![]() ![]() This example is perhaps one of the rarest iterations of the Mk 11. It was, without doubt the most advanced watch issued to the military at the time. With a thick iron dial and a soft iron dust cap, this created a Faraday cage, protecting the movement from any interference from the other equipment on the plane. The Mk 11 watches can lay claim to be the first watch that was built from the ground up to be antimagnetic. These all stemmed from real needs from pilot’s in the RAF who relied on these watches both for navigation and timing purposes. Some of the 6B/346 specs included the need to be regulated or adjusted to a chronometer level, the need for a hacking function, for it to be waterproof and to be anti-magnetic. Considered by many to be the original Pilot’s watch, it was made to the incredibly strict 6B/346 specifications and was one of the costliest commissions for a wristwatch by a military. Tritium, however, is significantly less radioactive than radium, meaning it was safe enough to be painted onto watch dials for decades, until the early 1990s when a couple of even safer alternatives - still used today - took its place.The Mk 11 wristwatch issued to the British Royal Air Force (RAF) was aviation’s equivalent to the marine chronometer- aptly nicknamed the air chronometer. Tritium operates under the same chemical principles as radium - the material undergoes decay, releasing electrons that trigger zinc sulfide to glow. Another radioactive material, tritium, arose as a successor. 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 glow.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. In the 1910s and ’20s, a working-class woman could make a decent living painting luminous material onto watch dials. There's some interesting science behind it, different methods of illuminating a dial - and some surprising history. But watchnerds are especially into their watch "lume." That's the term they use for the luminescent material that keeps their watches legible in the dark, and it's all but essential to any sport watch. You don't need to be a watchnerd for a glow-in-the-dark watch dial to elicit a childlike sense of delight. ![]()
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