Should I be concerned about radium on a vintage watch dial? How about Tritium? And whats this Luminova stuff?
The short answer is, don’t worry about it, but don’t eat the dials either. Radium was used after about 1900 as a means of illuminating watch hands and markers at night. It was widely used until the 1940’s or so, when the hazards of radiation were (belatedly) understood. Since them, a less powerful radioactive source, tritium (a kind of hydrogen) has been used. At the time of this writing (November, 2000), tritium is being phased out of watch dials, partially due to availability of tritium, and partially due to the development of non-radioactive luminous compounds like Luminova which “hold their charge” of light better. The main victims of radium were the watch dial painters, who were encouraged to keep a fine point on their paint brushes by licking the brush end. The wearers of the watch receive only a small dose of additional radiation per year, much less than the natural background radiation.
The short answer is, don’t worry about it, but don’t eat the dials either. Radium was used after about 1900 as a means of illuminating watch hands and markers at night. It was widely used until the 1940’s or so, when the hazards of radiation were (belatedly) understood. Since them, a less powerful radioactive source, tritium (a kind of hydrogen) has been used. At the time of this writing (November, 2000), tritium is being phased out of watch dials, partially due to availability of tritium, and partially due to the development of non-radioactive luminous compounds like Luminova which “hold their charge” of light better. The main victims of radium were the watch dial painters, who were encouraged to keep a fine point on their paint brushes by licking the brush end. The wearers of the watch receive only a small dose of additional radiation per year, much less than the natural background radiation.
The short answer is, don’t worry about it, but don’t eat the dials either. Radium was used after about 1900 as a means of illuminating watch hands and markers at night. It was widely used until the 1940’s or so, when the hazards of radiation were (belatedly) understood. Since them, a less powerful radioactive source, tritium (a kind of hydrogen) has been used. At the time of this writing (November, 2000), tritium is being phased out of watch dials, partially due to availability of tritium, and partially due to the development of non-radioactive luminous compounds like Luminova which “hold their charge” of light better. The main victims of radium were the watch dial painters, who were encouraged to keep a fine point on their paint brushes by licking the brush end. The wearers of the watch receive only a small dose of additional radiation per year, much less than the natural background radiation.
