Elgin WWII Enlisted Man's Watch

A restored Elgin WWII enlisted man's watch. Fifteen jewels and in great, restored shape.

I have bought a lot of stuff on eBay. The majority have been damn good deals and stuff I could never find locally. However, I did make one purchase that didn't work out for me.

Last year I bought a restored WWII watch that looked beautiful and the seller had near-perfect feedback. The watch was beautiful when I received it. Unfortunately there was a problem with the hands coming in contact with each other so I sent it back. The seller did a great job fixing it and even sent back another strap for my trouble. The watch functions perfectly. It keeps time better than my Rolex.

Then I found out the watch was radioactive! Yikes. I read that watches from this era often had radium-filled hands and hour markers. At the time I was working at the scientific nonprofit so I had great access to tests for radioactivity. Tim, the lab manager, placed a geiger counter over the face of the watch and the meter went nuts! I was scared shitless. I instantly thought of contracting all kinds of cancer.

There was a famous study of women who worked in plants that manufactured these dials. Many of them came down with throat cancer. But then you have to consider the circumstances. These women worked eight hour shifts and constantly wetted the paintbrush used to apply radium with their tongues. It is not the common contact that one has with a wristwatch.

The watch generates two millirems per hour. I really didn't know what this meant so I did some research. It really isn't that bad. Millions of people wore these watches during the 1930's and 40's and there has been no correlation with forms of cancer or other disease. Also, there is a low level of radioactivity in the atmosphere. You just can't avoid it. The watch is probably fine to wear. I just don't want to take a chance.

Kindly remember to keep the watch away from your reproductive organs if you want to have kids!!

[Note: I no longer have this watch as I sold it. I did state in my ad that the hands were radium-filled.]