Radioactive Lume in Vintage Watches: From Radium to Tritium

[@dynophreak]

This is my favorite watch channel. Amazing job on another fantastic video.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Much appreciated!!

[@jamesgreig8796]

Another great video, very informative. Your channel is one of my favourite go to channels, when it comes to vinbtage watches. Great job, hope there are many more in the future.👍

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks so much for your kind words!! We definitely keep it going, don’t worry 😉

[@watchnoerd5235]

Another fantastic and educational video, thank you!

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks a bunch 🙏🙌

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

I just got an old Ingersoll radiolite pocket watch from 1925. It's glow is gone but it is still very HOT on my Radiacode103 gamma ray spectrometer.

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

Yes, it was painted by the Radium girls.

[@MrSasa23]

Good job as always!!! I am still exploring your channel, it is marvellous 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks for your feedback and support man 😊🤝

[@comesignotus9888]

The danger of radium paint is not only in radon. It becomes fragile and in case of any attempts of the watch repair some "hot" particles fly around and can eventually land on or in human bodies. And while the luminous compound loses its useful qualities relatively quickly, making the owner wish to replace the paint, the radium itself has a half-life of 1600 years and is good to deliver the happiness to these fragile humans for centuries.

[@Halfmoon67]

Awesome video ! Many thanks !

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks for your feedback, it’s much appreciated!

[@francoisvandensteene5444]

Great educational video with beautiful images! Following you on IG! 🙌

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thank you so much! We’re glad to have you on board 🙏🙌🤝

[@LibExodus]

Thanks for sharing!

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Welcome 🙏

[@HRM.H]

I love tritium paint. Ages so gracefully

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Indeed, very warm and charming tones ✔️

[@Mark-jy6xd]

Radium has a half-life of 1600 years. That means that the old radium on your watch dial and in the hands doesn't glow anymore, but it's still radioactive. It emits two types of radiation; alpha radiation and gamma radiation.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Good addition, thank you very much!

[@kewintaylor7056]

Is it dangerous ,can we relume it?😂😂😂😂

[@chasedavis2358]

Radium directly decays into radon, so if the radon is contained it’ll increase in radioactivity

[@KAFKUBA]

Great video appreciate it

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks a lot

[@donald1983]

Quick question - Is it normal to have the tritium glow differently on the hands compared with the glow on the indices assuming they are matching hands and indices? All are tritium but somehow the glow looks different on the hands.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Normally the glow should look the same on hands and numerals, but often it looks different because the amount of material on hands and numerals is different. Sometimes there is more on the hands and so it looks brighter and stronger, or just on the numerals ;-)

[@donald1983]

@@GoldammerVintageWatches that explains it. Thanks for responding

[@andrei2023]

Great video👏👏👏

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thank you!!

[@jamesgreig8796]

Just a question. You mention that tritium has a long half life, my understanding is that tritium’s half life is just over 12 years, not that long, but radium is 1600 years. Thanks for a really interesting channel. Kind Regards.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Hey man, you’re right! Can you link me the the exact point in the video what you don’t understand?

[@jamesgreig8796]

@@GoldammerVintageWatches Hi Felix, The point on your video is at 13.53, where you mention the half life of tritium. Also, a very interesting presentation at the Horological Society of New York. It is by Kathleen McGivney entitled Why I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Radium Watches. At point 39.00 she demonstrates the lume on radium, tritium and Superluminova dials. I found her presentation very fascinating and enlightening. Appologies, if you are aware of all this, you being very knowledgeable on vintage watches. Kind Regards

[@favoritethings3065]

Another great video. As I showed in my Ranchero vs Railmaster part 2 video, my Omega Ranchero emits 5 microsieverts…I’m still not sure if this is safe or not. Not sure if it’s the Alpha or Gamma rays that are dominating, but I do get about 3 microsieverts from the caseback side.

[@juslitor]

thats a spicy watch, what i have seen topped out at around 2 microsieverts/h in gammas.

[@soumyabiswas928]

Why did old watch companies use radium instead of phosphorous? Whereas phosphorus is much more readily available than radium or tritium.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

They simply didn’t know how dangerous this material was

[@jimludwig9471]

Great subject, thank you! Quite illuminating 😁 Tritium gas tubes are still used and quite fun as well

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Much thanks mate! Chromalight for the win :D

[@GennaroAvilia]

I knew that tritium and radium keeps glowing continuously until they decay after years, even in the absence of light. Does this also apply to paint? Because from the video it would seem that when the UV light is turned off the tritium and radium, rather than simply losing intensity, to turn off completely

[@Kali_3dits]

If I remember correctly the radium in the paint makes a separate phosphor glow, but over time the phosphor can burn out, eventually only really working under UV light/blacklight, I believe tritium would work in the same way but I don’t know as much about it so I don’t want to say anything incorrect, I hope that this helps explain it a bit better :]

[@alexanderkaiser8770]

2:05 Für ein strahlendes Lächeln 😂

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

🙈

[@TheAvalist]

dein deutscher akzent ist beeindruckend. 🤣

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Den werd ich wohl auch nicht mehr los 🤣

[@c0ba1t]

I have a radium compass and a scintillation gamma detector, which is way more sensitive than a geiger counter. I'm sorry, but I don't want something greater than half a million counts per minute close to me for a long time. That's what my detector reads from this compass. I also have a clock that gives 20,000 CPM from radium. On the other hand, my tritium watches barely give me anything above background radiation. Much safer.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Thanks for sharing this kind of measurement 🙏

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Great and horrible history is the history of the radium.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

The toothpaste… just wow.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Radium produces a mortal gas too. Kill softly. Radon.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

I was killed by my wristwatch. I am resting in no peace.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

🤣

[@Hororgaming344]

Hallo fllix😁

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Hey hoooo 😃

[@LavenderValley777]

Hi I'm from India. Can you help me with this.. I bought a Bible Verse picture which is framed in glass and it glows in darkness... Will that emit radioactivity???..

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

Which year is it dated? If it is from the 20s to 50s it’s possible but I don’t think so. Just buy a Geiger counter on Amazon to be on the safe side :)

[@LavenderValley777]

@@GoldammerVintageWatches I bought it in 2023 from a local store.. it's just a recent manufacturing.. new one..

[@LavenderValley777]

@@GoldammerVintageWatches and the thing is. The image I bought is 800 rupees. And this Geiger is 7000+ rupees... 😅 So it's 7 tyms higher investment..

[@lipinglin1994]

Best is to not get one.

[@GoldammerVintageWatches]

It’s up to you but there is no reason to be afraid. 😊🤝

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

@@GoldammerVintageWatches Wonderful and correct answer. At Your Own Risk (A.Y.O.R.).

[@GennaroAvilia]

I knew that tritium and radium keeps glowing continuously until they decay after years, even in the absence of light. Does this also apply to paint? Because from the video it would seem that when the UV light is turned off the tritium and radium, rather than simply losing intensity, to turn off completely