Misplaced Pages

#968031

96-648: The name Milgauss is derived from the French mille , which means one-thousand, and gauss, the unit of a magnetic field. The Rolex Milgauss was discontinued in 2023. The original Milgauss was very similar to the appearance of the Rolex Submariner , with an oversized case and bezel, with the Twinlock crown, and a riveted Oyster bracelet. Although the Milgauss went through only two different models (6541, 1019)

192-666: A mercury cathode , producing radium–mercury amalgam . This amalgam was then heated in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas to remove the mercury, leaving pure radium metal. Later that same year, E. Ebler isolated radium metal by thermal decomposition of its azide , Ra(N 3 ) 2 . Radium metal was first industrially produced at the beginning of the 20th century by Biraco , a subsidiary company of Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK) in its Olen plant in Belgium. The metal became an important export of Belgium from 1922 up until World War II. The general historical unit for radioactivity,

288-546: A 7206 riveted bracelet in his first two Bond movies, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun . Timothy Dalton is so far the last Bond actor to wear a Rolex in the Bond franchise; he wore a Submariner with a date window in his last Bond film, Licence to Kill . The watch may have been a 16800 or 168000, as the movie was shot in the summer of 1988. From GoldenEye onwards, James Bond wears different versions of

384-502: A depending on the source a 40.5 or 41.0  mm (1.59 or 1.61  in ) diameter, a thickness of 12.3 mm (0.48 in) and an anti-reflective coating applied on the inner side of the crystal. Like the watch case, the lug width has also been enlarged to 21.0  mm (0.83  in ). The No-Date model features a caliber 3230 movement and the Date model features a caliber 3235 movement. Both are COSC certified. From 1970 onwards,

480-538: A gas can enter the body far more readily than can its parent radium. The first published recommendations for protection against radium and radiation in general were made by the British X-ray and Radium Protection Committee and were adopted internationally in 1928 at the first meeting of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), following preliminary guidance written by

576-411: A result of the lawsuit, and an extensive study by the U.S. Public Health Service, the adverse effects of radioactivity became widely known, and radium-dial painters were instructed in proper safety precautions and provided with protective gear. Radium continued to be used in dials, especially in manufacturing during World War II , but from 1925 onward there were no further injuries to dial painters. From

672-447: A skin lesion, suggesting the use of radium to attack cancerous tissue as it had attacked healthy tissue. Handling of radium has been blamed for Marie Curie's death, due to aplastic anemia , though analysis of her levels of radium exposure done after her death find them within accepted safe levels and attribute her illness and death to her use of radiography . A significant amount of radium's danger comes from its daughter radon, which as

768-445: A technique called Coulomb excitation . Radium only exhibits the oxidation state of +2 in solution. It forms the colorless Ra cation in aqueous solution , which is highly basic and does not form complexes readily. Most radium compounds are therefore simple ionic compounds, though participation from the 6s and 6p electrons (in addition to the valence 7s electrons) is expected due to relativistic effects and would enhance

864-576: A treatment that was administered to children to treat hearing loss and chronic otitis . The procedure was also administered to airmen and submarine crew to treat barotrauma . Early in the 1900s, biologists used radium to induce mutations and study genetics . As early as 1904, Daniel MacDougal used radium in an attempt to determine whether it could provoke sudden large mutations and cause major evolutionary shifts. Thomas Hunt Morgan used radium to induce changes resulting in white-eyed fruit flies. Nobel-winning biologist Hermann Muller briefly studied

960-474: A unidirectional rotatable bezel with Cerachrom ceramic insert, and a solid-link Oyster bracelet. The models underwater diving depth rating is 300 metres (1,000 ft). The Submariner model went into production in 1953 and was showcased at the Basel Watch Fair in 1954. This first Submariner's assigned case reference number was either 6204 or 6205. It is unclear which model came first; in any event,

