Radium Removal and Other Disasters

In this seven hour long realtime video I demonstrate how not to relume several watch dials, including two disastrous examples of how not to clean a dial (never use an ultrasonic cleaner on a dial).

The Consul Alarm has radioactive paint on the dial and hands that's no longer luminous. Originally radium was used to activate a luminous substance that is no longer luminous. Unfortunately, radium has a half life of 1600 years, so it is still emitting radiation and radon gas as the radium decays even though the paint itself is no longer luminous. In this video I remove that radium, and that gets me into trouble with the other paint and varnish on the dial of this watch.

I also relume several non-radioactive dials and several sets of hands and more mistakes are made.

I didn't use enough lume in the varnish, so all of the new lume was too thin and had to be redone.

I also tried to remove some "radium burn" from a 1940s Pierpont dial that already had the radium removed before I got the watch. The "burn" (discoloration of the enamel and varnish on the dial) bothered me. Unfortunately the only way I was able to remove led to completely destroying the dial.

I'm ashamed of the mistakes I made in this video. The worst thing is I knew better and I made the mistakes anyway. I was not as carful as I should have been, and I was not as thoughtful as I should have been.

I hope that by watching me make these mistakes someone out there may avoid making the same or similar mistakes themselves.

If you like the video please like and subscribe.

This is not a tutorial video. My videos are intended to show you the mistakes I make in learning watchmaking, not watchmaking itself. I strongly advise seeking out qualified teachers on YouTube or in the real world for actually learning watchmaking.

The NetIO GC10 that I use is no longer made. However, it uses an SBM-20 geiger muller tube, which is also used in the GQ GMC-300E and other geiger counters, so in theory if you find one of those it should perform similarly. Stian with Vintage Watch Services uses a GQ GMC-300E as shown in the video linked below in which he also talks about the dangers of radium and shows the protection that he uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6oPf3Pq6bU

The lume I used is Super Luminova, made by RCTritec in Switzerland: rctritec.com

The stand on my desk that I use to elevate my work area is an IKEA SIGFINN monitor stand.

My videos are for entertainment and educational purposes only. Critical / corrective comments and links to resources including other watchmaking channels are welcome.

#watchmaker #comedy #watchrepair #restoration