I just picked up a NOS Westclox Glo-Ben Style 1, manufactured from 1918-1927. There's no date or serial number on the back plate so I can't pinpoint the date of manufacture.

It came in the original box. along with the instructions.

I guess I'm the first one to wind it in around 100 years. It has merrily ticked for 24 hours and lost two minutes.

This was Westclox's initial foray into luminescent numbers and hands. They used radium bonded with zinc sulfide. The zinc sulfide glowed due to bombardment of the alpha particles from the radium. Unfortunately, this causes the crystalline structure of the zinc sulfide to break down. Of course, the hands and numbers no longer glow. It does, however, register strongly radioactive on my geiger counter.

Before anyone comments, I promise not to lick the dial.

Westclox produced all their luminous dials at their plant in Ottawa,IL - Ottawa Radium Dial Company.

They had 100 -200 young female workers to do the radium painting, paid $17.00 - $42.00 per week, depending on how many pieces were completed.

These are the Radium Girls most of you have read about. They used small paint brushes that were kept to a fine point with their lips. Unfortunately, they ingested large amounts of radium and many of them died of cancer in their prime of life. They did about 4300 dials a day.

There's more information here, along with a picture of the Ottawa Radium Girls at work. One of them probably painted my watch dial: http://www.roger-russell.com/r...tive/radioactive.htm

Mort

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