1056-424: A yellow gold with a blue face and bezel and a new white gold with a blue face and bezel. The stainless steel case model was presented at the 2010 Basel show. Its reference is 116610. An anti-reflective coating was applied to the inner side of the sapphire crystal. The steel 14060M did not have these modifications. At the 2012 BaselWorld watch show, an updated steel Submariner ref 114060 was introduced. It replaced

SECTION 10

#1732787184969

1152-479: Is carcinogenic due to the radioactivity of both it and its immediate decay product radon as well as its tendency to accumulate in the bones . Radium, in the form of radium chloride , was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 from ore mined at Jáchymov . They extracted the radium compound from uraninite and published the discovery at the French Academy of Sciences five days later. Radium

1248-418: Is a colorless, luminescent compound. It becomes yellow after some time due to self-damage by the alpha radiation given off by radium when it decays. Small amounts of barium impurities give the compound a rose color . Its It is soluble in water, though less so than barium chloride , and its solubility decreases with increasing concentration of hydrochloric acid . Crystallization from aqueous solution gives

1344-523: Is considered "a classic among wristwatches", manufactured by one of the world's most widely recognized luxury brands. Due to its huge popularity, there are many homage watches by well-established watchmakers, as well as illegal counterfeits . The Rolex Submariner is part of Rolex's Professional line . Today, the Submariner and Submariner Date models are equipped with Rolex Calibres 3230 and 3235, respectively, and feature luminescent hour markers,

1440-427: Is either 700 °C (1,292 °F) or 960 °C (1,760 °F) and its boiling point is 1,737 °C (3,159 °F); however, this is not well established. Both of these values are slightly lower than those of barium, confirming periodic trends down the group 2 elements. Like barium and the alkali metals , radium crystallizes in the body-centered cubic structure at standard temperature and pressure :

1536-451: Is extremely resistant to scratches and corrosion. Apart from its resistance to magnetic fields, the Milgauss' most unusual feature is its orange lightning-bolt second hand, a unique feature originally introduced with the 6541 Milgauss model. In 2008, the recommended retail price was $ 6,200 and it was selling at or below this price. A short time before its release, resellers and retailers were asking as much as double retail in anticipation of

1632-576: Is isolated by reducing radium oxide with aluminium metal in a vacuum at 1,200 °C. In 1954, the total worldwide supply of purified radium amounted to about 5 pounds (2.3 kg). Zaire and Canada were briefly the largest producers of radium in the late 1970s. As of 1997. the chief radium-producing countries were Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and Russia. The annual production of radium compounds

1728-425: Is less costly and available in larger quantities, were usually used to replace the historical use of radium in this application, but factors including increasing costs of cobalt and risks of keeping radioactive sources on site have led to an increase in the use of linear particle accelerators for the same applications. In the U.S., from 1940 through the 1960s, radium was used in nasopharyngeal radium irradiation,

1824-476: Is mostly Ra) emits mostly alpha particles , but other steps in its decay chain (the uranium or radium series ) emit alpha or beta particles , and almost all particle emissions are accompanied by gamma rays . Experimental nuclear physics studies have shown that nuclei of several radium isotopes, such as Ra, Ra and Ra, have reflection-asymmetric ("pear-like") shapes. In particular, this experimental information on radium-224 has been obtained at ISOLDE using

1920-467: Is one of the less biologically dangerous radium compounds. The large ionic radius of Ra (148 pm) results in weak ability to form coordination complexes and poor extraction of radium from aqueous solutions when not at high pH. All isotopes of radium have half-lives much shorter than the age of the Earth , so that any primordial radium would have decayed long ago. Radium nevertheless still occurs in

2016-524: Is poorly characterized, as the reaction of radium with air results in the formation of radium nitride . Radium hydroxide (Ra(OH) 2 ) is formed via the reaction of radium metal with water, and is the most readily soluble among the alkaline earth hydroxides and a stronger base than its barium congener, barium hydroxide . It is also more soluble than actinium hydroxide and thorium hydroxide : these three adjacent hydroxides may be separated by precipitating them with ammonia . Radium chloride (RaCl 2 )

