My first diver... But is it radioactive?
Please help a newbie out. Having put my quest for a diver on the back burner, I stumbled across this vintage Mortima that's right up my street. In the days running up to its arrival it came to my realisation that old watches use old lume chemicals and that dan dan dahhhh my pretty purchase could poison me 😱. I don't know the date of the watch, guessing 70s.. Thanks for any knowledge or advice
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Don't pop out the crystal, and lick the dial. Short of doing that there is no real worry.
If it dates from the 70s you should be relatively safe. Radium use was banned for watches in 1968, so it's most likely Tritium paint. Tritium has a half life of about 12.3 years, so assuming an age of about 50 years, it's likely gone through a bit over 4 half lives, meaning that only about 6.25% of the original radioactive tritium remains, with the rest being inert. At this point, I wouldn't be overly concerned, but there technically is still some radiation and x-rays being emitted.
Possibly of greater concern -- I wouldn't expose a piece that old to water at least without having the seals checked first. There's a fairly high likelihood that the watch is no longer water resistant.
Yeah, @KristianG is correct. The risk of radium is ingestion.
And @jbird7986 is also correct. They are safe to wear at this point in history.
Yeah, @KristianG is correct. The risk of radium is ingestion.
And @jbird7986 is also correct. They are safe to wear at this point in history.
Actually, for radium dials there's some concern about the effects of the decay of radium into radon gas as well. That's not an issue for the OP though.
From my understanding the bulk of the danger comes from ingesting the radium, which sadly comes at the highest risk to the watchmakers and servicers. Apart from applying the radioactive lume, the real danger can come while removing and replacing it with safer lume, which can make dust and smaller particles of the radium, so many do not bother to replace it. Like they said just don’t lick your dial 😂
Everyone is right (except @roberto who keeps fat fingering polls). There is nothing to worry about. It isn't radium, and it may not even be tritium.
The real question is how did you find a fully jeweled Mortima that hasn't been worn to death? Mortima are usually pin pallets. They are almost always beautiful watches which lure collectors, even those who know better. Here is a brief primer: http://largevintagewatches.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-history-of-mortima-watch-brand.html .
It looks like it’s a 70’s model. I’m looking for T-Swiss-T or some other indication that it is tritium but I don’t see anything.
Even if the lume were radium, as long as you keep the dial in the case, it’s perfectly safe. The radioactive particles aren’t strong enough to even get through a vintage plastic crystal. I’m not a nuclear scientist but I’ve been on forums with vintage collectors who were, and who tested their vintage watches at work.
Thanks to everyone for the information and assurance - knew I could count on you 😃
Don't pop out the crystal, and lick the dial. Short of doing that there is no real worry.
Agreed, The radium decay chain ends in lead, with other heavy metals in between. The main concern is toxicity. I used to work in a sandwich-like structure of most depleted uranium, which was about 3 stories high. There was a constant airflow to keep up from inhaling dust, but the direct radiation was a secondary concern.
As long as the watch remains closed I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.