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A little heavy on the Radium....

Tmuir
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Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

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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?

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vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

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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.

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Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

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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.

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Tmuir Distinguished Member

Tmuir

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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.

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Dpastl Watch Enthusiast

Dpastl

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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?

 

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