SECTION 20

#1732787184969

2112-420: Is radium-205m with a half-life between 130~230 milliseconds; this is still shorter than twenty-four ground-state radium isotopes. Ra is the most stable isotope of radium and is the last isotope in the (4 n + 2) decay chain of uranium-238 with a half-life of over a millennium; it makes up almost all of natural radium. Its immediate decay product is the dense radioactive noble gas radon (specifically

2208-407: Is the most common isotope of the element, making up about one part per trillion of the Earth's crust; essentially all natural radium is Ra. Thus, radium is found in tiny quantities in the uranium ore uraninite and various other uranium minerals , and in even tinier quantities in thorium minerals. One ton of pitchblende typically yields about one seventh of a gram of radium. One kilogram of

2304-455: Is the only radioactive member of its group. Its physical and chemical properties most closely resemble its lighter congener , barium . Pure radium is a volatile , lustrous silvery-white metal, even though its lighter congeners calcium , strontium , and barium have a slight yellow tint. Radium's lustrous surface rapidly becomes black upon exposure to air, likely due to the formation of radium nitride (Ra 3 N 2 ). Its melting point

2400-519: The Earth's crust contains about 900  picograms of radium, and one liter of sea water contains about 89  femtograms of radium. Radium was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie on 21 December 1898 in a uraninite (pitchblende) sample from Jáchymov . While studying the mineral earlier, the Curies removed uranium from it and found that the remaining material

2496-524: The Omega Seamaster . Radium Radium is a chemical element ; it has symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table , also known as the alkaline earth metals . Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) upon exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra 3 N 2 ). All isotopes of radium are radioactive ,

2592-680: The Röntgen Society . This meeting led to further developments of radiation protection programs coordinated across all countries represented by the commission. Exposure to radium is still regulated internationally by the ICRP, alongside the World Health Organization . The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publishes safety standards and provides recommendations for the handling of and exposure to radium in its works on naturally occurring radioactive materials and

2688-438: The covalent character of radium compounds such as RaF 2 and Ra At 2 . For this reason, the standard electrode potential for the half-reaction Ra (aq) + 2e → Ra (s) is −2.916  V , even slightly lower than the value −2.92 V for barium, whereas the values had previously smoothly increased down the group (Ca: −2.84 V; Sr: −2.89 V; Ba: −2.92 V). The values for barium and radium are almost exactly

2784-436: The curie , is based on the radioactivity of Ra. it was originally defined as the radioactivity of one gram of radium-226, but the definition was later refined to be 3.7 × 10  disintegrations per second . Radium was formerly used in self-luminous paints for watches, aircraft switches, clocks, and instrument dials and panels. A typical self-luminous watch that uses radium paint contains around 1 microgram of radium. In

2880-459: The decay chains of primordial thorium-232 , uranium-235 , and uranium-238 ( Ra from uranium-235, Ra from uranium-238, and the other two from thorium-232). These isotopes nevertheless still have half-lives too short to be primordial radionuclides , and only exist in nature from these decay chains. Together with the mostly artificial Ra (15 d), which occurs in nature only as a decay product of minute traces of neptunium-237 , these are

2976-541: The standard model . Some radium isotopes, such as radium-225, have octupole deformed parity doublets that enhance sensitivity to charge parity violating new physics by two to three orders of magnitude compared to Hg. Radium is also a promising candidate for trapped ion optical clocks . The radium ion has two subhertz-linewidth transitions from the   7 s 2 S 1 / 2   {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {7s^{2}S_{1/2}} \ } ground state that could serve as

