![]() By the 1960s the amount of radium used in watch dials was approximately one-hundredth the amount used in the early 1900s in 1968 it was banned altogether. The usage of the material was then greatly scaled back. and further tightening of industrial safety regulations. The silver lining to all this was that litigation paved the way for increased legal protection of workers in the U.S. By 1927, dial painter Grace Fryer and a handful of other women - known as the “ Radium Girls” - sought compensation from the United States Radium Corporation, a major employer of dial painters in the U.S. But when workers began suffering from anemia, bone fractures, necrosis of the jaw, and eventually death, it became clear these women were misled. The material in question: radium, which, when mixed with zinc sulfide (a phosphor) produced a bright grow.Įmployers told the women there would be no ill effects from ingestion and exposure to the material, despite the fact that factory owners and scientists did take precaution when handling larger quantities of radium. Workers also began to paint their fingernails with the glowing material. The luminous material was painted on with a brush that was kept sharp by pointing the bristles with the tongue. The tech was cutting-edge at the time, and with the need for legible watch dials for soldiers during WWI, workers could take pride in helping the war effort. It was a glamorous gig that required artistry and skill. As long as your watch exists, Super-LumiNova continues to illuminate its dial or bezel.In the 1910s and ’20s, a working-class woman could make a decent living painting luminous material onto watch dials. Super-LumiNova suffers no aging or decay. The self-luminous compound absorbs sunlight or artificial light and then re-emits that light in darkness with a glow that lasts for hours. Similar photoluminous compounds are marketed under other brand names, but Super-LumiNova, as used in diving or sport watches like Vathos or Nikos, has become the modern standard for watch luminescence. Later, it partnered with Swiss-based RC TRITEC to produce Swiss Super-LumiNova. introduced a LumiNova pigment in the early 1990s. Luckily for watch enthusiasts, the Japanese enterprise, Nemoto & Co. Super-LumiNova lasts the entire lifetime of your watch. Plus, both chemicals are still radioactive. Those last two don’t last a very long time, considering horology spans centuries and even modern watches are often slated to become heirlooms. Tritium’s is around 12, and promethium’s is about 17. This is an exponential measurement that looks at how long it takes for brightness to reduce by half. The luminescence of watches used to be measured by half-life. Radium was first replaced by tritium and promethium, which had much lower levels of radiation. Today’s lume is actually photolumin escent strontium aluminate.Ī mouthful, yes, but a non-toxic mouthful, especially compared to the radium luminescence that poisoned 1920s watch painters, who were told to lick paint brushes to keep the ends fine. Like many things in our lives today, technology has made it safe, reliable, easy to use, and accessible. Vathos’ bezel, hands, and markers glow at night or underwater. It’s this writer’s opinion that contemporary luminescence-or lume, as watch people like to call it-is not just warmer on the color scale, but warmer in feel, too. Who really wants to pull out their phone on a moonlit stroll or when the night gets turnt up in a club? Your screen’s blue light is good for a lot, but it lacks the charm and story of luminescence. It’s nice to know it’s there if you need it, but it’s just as nice to be able to read your watch in the dark without it being a life-or-death scenario. If it’s off, it’s off in favor of you getting to the surface before you run out of time.īut not everyone is going to use the luminosity on a watch like Vathos for diving. If you were to accidentally knock the bezel out of place, you’d still be safe, too. The rotating bezel is luminescent and works in tandem with luminescent hands and markers, so divers can do the math on staying alive underwater. Ever wondered why diving watches have that little pip at the top of the bezel? It’s so divers can keep it analog and still tell how much oxygen is left in their tanks.
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