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# Radioactivity of antique watches with radium paint on hands and dials
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/vnimanie/
- Published: 2021-04-30T07:47:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:00:56.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Observations, Science

Attention. If any of you are admirers or owners of antique watches, the following information will be of use to you. This applies especially to owners of such makes as Patria, Lancet, Leonidas, Laco-Durowe, Longines, Kienzle, Weisco, Hanhart, Glashutte, Helvetia, Helma, Era, Atima-Sport, the Japanese Seikosha, the Soviet Sportivnye and ZChZ diving watches, and Kirov-made pieces of the first half of the twentieth century. A number of antique models from the makers named, and from lines not named, pose a serious danger to health because of the high content of radioactive elements in their hands and dials: right up to the mid-1960s, watches commonly used paints containing radium, invented at the very beginning of the century. If you simply have a very **old watch with luminous hands and numerals**, there is a high probability that it is **radioactive**. The background radiation of such watches can be three to four times the level permissible for the human organism, and it is especially dangerous if particles of this paint, or dust impregnated with the watch's radiation, get onto the skin or mucous membranes or inside the body. One should treat with great caution watches and instruments made for military needs: for aircraft, tanks and ships. They are almost certain to give off radiation. It is better not to keep such things at home, still less to carry them about on your person or wear them; that is my advice to you. If you have no household dosimeter, you can look online for information on the radiation of a particular watch model, or consult specialists. Radioactive paint can be removed from a watch, but this is rather difficult. And in general, do not forget to wash your hands and surfaces thoroughly with soap after any contact with such rarities. There are plenty of useful [articles](https://german242.com/articles/radiation/radiation.htm?ref=theparnassian.com) on the subject.