Rolex Milgauss - Misplaced Pages Continue

3072-485: The 14060M, with the newer "Super Case" with wider lug end shoulders, enlarged crown guards, enlarged "Chromalight" hour markers and broader hands for increased visibility, ceramic bezel inlay, blue Parachrom hairspring and bracelet with solely solid links featuring ceramic axle sleeves to prevent premature wear or bracelet stretch and a "Glidelock" extension system allowing for up to 20.0 mm (0.79 in) of total adjustment in 2.0 mm (0.079 in) increments without

3168-419: The 1910s to the 1970s, it was used as a radioactive source for radioluminescent devices and also in radioactive quackery for its supposed curative power. In nearly all of its applications, radium has been replaced with less dangerous radioisotopes , with one of its few remaining non-medical uses being the production of actinium in nuclear reactors . Radium is the heaviest known alkaline earth metal and

3264-538: The 1960s and 70s, it has become rare in today's vintage watch market. A vintage Milgauss signed by Tiffany & Co. sold in 2008 for over $ 32,000. A Rolex Milgauss was sold by Phillips Auctioneers in May 2023 for 2.24 million Swiss francs (US$ 2.5 million), setting a new record for the model. In 2007, Rolex brought back the Milgauss after nearly 20 years, as model number 116400. The model initially came in three versions: A black dial with white batons and orange squares on

3360-511: The 1960s has tarnished to yellow over time. The radiation dose from an intact device is usually only a hazard when many devices are grouped together or if the device is disassembled or tampered with. Radium was once an additive in products such as cosmetics, soap, razor blades, and even beverages due to its supposed curative powers. Many contemporary products were falsely advertised as being radioactive. Such products soon fell out of vogue and were prohibited by authorities in many countries after it

3456-450: The 1960s the use of radium paint was discontinued. In many cases luminous dials were implemented with non-radioactive fluorescent materials excited by light; such devices glow in the dark after exposure to light, but the glow fades. Where long-lasting self-luminosity in darkness was required, safer radioactive promethium -147 (half-life 2.6 years) or tritium (half-life 12 years) paint was used; both continue to be used as of 2018. These had

3552-405: The 5512 (chronometer version) and 5513 (non-chronometer), marked a significant change in the appearance of the popular Rolex design. "Shoulders" were added to the case's crown side to protect the winding/setting mechanism. In early watches—until 1964, these shoulders were pyramid-shaped and ended in points. Later watches were manufactured with rounded shoulders. The 5512 and 5513 were both fitted with

3648-498: The Deepsea and Sea-Dweller models, which were designed for saturation diving where people have to spend multiple days in pressurized environments. The DeepSea Challenge features a 50 mm case that guarantees a depth of 11,000 metres (36,000 ft).. The Rolex Submariner has appeared in a number of James Bond movies . Sean Connery wore a reference 6538 in his first four movies. In Dr. No and From Russia with Love ,

3744-544: The French diving company COMEX received a special version of Rolex Submariner 5513 featuring a helium release valve for their saturation divers . This version of the Submariner was based on the Sea Dweller designed for the needs of professional divers working at great depths and not the other way around as often claimed. In 1974, the first double-signed dials featuring the Comex logo were introduced followed by changing

3840-774: The IAEA and ICRP. For example, in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency -defined Maximum Contaminant Level for radium is 5 pCi/L for drinking water; at the time of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, the "tolerance level" for workers was set at 0.1 micrograms of ingested radium. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not specifically set exposure limits for radium, and instead limits ionizing radiation exposure in units of roentgen equivalent man based on

3936-461: The Mercedes hand set, a feature of all subsequent Submariners. The 6200 also featured an oversized winding crown compared to the 6204 and 6205 models. Within a few years, Rolex revised its Submariner line, producing the 6536 (small crown) and 6538 (oversized crown) models. These watches had "improved" movements (the cal. 1030), including a chronometer version in some 6536 models (designated 6536/1),

Rolex Milgauss - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-439: The Milgauss went through numerous configuration changes before being discontinued in 1986. In the 1960s, Rolex launched the Milgauss ref. 1019. However, this particular model looks so different from its predecessors that at first glance the Milgauss link (aside from the red MILGAUSS text) is not immediately clear. The Milgauss remains a sought-after model amongst Rolex collectors due to its relatively low sales and popularity during

