Anyone else concerned about radium dial watches?

Nope, your good.

I promise you that wallet sized electro magnetic radiation device you hold next to your head might cause more issues, and even then we're talking increasing chances of cancer causing cells by 10ths of a percentile.

Trust me, Hollywood and video games have made a bigger deal about radiation than what it really is.

Take that Geiger counter near bananas, or lots of concrete.

From my limited knowledge I'd say it's fine unless you have removed the crystal and are breathing the dust or holding the naked dial on your skin.

It's a tricky one. Obvious answer is sell it & buy a non radioactive version, but that's not always a viable option.

Hopefully someone who knows will come along and answer properly.

Beautiful watch, good luck Chris 👍👍

I know that in terms of radiology (X-rays, CT scans, etc) the risk factors are proximity to the source, and time of exposure to the radiation.

When my dad was being treated for prostate cancer, they implanted little radioactive seeds into the area as a treatment. He was told to stay away from family whenever possible for 6 months.

I guess I would have my reservations about a radioactive watch personally. Or at the very least, keep my hands away from my lap 😉.

Radium decays by alpha emission. Alpha is a contamination hazard when internalized. It is not strong enough to go through skin.

Don't open the watch, and breath/eat the dust.

If you are truly concerned, send it to a professional company and have it replaced or cleaned off.

As long as you don't breathe or ingest the radioactive dust from the inside of the dial you are fine. I wouldn't open the case unless you are under a ventilated hood and wear a N95 mask.

Ex Navy Nuke here, and all the answers about dust and opening the case are correct. There is an old nuclear-navy submarine story about a radium dial watch setting off alpha detectors because someone broke the crystal on the watch. As long as it remains closed up, you're in zero danger. You get more background radiation exposure from flying in a plane (cosmic radiation because you lose the shielding of the atmosphere - still a minuscule dose).

The vintage fifty fathoms is too cool not to wear; although I don't wear mine (1960s, so tritium dial) as much as I should (I think more so I don't damage it). I do have one radium watch (an Enicar Seapearl 600 from the 50s) and do have to say it doesn't get as much daylight as it should and I do think part of it is the radium playing with mind. It pains me to say, but the fifty fathoms is too much of a watch (money, coolness, etc) to not wear, if you really can't get past the radium then you should convert it into something equally epic with a tritium dial that you would wear. Can still be fifty fathoms, maybe a Milspec (like mine) or a No Rad.

Love the watch! But in all honesty I would be terrified! I would be walking with my hands up. It’s not going anywhere near my nether regions. 😂

During the 80s I started collecting vintage, my go to seller was a gruff individual who might have been the biggest buyer of old watches that arrived in the city, he purchased garbage bags full of broken old timepieces including top grade collectibles, the watches were stored in a large room behind his retail operation in Toronto’s still gritty east end. None of his customers were allowed to dig through the bags and bags since he said there was a significant amount of toxic radium building up back behind him. None of his regular customers, myself included were concerned but most of the dials with radium were exposed, he used to entertain with a Geiger counter to illustrate the hazard. A few years ago I met one of his suppliers working part time in a department store watch counter selling entry level merchandise. The man informed me that the vintage guy passed after battling cancer but I know quite a few folks who suffered from the killer C and was never near any radium dials.

Don't worry you're fine.

Everyone here is wrong. Remove the crystal, apply dial directly to your tongue and absorb the radioactive power the watch is trying to give you. Best case scenario you become like one of the Fantastic Four, worst case you become like Dr Doom, so idk a 1/5 chance something goes wrong?

My radium ladened watch

Radium dials are relatively safe if the watch is in good condition, with case, crystal and seals still intact.

So, the dial is still almost as radioactive as it was when it was made. The isotope of Radium used in lume paint was Radium-226 and has a half-life of 1600 years, so since the 60's, not much of the Radium has decayed. During its decay process it produces it will emit different kinds of radiation (alpha, beta and gamma radiation) and small amounts of Radon gas. The lume doesn't stop glowing because of the decay of Radium, but rather the radiation has damaged the crystal structure of the Zinc Sulfide (which is what actually glows green). That said, the case and crystal is your best protection, even though some of the radiation will pass through the case and crystal. The biggest risk is ingesting the radium through the dust of the crumbling Zinc Sulfide if the case is leaky or opened up. So keep it sealed as the crumbling paint is the real issue.

Ra-226 is a relatively common isotope of Radium found in nature as it decays from Uranium. There's probably a healthy amount in your granite countertop actually (if it's actual granite - the textile industry calls everything "granite" even if it's not geologically a granite).

If you're concerned about limiting the exposure risk, I'd recommend taking it to a watchmaker who is able to properly clean the radium paint off the dial. Or have this one re-dialed with a cleaned vintage dial, and you can seal and store the original dial - if the ability to restore the watch to original condition is important to you.

tldr; In the end, it is a radioactive source. But a relatively low-risk one as long as it stays sealed and the crystal in particular is intact. Your best "peace of mind" option is to remove the lume paint professionally.

Trust me. I'm a Scientist 😂

I would be less dismissive of the geiger counter readings and less gung ho than some of the previous replies.

Ample commentary above about radium and alpha particles. My main concern would be a child getting hold of it, inadvertently dropping it, breaking the crystal and inhaling/ingesting radium dust.

However radon gas is also produced by radium decay and it will leak out of the watch. Radon is no joke and causes lung cancer.

A 2016 study found that just three "Dirty Dozen" military watches produced radon concentrations well in excess of safe levels when kept in a bedroom-sized room. 30 watches produced 134 times safe levels.

https://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/wwii-military-watches-potentially-pose-serious-cancer-risk/

I was under the impression that the main concern with Radium was effects it had on the people handling it in the watch factories where it caused major issues and not so much for a watch on the wrist.

