Jump to content

A little heavy on the Radium....


Recommended Posts

Have a look at this military pocket watch from WWII.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elgin-Military-GSTP-WWII-Pocket-Watch-1943-9-Jewels-size-16s/164090389422?hash=item26348ca3ae:g:0CEAAOSw0AxeTsCc

Have a look at the photo of the dial it looks like the radium on the hands has blackened the crystal.

I have seen this before on clocks with a lot of radium on the hands giving a purple tint to the glass dial, but never seen this on a watch before and never that dark.

Has anyone else ever seen this on a watch before?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Tmuir said:

Have a look at this military pocket watch from WWII.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elgin-Military-GSTP-WWII-Pocket-Watch-1943-9-Jewels-size-16s/164090389422?hash=item26348ca3ae:g:0CEAAOSw0AxeTsCc

Have a look at the photo of the dial it looks like the radium on the hands has blackened the crystal.

I have seen this before on clocks with a lot of radium on the hands giving a purple tint to the glass dial, but never seen this on a watch before and never that dark.

Has anyone else ever seen this on a watch before?

not on glass,  but on plastic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, oldhippy said:

The so called glass has turned a yellow sort of colour, its plastic, it does this due to age. I can assure you, you will not glow in the dark.  

 

I agree the yellow is age and its not glass it's plastic, its the blackening above the hands I'm talking about.

I only mentioned glass as the only other time I've seen this was on the glass of a clock with radium hands.

I also agree owning it wouldn't be dangerous, and if you are careful with cleaning it would be safe to work on this watch, but I'm going to pass on this watch as the evidence points to it having more radium paint on it than usual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This link goes a bit into the discoloration of glass by radiation and apparently is known as 'radiation browning'

http://birns.com/uploads/file/Radiation-induced Discoloration.pdf

The clock I saw it on had not worked for decades, had heavy radium paint on the hands and the hands had stayed in the same place over that time causing the discoloration of the glass inline with the hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen some old watches where you can actually see darkened areas over each number, where the crystal has browned/yellowed specifically due to the radiation.  It's crazy how much some companies covered them.  I tend to like the 30-50's watches and so bought a geiger counter for safety.  It's positively nuts how much radiation some watches give off.

Has anyone tried putting new lume on radium to see if it glow again?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • people be honest.... Swatch is evil for the watchmakers and repairers, BUT not everything in watches from Switzerland is from the Swatch-Group. As far as i know, Selitta got sacked by Swatch as a Movement-Assembler for them and they started to produce Movements in their own Name with slight Modifications. As far as i know, they sell Parts to the Market for their Movements. In most cases, if a ETA-Movement fails, it is a valid Option to replace it with a Selitta Movement, which i consider the Solution for this Mess with the Swatch-Group...... I have no Connection to anybody at Selitta, but being a Swiss-Guy, i still like to have Swiss-Made Watches, but not from the Swatch-Group.   ok ? regards, Ernst
    • Just one more greedy act by Swatch. They started a number of years ago here in the US..cutting off supplies to watchmakers that could build complications that many Swatch houses couldn't even touch. Old school masters who had gone through some of the most prestigious houses in the world. Otto Frei has some statements on their page about it. I tell all my customers to avoid new Swiss watches like the plague,..unless they just want an older one in their collection that still has some parts out on the market, or they have really deep pockets and don't mind waiting months and paying through the nose to get it back. Plenty of others to choose from..IE Seiko,..or other non-swiss brands Even a number of Chinese brands are catching up with the Swiss,..and I think that in time, their actions will be their downfall
    • Yes. If that's not what you are experiencing...start looking for something rubbing. A 1st guess is that one of the hands is rubbing against the hole in the center of the dial. Especially if you now have lower amplitude in face up/ face down positions.
    • Once a movement has the dial and hands put back and it is recased, would you expect the assembled watch to have the same amplitude as when the movement is in a movement holder and is without hands and dial? Thanks
    • C07641+ not sure what the "+" is for after the last digit.
×
×
  • Create New...