitation, but that's just not how it plays out in practice with the stuff. I, for one, will not be mourning its loss. I'll probably hold onto the can for giggles so I can show my grandchildren how crazy people were (I was) way back when keeping such dangerous chemicals in my desk drawer like radium tablets and heroin cough syrups.

"High level. Closely watch the reading, find out why." Why is a radium dialed watch. It isn't going to change its output (at least not in a positive direction). If you were Homer Simpsoning (working as a safety officer in a nuclear power plant for those not hip to American pop culture from the last... holy crap... 34 years!), you should be frantically trying to figure out why the readings spiked. If it's an old wrist watch, I wouldn't be all that concerned. Eat fewer bananas on the days you wear it.

Here is a cool piece of history that I picked up. It's a ww2 military Elgin nos with the original crystal, check out the radium burn. The Watch stopped at 2.30. It works well. I will service it soon, it has a 594 movement. The original box and bag is displayed. Cheers Graziano