If its of concern then it may be best to just move it, being vintage then depreciation shouldn't be an issue.

From my vintage guide on TER:

Oh yes, lume. Very important this, so pay attention: until the 1990s, lume was radioactive paint.

Radium paint is an early 20th century invention. Radium itself has a potential half life of 1600 years, but the paint itself will break down a lot sooner. It’s not a long term invention, and one could argue it was supposed to be topped up at regular intervals. I could be very facetious and say that the very application of lume limits the lifespan of a watch by including built-in obsolescence before it leaves the factory, especially if it is a tool, but that might not make me any friends.

Radium paint was used until the 60s where it was decided that it was too harmful for the applicators rather than the consumers. Then they looked into Promethium, a beta-radiation emitter that had a half life of 2.5 years (so even more s*** and obsolence). Tritium came a little after, but that only has a 12.5 year half-life, but also had the habit of seeping through dials and cases into the users skin early doors, and needed revising very quickly. Tritium is no longer allowed to be used unless it is encased as well as it is a beta-emitter, and no-rads is deemed the most ideal scenario.

I would say it is only since the late 90s that lume development is only worthy of some the watches it adorns – therefore could potentially be seen as a novelty and developed far too late into the watches life/history as technology improved and will essentially replace watches as tools. Fine, the Japanese were developing non-rad lume since the 60s, but you don’t but vintage watches for lume right?

Just be sensible - old watches are potentially radioactive and you need to bear that in mind. I completely understand why many would consider staying the hell away, I have no real answer, but your concerns are valid. An original Blancpain is a flex, I would wear the hell out of that.

I just want a watch with a radium dial, a solid lead case and an asbestos-fiber nato strap.

Radium was used on watch dials for roughly half a century. There has never been a recorded instance of an illness for a watch wearer as a result of its use. The poor people to had to apply the radium were not so lucky.

Most watchmakers know how to mitigate their risk when working on radium dials. I make it their risk and not mine.

From what I understand the main issue came from injesting the Radium. I heard once that even an acrylic crystal would block the radiation. I'm no expert though. If you are truly worried but a cheap ginger counter.

And just to add, back in the day, like 60's - 80's, old EOD equipment packages had a case or two of beer on them, mandated by DOD HQ.

Should alpha exposure happen, best way to wash it out of the body as fast as possible, was to flush it out... or at least that was what the reasoning was...🤔🤏🏻😆😅..😂🫠. YMMV of course.

It seems like most people with some experience are saying that you should be fine. If you really can’t own that watch without complete peace of mind and just rather be safe then sorry sell it to someone who doesn’t worry about the radiation and use the money to get another Blancpain that doesn’t have it at all. Like this

😉

I think you should give it away to a stranger so you have no guilt if they get radiation poisoning and I’m happy to share my contact details 😁

Okay, what is "kind of high", that can really be anything?

Is there a chance that it's a health hazard, yes, but it's "kind of unlikely". Studies on this have been done, as so often with science the scenario is a little contrived. Some numbers are out there, they may or may not be relevant to your case and reason enough to convince you to wear or not wear the watch.

This post and the accompanying gif was the best way to start my day 😂. 🤙🏻🤘🏻👌🏻

Crackin' watch - shame not to wear it.

As others have said, there's probably plenty of things we surround ourselves with on the daily that nuke us just as bad - or worse - and we don't give 'em much thought.

That said ... I'd be careful around my kids too, even if it doesn't really make sense to be. Just for 𝙢𝙮 comfort and peace of mind.

Ohh, and you probably shouldn't hold it with your watch hand when you take a piss either!

It is safe enough for you the wearer if seals are intact, and not so much if it’s not, but still not immediately hazardous if addressed. That’s the simple answer that everyone probably can agree with.

But I’m disappointed in the glib answers about cellphones emitting more radiation (simply false, zero ionizing radiation) or comparing it to a banana (go do that, how much money do you want to bet the radium dial is far higher? I’ll be happy to take your money)

We should take orders of magnitude into account, here is where there is a great illustration about amounts:

https://xkcd.com/radiation/

At the same time, seal failures do happen, and it is worth noting there is no healthy dose of inhaling radium decay particles into your body. You will also have to find willing vintage watchmakers who want to handle that uncased dial for decades to come.

After you have reviewed that chart above, refer to the real data: Radium Timepiece Dose Modeling written by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0731/ML073120009.pdf

(1 millirem = 10 microsievert)

Basically, wearing 1 watch for 1 year is equivalent to the extra dose of about 60% of your annual allocation of “allowable” extra radiation, or equivalent to 25 extra chest X-rays / year. (So, about 1 chest X-ray equivalent for every 2 weeks of 16 hr/day wear)

Impact to family members should be fairly negligible, equivalent to <1% of allocation, equivalent to maybe 1 extra dental X-ray / year as long as they’re not the ones wearing or handling it all the time.

I apologize if I was too glib.

I also was not trying to infer ionizing radiation was emitted by a phone. Was trying to communicate the low risk, relatively speaking.

As long as the case and seals are intact, good to go.

Not even taking into account dose rate, inverse square law, alpha/beta emission vs x ray etc.

Out of curiosity what was the OP's Geiger counter reading?

I would guess it more of a problem in doors being that radium decays to produce radon gas the second leading cause of lung cancer. But its prob not a lot concidering how many guys wore them every day. But getting the advise of a medical physcist is more sound advice. Hold you Geiger near cat litter or a very vintage california wine it will go off too!

https://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/article/2068/15-jun-2018--second-world-warera-wristwatches-could-pose-cancer-risk-due-to-radon-exposure-according-to/