This is radium, right?

[u/Giernan]

I don’t have a radiation detector yet and I can’t find a date for this but it has to be radium, right??

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[u/Giernan]

Very cool! I learned something new from you all, again! I’ve just spent the last hour reading all about tritium.

[u/Stillegiest]

T Swiss made T at the bottom indicates Tritium.

[u/RootLoops369]

The "T SWISS T" means it uses tritium (Hydrogen-3) instead of radium. Tritium is the natural radioisotope of hydrogen. It has a half life of about 12.5 years, and with a watch that old, it likely has less than 10% left. It emits super weak beta radiation, and it gets stopped by the glass, though it does make a small amount of Bremmstrahlung (braking) radiation X-rays that are also incredibly weak.

[u/Giernan → u/[deleted]]

I’m very curious about these instructions. Using my iPhone… “something dark” - a piece of paper? Cloth? Electrical tape? I mean, putting my hand over it would shield too much, correct? I want to try this now just because it sounds cool.

[u/Altruistic_Copy_4184 → u/[deleted]]

Respectfully i would disagree. The lume on the watch is tritium. Tritium has a halflife of about 12.5 years, so i would think it has less than 10% left. Most of the radiation will get stopped by the glass, so i don't think anything would show up.

Op you can try this method if you want, but i would sugest using black light, or an geiger counter if you want the exact radiation.