Marshall restores a vintage watch he found on eBay for a mere $35.00. The only problem? It doesn’t work, is in bad shape overall, and might be radioactive. Otherwise it’s great!
Come along as he restores another vintage watch and explains how he does it along the way 🙂
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14:19 I like your new style of your videos 👍 looks super sharp and clean
Sorry for the third comment. Regarding the "hands burning the dial", is it not just as likely that sunlight faded the rest of the dial and the hands created a shadow so that the dial faded less under the hands?
Also, perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see you do anything to clean the dial or hands. Is that because you were worried about disturbing the radium? Lastly, you are correct that the radium is not dangerous for those wearing the watch, but was dangerous to the factory workers who painted the face and hands and also to people like yourself who serviced the watch.
Could the dials have been cleaned more
I have a pair of Submariners that were made between 1995 and 1998. Is the lume in Rolex watches of that vintage radium, or something else? The lume in both of these watches is completely dead, and I have to wonder; if the lume in these watches is radium, and radium has a half-life of 1,600 years, then why does it quit glowing after only about 10?
Thank you. That was fun.
Well you are the master great vid
You never know with ebay… In 2016 I scored a mislabeled Rolex "big bubble back" in great condition with original riveted bracelet for $800 flat. I also once found a c1965 JLC automatic Memovox in minty shape for $99NR and was the only bidder. Ah, I miss those days… In more recent, less expensive/incredibly lucky instances, I've found lots of really interesting (and usually little known) brands and types of watches for cheap. The era from the late 1930s to say mid 1960s is my favorite, and ebay is overflowing with them; though often overpriced there's still the odd diamond in the rough out there if you have the time and patience!
As a sidenote, Omega is one of my favorite brands, and I'm amazed that so many of their vintage models are still so cheap — considering that they're excellent watches with in-house movements and certainly the equivalent quality to any similar model of Rolex (don't get me wrong, I love vintage Rolex myself and own several, but in terms of horological quality they are seriously overrated for the prices they command these days).
If it's radium, won't it glow without being charged? Seems like a simple go/no-go test. 🙂
How come you don't take apart and clean the jewels when cleaning the movement?
I love your channel I’m a mechanic by trade. I’ve always loved watches. I’m a collector of old watches. There is a lot of satisfaction restoring antic items bringing them back to life. I’m going to try my hand at it. Thanks for your time and effort. You have a great personality for this type of channel. Take care. Can’t wait for the next. Peace out. Dave from Nevada.
Nice to see it was repaired, I do think the old crown suited it better – new one is too large (I have a big collection of this era of watches). The radium problem is minor, but worth knowing about if the lume has crumbled/flaked when you come to open one up. Of course the big danger was to the people who applied it, directed to lick the brushes as they were applying the lume on a production line.
Just looking at the watch, I can tell you 100% it's radium lume. Consider a cheap radiation detector, they're only about $100. Stay safe!
Shouldnt he clean the hour/min/sec pointers ?
Hold on. Are you a commentator for MTG, or did you used to be??? I swear I am listening to your voice in a Nikachu video right now.
It's great to see a watch that was obviously loved get a new life… Nice film-making skills there and the commentary is awesome.
Ta the radium girls were practically ingesting this stuff when painting the watch parts, that’s what really messed them up. Alpha is mostly harmless from the outside. Anpiece of paper can practically stop it. I believe it’s the beta is the middle road, can cause some damage and can lead to trouble. Gamma
Is the big killer.
Fantastic! I’d be so happy wearing that watch
So, I'm going to jump in. Bought a bunch of used tools on EBay and have a couple of project watches. Also made a list of essential tools from your previous video. Would you mind sharing how many hours that you would spend on a watch like in this video? Keep up the excellent videos!
How much for that watch now? I really like it!
The hair spring is the spring in the balance right? So oil on that would make it run really badly or not at all?
Also – How do they make a screw that small? Could we have a video maybe on how various watch parts are made?
Alpha particles are basically Helium nuclei. They are made of two protons and two neutrons. They are stopped by pretty much anything including your skin. In a watch they won't be dangerous at all. If you were to get the Lume on your fingers and then lick your fingers you could well be in trouble because inside your body it's a very different story – they are quite dangerous indeed if an alpha particle source is injected or ingested. Alpha particles are heavy compared to other types of radiation and once inside the body they can cause tissue damage making them more dangerous than X or Gamma Rays if a source is inside your body. ( We learned this in highschool physics in the UK in the 80's. Not sure if it's still taught ).
Looks similar to the Rolex aviator watches of the 1940's. It was a slim design favoured by the RCAF that wasn't prone to catching on instrumentation in the cockpit. In Canada, the inner workings were made by Rolex but the face, body and strap were products of Canada.
It was called the Rolex Sky-Rocket.
Why is this so mesmerizing ? What is going on ?
I watched the whole thing and still don't know why.
Very relaxing, stress is gone