4128-500: The Submariner, with a thicker case and crystal, as well as a date feature, minus the date magnifying lens ("cyclops"). The Sea-Dweller incorporates a helium escape valve for use when decompressing and helium is in the gas mixture of a pressurized habitat; this model (ref 16600) has a guaranteed waterproof depth of 1,220 metres (4,000 ft). The Sea-Dweller was superseded by the DeepSea Sea-Dweller in late 2008, with

4224-404: The added advantage of not degrading the phosphor over time, unlike radium. Tritium as it is used in these applications is considered safer than radium, as it emits very low-energy beta radiation (even lower-energy than the beta radiation emitted by promethium) which cannot penetrate the skin, unlike the gamma radiation emitted by radium isotopes. Clocks, watches, and instruments dating from

4320-421: The air, making it glow. The alpha particles emitted by radium quickly gain two electrons to become neutral helium , which builds up inside and weakens radium bromide crystals. This effect sometimes causes the crystals to break or even explode. Radium nitrate (Ra(NO 3 ) 2 ) is a white compound that can be made by dissolving radium carbonate in nitric acid . As the concentration of nitric acid increases,

4416-408: The biological effects of radium include the first case of "radium-dermatitis", reported in 1900, two years after the element's discovery. The French physicist Antoine Becquerel carried a small ampoule of radium in his waistcoat pocket for six hours and reported that his skin became ulcerated . Pierre Curie attached a tube filled with radium to his arm for ten hours, which resulted in the appearance of

4512-429: The bones. This is because the body treats radium as calcium and deposits it in the bones , where radioactivity degrades marrow and can mutate bone cells . Exposure to radium, internal or external, can cause cancer and other disorders, because radium and radon emit alpha and gamma rays upon their decay, which kill and mutate cells. Radium is generally considered the most toxic of the radioactive elements. Some of

4608-418: The broader International Basic Safety Standards, which are not enforced by the IAEA but are available for adoption by members of the organization. In addition, in efforts to reduce the quantity of old radiotherapy devices that contain radium, the IAEA has worked since 2022 to manage and recycle disused Ra sources. In several countries, further regulations exist and are applied beyond those recommended by

4704-442: The clock transition in an optical clock. A Ra+ trapped ion atomic clock has been demonstrated on the   7 s 2 S 1 / 2   {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {7s^{2}S_{1/2}} \ } to   6 d 2 D 5 / 2   {\displaystyle \ \mathrm {6d^{2}D_{5/2}} \ } transition, which has been considered for

4800-517: The creation of a transportable optical clock as all transitions necessary for clock operation can be addressed with direct diode lasers at common wavelengths. Some of the few practical uses of radium are derived from its radioactive properties. More recently discovered radioisotopes , such as cobalt-60 and caesium-137 , are replacing radium in even these limited uses because several of these isotopes are more powerful emitters, safer to handle, and available in more concentrated form. The isotope Ra

4896-412: The dihydrate RaCl 2 ·2H 2 O, isomorphous with its barium analog. Radium bromide (RaBr 2 ) is also a colorless, luminous compound. In water, it is more soluble than radium chloride. Like radium chloride, crystallization from aqueous solution gives the dihydrate RaBr 2 ·2H 2 O, isomorphous with its barium analog. The ionizing radiation emitted by radium bromide excites nitrogen molecules in

SECTION 50

#1732787184969

4992-475: The effects of radium on fruit fly mutations before turning to more affordable x-ray experiments. Uranium had no large scale application in the late 19th century and therefore no large uranium mines existed. In the beginning, the silver mines in Jáchymov , Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic ) were the only large sources for uranium ore. The uranium ore was only a byproduct of the mining activities. In

