DIY lume tutorial

[kbh]

Oh right, I would be interested in finding out more on the process too.  It's an area of watches which fascinates me, and has since I was a kid.

 

Is it true that in old watches this lume was/is radio active?  Or is this a myth I was told many moons ago?

Many women died years ago from years of using tritium lume.

 

"Before they used tritium they used radium and it was painted directly

onto the dials. This still wasn't a problem for the wearer of the watch

but for the people who applied it in the factories ( mostly young women)

there were many deaths. They used to lick the brushes to make a fine

point and this lead to cancer and death."

[SSTEEL]

Blimey, so it is true.  Thanks for letting me know.  I gather the new procedure is safe, but what is used now exactly ?

[panerai153]

radium was deadly!! it's a radioactive isotope. back around the late fifties, when the Radium "Scare ' was at it's height, Rolex actually tried to get back all the 6542's that had the bakelite bezel inserts because it was determiined that there was too much radium on the dial, hands and insert to be safe. I have seen copies of the letter that Rolex sent to watch owners urging them to return the watches for a bezel exchange. They were replaced with aluminum inserts like the later 1675's.

 

No need to worry, all of the lume used today is non-radioactive and has been for many years.

 

Someone asked for a photo of BGW9 here is a MKII Kingston with BGW9 lume.

 

 

[gmtlover]

Wow!! Great lume! Thanks