![]() He also contributed to technological advances in the field of free-diving, particularly improving assemblies used by no-limits divers. His diving philosophy was to reach a state of mind based on relaxation and yoga breathing, with which he could accomplish apnea. During his lifetime, he helped introduce the then-elitist sport of free-diving into the mainstream. Mayol’s lifelong passion for diving was based on his love for the ocean, his personal philosophy, and his desire to explore his own limits. During the scientific research phase of his career, Mayol tried to answer the question of whether man had a hidden aquatic potential that could be evoked by rigorous physiological and psychological training. ![]() ![]() On 23 November 1976, at 49, he became the first free diver to descend to 100 meters (330 ft), and when he was 56 he managed to descend to 105 meters (344 ft). Mayol was one of the screenwriters and authored the book Homo Delphinus: the Dolphin Within Man of his philosophy about the aquatic origins of humans. Jacques Mayol was a French diver and the holder of many world records in free diving. But do you guys have any thoughts? Does anyone else own one of these and know about its dial? Thanks for your help.Over his diving career there were a number of excellent dive watches that Mayol could have relied on, but his preference was Aquastar and he relied on several several Aquastar models including the Deepstar, Benthos 500, the 63 and Regate. I could be creating a false dichotomy here, and I won't know for sure until I've measured it. I've attached a picture of it, by the way it's a Seth Thomas Echo 3E. The question is, can the zinc-sulfide in a radium dial deteriorate to such a level that, while it still glows from being exposed to a very bright light, it does not spontaneously glow from the radium? If the answer is yes, then I may be in trouble but if the answer is no, then I'm probably safe. My dial glows in the dark when a light is shined on it, a property of zinc-sulfide, so it probably contains some zinc-sulfide. Thus, if it was a radium dial in 1940 or whenever, it's still just as much a radium dial today, and if a radium dial doesn't glow in the dark of its own accord, then it's because the zinc-sulfide paint has deteriorated. My reasoning is that any radium in the dial when it was made is still there now (the half-life is something like 1400 years). That said, I'm concerned because the clock looks to have been made before 1950 and it does glow in the dark. (An insufficient but necessary condition for ruling out radium).īasically, the dial behaves exactly like the non-radioactive glow-in-the-dark stuff that they put in vampire teeth for Halloween costumes. No dead-giveaways, like "sterile," non-oxidized areas around the numbers or brown spots on the crystal. While I didn't press my eyeballs right up to the glass, I strained but still saw no glow.ģ. The dial becomes very dim in less than 5 minutes and is completely dark after well less than an hour. The glow isn't brilliant, but it's certainly visible.Ģ. The dial doesn't glow unless it's held very close to a bright light. I'm going to take the thing to my college's physics department to see if one of them has a Geiger counter to point at it, but meanwhile I have embarked upon a thought experiment that you all may find interesting, and I am questioning whether the dial has radium. In my defense, I didn't realize that it was luminescing until I happened to position it in the sunlight, I hadn't thought about radium dials in a while, and the case's seal is anything but airtight (hence why I'd consider pitching it if it has radium). ![]() That said, I had a momentary lapse of reason when I got my vintage alarm clock (not a watch, sorry if it's not exactly on-topic) in the mail today and opened it up to wipe off the inside of the crystal. I'm aware of the dangers of radium dials and the associated dust.
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