5088-402: The environment , as the isotopes Ra, Ra, Ra, and Ra are part of the decay chains of natural thorium and uranium isotopes; since thorium and uranium have very long half-lives, these daughters are continually being regenerated by their decay. Of these four isotopes, the longest-lived is Ra (half-life 1600 years), a decay product of natural uranium. Because of its relative longevity, Ra

5184-459: The exception of the carbonate, all of these are less soluble in water than the corresponding barium salts, but they are all isostructural to their barium counterparts. Additionally, radium phosphate , oxalate , and sulfite are probably also insoluble, as they coprecipitate with the corresponding insoluble barium salts. The great insolubility of radium sulfate (at 20 °C, only 2.1  mg will dissolve in 1  kg of water) means that it

5280-576: The exposed area of the body. Radium sources themselves, rather than worker exposures, are regulated more closely by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , which requires licensing for anyone possessing Ra with activity of more than 0.01 μCi. The particular governing bodies that regulate radioactive materials and nuclear energy are documented by the Nuclear Energy Agency for member countries – for instance, in

5376-463: The final watches being issued with the new "random" serial number. A new Submariner-Date, model 116613 (not to be confused with model 16613), based on the "Super Case" used in the GMT Master II , was presented at the 2008 Basel show. It featured heavier lugs and crown guards, a Cerachrom ceramic bezel, and a quick-adjust function "Glidelock" clasp. The first Submariner-Date models offered were

5472-412: The first extraction of radium, Curie used the residues after extraction of uranium from pitchblende. The uranium had been extracted by dissolution in sulfuric acid leaving radium sulfate, which is similar to barium sulfate but even less soluble in the residues. The residues also contained rather substantial amounts of barium sulfate which thus acted as a carrier for the radium sulfate. The first steps of

5568-428: The first half of the 20th century, often in military applications, may have been painted with radioactive luminous paint. They are usually no longer luminous; this is not due to radioactive decay of the radium (which has a half-life of 1600 years) but to the fluorescence of the zinc sulfide fluorescent medium being worn out by the radiation from the radium. Originally appearing as white, most radium paint from before

5664-420: The five most stable isotopes of radium. All other 27 known radium isotopes have half-lives under two hours, and the majority have half-lives under a minute. Of these, Ra (half-life 28 s) also occurs as a Np daughter, and Ra and Ra would be produced by the still-unobserved double beta decay of natural radon isotopes . At least 12  nuclear isomers have been reported, the most stable of which

5760-550: The form of radium chloride or radium bromide ) was used in medicine to produce radon gas, which in turn was used as a cancer treatment. Several of these radon sources were used in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. However, many treatments that were used in the early 1900s are not used anymore because of the harmful effects radium bromide exposure caused. Some examples of these effects are anaemia , cancer, and genetic mutations . As of 2011, safer gamma emitters such as Co , which

5856-459: The fractionation. If the barium content of the uranium ore is not high enough, additional barium can be added to carry the radium. These processes were applied to high grade uranium ores but may not have worked well with low grade ores. Small amounts of radium were still extracted from uranium ore by this method of mixed precipitation and ion exchange as late as the 1990s, but as of 2011, it is extracted only from spent nuclear fuel. Pure radium metal

SECTION 60

#1732787184969

5952-515: The green barium lines), and the electroscope . After the isolation of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie from uranium ore from Jáchymov , several scientists started to isolate radium in small quantities. Later, small companies purchased mine tailings from Jáchymov mines and started isolating radium. In 1904, the Austrian government nationalised the mines and stopped exporting raw ore. Until 1912, when radium production increased, radium availability

6048-437: The high number of neutrons they emit (1.84×10 neutrons per second) in favour of Am –Be sources. As of 2011 , the isotope Ra is mainly used to form Ac by neutron irradiation in a nuclear reactor. Radium is highly radioactive, as is its immediate decay product, radon gas. When ingested, 80% of the ingested radium leaves the body through the feces , while the other 20% goes into the bloodstream , mostly accumulating in

