# Super-cheap watches; likely to have toxic luminous material?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 30, 2021, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855 "2021-01-30T09:42:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855/1 "2021-01-30T09:42:31Z")

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So I’ve been noticing some great men’s watches that are going for dirt cheap prices on Amazon - often $10-30 or less. But this has me wondering - are such watches likely to go cheap on their glow-in-the-dark material on watch hands and use toxic stuff? (since they appear to be luminous in the dark)

Are there regulations on this stuff? (they seem to be Japanese, FWIW)

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**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855/2 "2021-01-30T10:39:14Z")

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Don’t lick the stuff and you’ll be fine.

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855/3 "2021-01-30T15:11:39Z")

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If you’re thinking about the notorious radium dials, not only have they been out of use for decades, but the paint was far more expensive to produce than modern substitutes like zinc sulfide or strontium aluminate.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/super-cheap-watches-likely-to-have-toxic-luminous-material/931855/4 "2021-01-30T16:19:50Z")

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Right, that’s what I was going to say. Radium dials were for super _expensive_ (or at least not cheap) watches.