Info on Vintage Radium Watch

[radiumgeiger64]

I recently bought this radium-dial wrist watch and I was having trouble finding what brand it is (I've already searched for Radium USA). I'm guessing it is probably from the 20s or 30s. I would open up the case to give you more info but I do not feel safe doing so, at least without a proper survey meter. Do any of you recognize the logo, or could Radium USA mean United States Radium Corporation?

Thanks!

 

[Jim Haney]

Welcome to the NAWCC Forums

The symbol is for Montgomery Ward's.

They didn't make any watches, we will need a good clear pic of the movement to ID it.

 

[radiumgeiger64]

Welcome to the NAWCC Forums

The symbol is for Montgomery Ward's.

They didn't make any watches, we will need a good clear pic of the movement to ID it.

Wow, interesting!

 

[roughbarked]

Radium cannot enter your body through the skin but you can transfer it to mouth nose and eyes, which is where you don't want it. You also do not want to fluff up any dust and breathe it in.
This is if you were thinking about opening the watch to show us the movement. If you take care and use precaution, you should be fine.

 

[roughbarked]

Anyway, the movement would likely be one like this,

bidfun-db Archive: Watch Movements: Bulova 7AH (ETA 735)

www.ranfft.de

bidfun-db Archive: Watch Movements: ETA 849

www.ranfft.de

 

[gatorcpa]

There is no question about the origin of the logo. Definitely Montgomery-Ward's

Cover of 1935 Catalog.

Pocket watch with a logo similar to that of the first post:

Note the name at the bottom. Also, a "U.S.A" marking. The "Radium" marking is probably meant as a warning to a prospective watchmaker of hazardous materials on the dial. The movement is likely a USA made low-grade pin pallet or similar. MW did market some higher grade Swiss watches, so it could be one of those also.

Hope this helps,
gatorcpa

 

[JTD]

The "Radium" marking is probably meant as a warning to a prospective watchmaker of hazardous materials on the dial.

In my opinion that is unlikely. At that time people did not worry much about Radium being hazardous and anything with connected with 'Radium' was considered modern, innovative and a selling point. A great many products (some of them very odd indeed!) were 'dressed up' with radium, even if it was just as a name.

But that's just my opinion.

JTD

 

[roughbarked]

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/10755470211044111

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354046883_Selling_healthy_radium_products_with_science_A_multimodal_analysis_of_marketing_in_Sweden_1910-1940

Radium traffic: radiation, science and spiritualism in early twentieth-century Japan | Medical History | Cambridge Core

Radium traffic: radiation, science and spiritualism in early twentieth-century Japan - Volume 65 Issue 1

www.cambridge.org