6144-404: The isotope Rn ), which is responsible for much of the danger of environmental radium. It is 2.7 million times more radioactive than the same molar amount of natural uranium (mostly uranium-238), due to its proportionally shorter half-life. A sample of radium metal maintains itself at a higher temperature than its surroundings because of the radiation it emits. Natural radium (which

6240-528: The last 16600 Sea-Dwellers produced running into the V-series (late 2008). The DeepSea features a 44 mm case that guarantees a depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) (ref. 116660). In late 2022 Rolex introduced the Deepsea Challenge, a commercial full ocean depth capable watch featuring a 50 mm titanium alloy case. The Deepsea Challenge model does not feature a date complication unlike

6336-400: The late 1960s: the 1680 was the first Submariner to be equipped with a date function, marking the completion of the transition of the Submariner line from specialist no-frills utilitarian tool watch for scuba divers to mass market fashion accessory. While many professional and military divers used—and continue to use—Submariners in the most demanding underwater environments, by the late 1960s,

6432-460: The litigation, it was determined that the company's scientists and management had taken considerable precautions to protect themselves from the effects of radiation, but it did not seem to protect their employees. Additionally, for several years the companies had attempted to cover up the effects and avoid liability by insisting that the Radium Girls were instead suffering from syphilis . As

6528-428: The luxury watch market has experienced significant growth and volatility, precise figures for annual Rolex production have yet to be discovered. However, it is generally estimated that Rolex produces around one million timepieces annually. All models feature 300-meter (1000 feet) water resistance. The Rolex Sea-Dweller , developed in 1967 but introduced to the general public in 1971, is a heavier-duty steel version of

6624-529: The mid-1920s, a lawsuit was filed against the United States Radium Corporation by five dying " Radium Girls " – dial painters who had painted radium-based luminous paint on the components of watches and clocks. The dial painters were instructed to lick their brushes to give them a fine point, thereby ingesting radium. Their exposure to radium caused serious health effects which included sores, anemia , and bone cancer . During

6720-425: The minute track at the batons; a white dial with orange batons and orange minute track; a black dial with orange and white batons and a green sapphire crystal. The Milgauss was the only Rolex produced with a tinted crystal. Because of its internal magnetic shield the Milgauss is thicker than the Submariner, but the same width. It weighs 157 grams. The Milgauss is available only in 904L polished stainless steel, which

6816-414: The most stable isotope being radium-226 with a half-life of 1,600 years. When radium decays, it emits ionizing radiation as a by-product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence . For this property, it was widely used in self-luminous paints following its discovery. Of the radioactive elements that occur in quantity, radium is considered particularly toxic , and it

6912-480: The name "Submariner" at the time the 6204 and 6205 were released, accounting for the inconsistent use of the Submariner mark on these early Submariners. Trademark irregularities notwithstanding, both the 6204 and 6205 are designated Submariner models in Rolex product literature. In 1954, Rolex also produced a small number of ref. 6200 Submariners. This was the first Submariner (although not the first Rolex) to make use of

7008-526: The new model. As of 2022, shortly before the line was discontinued, the MSRP for a GV Milgauss was $ 9,150. Rolex Submariner The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner is a line of sports watches designed for diving and manufactured by Rolex , resistant to water and corrosion. The first Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair . It was the first watch to be waterproof up to 100 metres (330 ft). The Rolex Submariner

7104-417: The now-familiar Mercedes hands, and the Submariner logo and depth rating printed on the dial. By the early 1960s, these models had given way to the 5508 (small crown) and 5510 (large crown) models. All of these early Submariners used either gilt (6200, 6204, 6205) or gilt/silver gilt (6536, 6538) printing on glossy black dials. Radium paint was used for the luminous indices. The next wave of Submariners,

