Radium based luminous paint was banned in the 1960s on health grounds, when attitudes to risk were less precautionary than they are now, so to say that radium paint is less dangerous than a mobile phone, which in the 21st century clearly haven't been banned on health grounds, is plain wrong and highly irresponsible.Д¬aution is rarely a bad thing, but it doesn't get you much kudos on internet forums. It is safe to say that those who don't know what the panic is all about simply don't understand the subject and should be ignored. I even read a comment that the radiation from radium luminous paint is less dangerous than a mobile phone. If you вЂњconsultвЂќ internet watch forums you will find that some some people get very exercised about the dangers of radium paint, while others don't know what the panic is all about. Note that old radium paint no longer glows in the dark because the radiation burns out the fluorescent material over a short time, about 5 years, but the radium remains very nearly as radioactive as when the paint was new. These are called radioluminescent paints because their luminosity comes from radioactivity. There are broadly two types of luminous paint that a watch collector might encounter, modern luminous substances that are quite safe, or earlier paints based on radioactive materials such as radium that need to be treated with caution. Ever since military, and many civilian watches, have had luminous dials. This is discussed in more detail on my page about Trench Watches. Trench Watch with Radium Luminous Dial: ClickВ toВ enlargeДuring the Great War it was quickly realised that a watch with luminous hands and numbers was essential for an officer in the trenches, it allowed the time to be checked in low light or in the dark without using a light that could have attracted a shot from an enemy sniper. Bocks and Rams: IWC and Stauffer Trademarks.New product: Leather and Sterling Alberts.Savonnette and LГ©pine Watches and Cases.Converted Wristwatches - Transitional? No.

Bears Galore! Three Bears and 0в™№35 Silver.

Borgel 2: Taubert & Fils and Taubert FrГЁres.

Borgel 1: FranГ§ois Borgel and Louisa Borgel.

By 1915, a single gram cost what would be around $1.9 million in today's money, and that means many of the products didn't contain real radium - fortunately for consumers.Straps for Vintage Fixed Wire Lug Trench Watches or Officer's Wristwatches Children played with toys painted with radium, and performers on the New York stage danced and twirled in costumes that glowed.В Radium was in such high demand that prices soared. People drank radium water and brushed their teeth with radium toothpaste, and radium cosmetics were all the rage. right? Real doctors started experimenting with it as a cure for things like tuberculosis and lupus, while the quacks started marketing their own so-called cures for everything from acne and baldness to impotence and insanity. Early experiments using radium to kill cancer cells had been a success, and if it could kill cancer, surely, it could kill whatever else was ailing you. It really started in earnest in 1904, when LD Gardner began marketing a health water he called 'Liquid Sunshine.' According to the New York Historical Society, belief in radium's healthy benefits was rooted in a massive misstep in logic.

Radium glow