Radium Dials: Love, wary, or just Nope?
What’s everyone’s take on radium dials?
I won’t touch watches which have radium lume, and while I like the look of a lot of vintage watches, it does keep me away. To my mind, the dangers of radium dials are well documented — with a half life of 1600 years, dials painted in the early 20th century with radium lume whose phosphors are long dead are still just about as radioactive (and dangerous) as they were when painted. IMHO, there is too much risk of decayed lume paint turning into dust and being exposed to the radioactivity. We get more than enough radiation in our daily lives to add to it unnecessarily, and frankly, I like my DNA intact. I’m personally amazed when I see YouTubers messing around with/restoring watches which could have radium paint, and I wonder if they fully comprehend just how dangerous this stuff is.
Am I the only one though?
My problem isn't that I want a watch....it's that I want ALL the watches.
The real danger posed by radium was ingestion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
I just bought an old radium dial Britix. It will sit in a drawer for a while as I wait for a part. If I get it running I will wear it and think nothing of it. (But, I won't lick it.)
I think we should be wary of anything with that much danger, but like Aurelian said, the main danger is from ingestion.
That said, I'm not really looking to collect watches from that era, so this is mostly academic rather than practical for me.
I have little kids around. If you've ever had a toddler, you know they'll try to stuff anything in their mouths.
Big No for me. Way too much risk for way too little gain in my opinion.
I’m not worried and would not let radium deter me from picking up a watch I love. I have more years behind me than in front of me, have all the kids I’m going to need and I have no intention of cracking the watch open and licking the indicies.
I have no real issue with wearing one, but service is a huge issue. Most people won't crack one open or deal with the innards. But a sealed case, I'm fine with that.
Radium stays in history now. Tritium tubes are in now. I got 4 for a couple watches and the UV glue to put them on.
The real danger posed by radium was ingestion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
I just bought an old radium dial Britix. It will sit in a drawer for a while as I wait for a part. If I get it running I will wear it and think nothing of it. (But, I won't lick it.)
i remember the story. thats horrible part of watch history
For what its worth, I don't think that the concern is restricted to ingesting the radium:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/new-report-shows-radium-dials-might-pose-serious-danger
For what its worth, I don't think that the concern is restricted to ingesting the radium:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/new-report-shows-radium-dials-might-pose-serious-danger
I think you would need to have quite a large number of Radium watches or dial & hand stored together for this to be an issue