Why not to buy this watch.......................

[Mervyn Mitton]

This is a South African - probably WW2 - military pocket watch. There are good markings on the back.

Make a guess and see if you can think why I wouldn't buy this at any price ? (I can give the seller's phone no.)

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[Mervyn Mitton]

The Board of Ordnance Broad Arrow and the letter 'U' around it show South African issue.

Yes - you're quite right - the risk of radiation poison from the numerals is very high. The

last one I had set off a geiger counter from across the room !

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[peter monahan]

I knew a chap years ago who collected, among other things, German wrist watches from WWII. He discovered that he couldn't find a jeweller to work on them because of the horrible amounts of radioactivity they gave off. Scary stuff! I wonder how many bobbies und soldaten finished up with skin cancer from them.

[Rogi]

From what it looks like here, you would need to see the movement to make a approximate estimation of the watch, from the style it looks like mid 30s, probobly 1934 to 1935, I wouldn't say WW2 issue, it may have been engraved later on, but the style doesn't fit WW2.

Now the thing with radium is that most radium in older model watches isn't the item that ruins the luminosity. If applied properly in proportion, most of those watches from that time period should still have luminous potential and be highly radioactive (half life of radium is something like 1,700 years or so, I might be off by a couple hundred up or down) it is the zinc sulfide fluorescence that in combination with the radium deteriorates the watch's luminosity. As long as the gaskets are well maintained and still holding the WR (if it had any to begin with) you shouldn't worry about the radioactivity all that much, any competant watch maker can always swap out the material and replace it with the new material that is being used at this period like super luminova which replaced tritium etc, the most tell tale sign that the radioactivity has occured is when the luminous material changes to a brown or greenish hue in the timepiece.

Other than the point of origin or sales market of that watch being fake (ie not intended for military use), I don't see much that could be incorrect with that timepiece. Most dealers end up buying a time piece that could derive from a military origin, sometimes it is faked, having the usual military symbols just engraved on the caseback of a civilian designated watch which wasn't used for military purposes, doesn't take much of the forger's skill to initiate. Unless you have an actual original piece its sometimes very hard to tell real from fake.

(how do I know these things...I have an unhealthy relationship with watches specifically modern/ vintage omega and pocket watches )

P.S. Any knowledgable dealer would probobly work on a watch that had tritium or radium components, even the older model vintage watches with exceedingly huge amounts of radium almost don't compare to modern tritium in some cases, and its such a small exposure time to replace the dial that most will end up doing it, just a simple dial replacement and depositing the old dial into the radioactive waste container. Dentists play with x-rays all the time and there much more hasardous than a 30s radium dial)

Edited April 30, 2013 by Rogi

[Mervyn Mitton]

Thankyou for that detailed info. Rogi. A bit scary that you know so much on the subject. Probably is 1930's - has that 'solid' look about it. However,

say what you will, I saw the geiger readings and someone else is welcome to put it in their collection............... Mervyn

[Rogi]

Thankyou for that detailed info. Rogi. A bit scary that you know so much on the subject. Probably is 1930's - has that 'solid' look about it. However,

say what you will, I saw the geiger readings and someone else is welcome to put it in their collection............... Mervyn

No worries at all I tried to do as much research as possible before making my purchases on these pieces so it stems from a bit there, I'm pretty hooked on Omega Most modern watches have similar "Super luminova" in them, which have a trace of the older tritium style markings on the bottom section, except highly dulled down so it doesn't emite any harmful effects. Depending on the company they use and apply it in coats of "paint" like material. Any modern watch has very little compared to our older counter parts.

The funy thing is, most companies used to (not sure if they do now or not) use the same formula for luminous material just slightly tweaked here ane there, and there is only one major company (or was one major, I stoped tracking the trend in luminous material a while ago) that owns the patents for the luminous material, so everyone from Seiko to Tissot to Tag to Omega have to go through them to get the sample formula for their specific luminous material. It may be because of the modern version of tritium and its effects if not handled correctly.

Regardless if it is vintage or not, even modern watches can have amounts of tritium that if they come in contact with skin (ie the crystal breaks and the luminous material on the hands or dial is somehow smeared onto your skin) can harm.

Regards,

Igor