Radioactive vintage Timex watch, dial and hands remove

[ZblueboltZ]

Well that looks... very dangerous.

[Jacob88rOblivion]

The radioactivity on the watch face etc is almost nothing so there is no need to worry about being killed or anything.

[assa123assa123]

so what's it all about? why ones make luminous watches (omega, panerai, etc) and sell them for thousands of bucks and others say it is harmful?

Is it? Or is it some old-school luminous stuff only? Has anybody proven any watch to cause serious diseases or death? what dosages they produce? give me anything other than ticking!!!

[Kirikenz]

@assa123assa123 They used to use Radium long ago to get the luminescence on the hands and/or dial in the early 1900s. The problem was that the body treated Radium as though it were Calcium, absorbing it into the bone marrow, where being radioactive, it decays into radon gas, alpha and gamma rays. None of this is very good for bone marrow & it caused several cases of bone cancer and other problems. These days harmless phosphorescents (CaS?) or Tritium (emits harmless alpha particles) are used.

[smalltime0]

@Kirikenz , you mean easily blocked alpha particles, as alpha particles do the most damage.

[Kirikenz]

@smalltime0 Well yes, sort of... From wikipedia, "They are able to be stopped by a few centimeters of air, or by the skin . . . [b]ecause of the short range of absorption, alphas are not generally dangerous to life unless the source is ingested or inhaled, in which case, they become extremely dangerous."

[loudstone]

Do these watches still glow in the dark?

[NYAdirondackHiker]

Try that again using a 44-3 Iodine probe attached to your Ludlum Mod 3 Survey Meter. Set your scale to 10x. The Pancake (44-9) probe you are using is better for Beta, although it will pick up Gamma (with less efficiency). They used to employ young women in the old clock factories of the early 20th century to paint the radium onto the watch faces. They were told to sharpen the brush tips on their tongues before painting. Many died horrible cancer related deaths years later.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

hahaha i had fantasies of doing this myself with a dial that contained tritium and a gieger counter. you took my fun! : ) and i guess the ionizing radiation for me... thanks? i guess.