Should I be worried about radium?

[mikepilk]

While we are on the subject - It reminded of the my one radium watch, my Universal Geneve cal 267.  I've always wondered about how (and where) to store it. I had it sealed in plastic bag to contain the radon. But then I read about how that leads to contamination of all the contents by daughter decay elements. 

This morning I decided to remove the radium to make the watch more safely storable and wearable.  As usual, it came off easily with a wet bud.

I happen to have an old scrap spare dial from a cal 267, and found (under  microscope using a fine oiler) I could easily apply luminova to the numbers to look at least as good as the original. 

So my question is - What colour should I use. What was the original colour of radium paint? 

Edited June 5 by mikepilk

[RichardHarris123]

Baby pink.  Hehe.  Good question, I have no idea.  

[Jon]

25 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

So my question is - What colour should I use. What was the original colour of radium paint? 

I've got a bit of a collection of NOS vintage radium hands in pristine condition and they have a very mat dull lime green/yellow colour to them. I've tried taking photos of them, but the colour doesn't really show properly in them! They look more white in the photos, which they're not.

I tinted the second photo to get the colour of the lume right, although it all depends on your screen. The hand in the middle and at the top is the most like the colour

[mikepilk]

Thanks, that's really useful @Jon.

The green lume I have looks pretty close to that. I have ordered some vintage tinting paste. I'll try the basic green with just a hint of the tinting paste to tone it down a touch. 

BTW  I like the burn marks left on the card by the hands 

[Jon]

My student brought in his Geiger counter the other day and I put the tray of radium hands under it and the clicking got to a continuous crackle and some pretty high readings. That level of radiation is only problematic at close proximity. It's more the radon and breathing in dust when working with them that is the problem.

Radium exposure.pdf

8 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

BTW  I like the burn marks left on the card by the hands 

Yeah, interesting effect of the radiation on the card. You get it on vintage watches that haven't been used in many years with a faint mark where the hand was

12 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

I have ordered some vintage tinting paste

Where do you get that from?

[mikepilk]

I'm probably over cautious when removing radium. I cover the work area with cling film and wear latex gloves and an N95 mask. All the disposables I use (cling film, gloves, buds, tissue, water, which I soak up with kitchen roll) get bagged in ziplock bag and binned.

I bought a "Pocket Geiger" a few years ago (they were developed for Fukushima) which plugs in to mobile and has an app. It only detects gamma, but It seems quite sensitive. 

1 hour ago, Jon said:

Where do you get that from?

ebay

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 hours ago, Jon said:

3 hours ago, mikepilk said:

have ordered some vintage tinting paste

Where do you get that from?

Have you tried this trick with adding tea or coffee to colour lume Jon ?

[Jon]

2 hours ago, mikepilk said:

I'm probably over cautious when removing radium. I cover the work area with cling film and wear latex gloves and an N95 mask. All the disposables I use (cling film, gloves, buds, tissue, water, which I soak up with kitchen roll) get bagged in ziplock bag and binned

I do the same. There is no being too careful!

 

6 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Have you tried this trick with adding tea or coffee to colour lume Jon ?

Yes, the results were not good. Using a water based organic material such as coffee with a solvent based lume is a recipe that ain't gonna work in my book. It is counterintuitive. I use various powder pigments to dull down the colour with the lume. Thanks for the link to the pigment you use @mikepilk

[Neverenoughwatches]

21 minutes ago, Jon said:

I do the same. There is no being too careful!

 

Yes, the results were not good. Using a water based organic material such as coffee with a solvent based lume is a recipe that ain't gonna work in my book. It is counterintuitive. I use various powder pigments to dull down the colour with the lume. Thanks for the link to the pigment you use @mikepilk

Thats another strike for the youtubers then, thats where i had heard about it.

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, Jon said:

NOS vintage radium hands

One of the things that I find interesting with a vintage new old stock hands still mounted in the paper is the effect of the radium on the paper. In the image I snipped out you urge you can see it but maybe it's the lighting because usually the paper looks much more brown if it's been under radium hand it has a nice light burnt look.

 

[Geotex]

NOS radium lume that has been protected from moisture/humidity is much greener than I would have expected, based on some well-wrapped example hand cards I’ve come across. Very similar to 1st generation “cold” lume and other glow-in-the-dark items from the 70’s and 80’s.

[Neverenoughwatches]

11 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

One of the things that I find interesting with a vintage new old stock hands still mounted in the paper is the effect of the radium on the paper. In the image I snipped out you urge you can see it but maybe it's the lighting because usually the paper looks much more brown if it's been under radium hand it has a nice light burnt look.

 

I wonder did anyone noticed you chose a luminous green color to highlight the burn. 

[LittleWatchShop]

I have said it before, my anecdotal evidence dispels any fear of radium in the quantities we deal with in the watch world.

[AndyHull]

On 6/5/2024 at 8:08 PM, Jon said:

Using a water based organic material such as coffee with a solvent based lume is a recipe that ain't gonna work in my book.

My worry is that coffee or other "edible" pigments will be hydroscopic, and encourage mould and rust to form. This happens to some degree with older lume anyway, but I think small amounts of acrylic paint or pigment powders might be a safer option.

[oldhippy]

I don’t want to frighten you but, here is a bunch of watchmakers going to work.

 

Edited June 7 by oldhippy