7200-413: The oversized crown, which thereafter became a standard feature of the Submariner line. In the early 1960s, Rolex discontinued the use of radium paint for the luminous indices, switching to safer tritium -infused paint. In 1965–1966, Rolex discontinued using gilt/silver gilt dials on the Submariner watches, switching to white printing. A final important change came with the introduction of the 1680 model in

7296-500: The radioactive compounds to be very similar to the barium compounds, except they were less soluble. This discovery made it possible for the Curies to isolate the radioactive compounds and discover a new element in them. The Curies announced their discovery to the French Academy of Sciences on 26 December 1898. The naming of radium dates to about 1899, from the French word radium , formed in Modern Latin from radius ( ray ): this

7392-416: The radium extraction process involved boiling with sodium hydroxide, followed by hydrochloric acid treatment to minimize impurities of other compounds. The remaining residue was then treated with sodium carbonate to convert the barium sulfate into barium carbonate (carrying the radium), thus making it soluble in hydrochloric acid. After dissolution, the barium and radium were reprecipitated as sulfates; this

7488-481: The radium–radium bond distance is 514.8  picometers . Radium has a density of 5.5 g/cm , higher than that of barium, and the two elements have similar crystal structures ( bcc at standard temperature and pressure). Radium has 33 known isotopes with mass numbers from 202 to 234, all of which are radioactive . Four of these – Ra ( half-life 11.4 days), Ra (3.64 days), Ra (1600 years), and Ra (5.75 years) – occur naturally in

7584-437: The reference number to 5514, thus creating an exclusive reference for Comex. These watches were never available to the public. Rolex has disclosed that approximately 4 million Submariner watches were produced between 1953 and 2020. Based on current market prices, this equates to an estimated value of $ 46 billion for this period. Including production from 2020 onwards, Submariner watches' total value could exceed $ 50 billion. While

7680-406: The same as those of the heavier alkali metals potassium , rubidium , and caesium . Solid radium compounds are white as radium ions provide no specific coloring, but they gradually turn yellow and then dark over time due to self- radiolysis from radium's alpha decay . Insoluble radium compounds coprecipitate with all barium, most strontium , and most lead compounds. Radium oxide (RaO)

7776-417: The solubility of radium nitrate decreases, an important property for the chemical purification of radium. Radium forms much the same insoluble salts as its lighter congener barium: it forms the insoluble sulfate (RaSO 4 , the most insoluble known sulfate), chromate (RaCrO 4 ), carbonate (RaCO 3 ), iodate (Ra(IO 3 ) 2 ), tetrafluoroberyllate (RaBeF 4 ), and nitrate (Ra(NO 3 ) 2 ). With

7872-487: The two watches are nearly identical. Neither the distinctive "cathedral" or "Mercedes" hands are now so strongly associated with the Submariner line. Rather, both of these early submariners have straight "pencil" style hands. Both the 6204 and 6205 were fitted with the A260 movement. Neither model displayed a depth rating on the dial. The 6204 was originally rated to a depth of 100 meters (330 feet), but by 1954, Rolex certified

7968-452: The use of any tools. The Rolex Submariner watch case has a diameter of 40.0  mm (1.57  in ) and a thickness of 13.0 mm (0.51 in) (crystal thickness 2.0 mm (0.079 in)), and the case and bracelet weigh 155  g (5.5  oz ). At the year 2020 Rolex retired the chunky looking "Super Case" by introducing a slightly enlarged watch case styled more to pre-"Super Case" slimmer looking Submariner models which has

8064-436: The watch as waterproof to 200 meters (660 feet) in the accompanying catalog. The 6205 was depth rated to 100 meters (330 feet). Some 6204 models have the Submariner logo printed below the center pinion, while others have the logo blacked out. Few, if any, of the 6205 watches bear the name "Submariner" on the dial, a major distinction of modern Submariners. It is believed that there were unexpected trademark issues connected with

8160-514: The watch had undeniably become a mass-market product as well. Throughout the next 40 years, the Submariner was updated with improved water resistance, new movements, and numerous small cosmetic changes. In 2003, Rolex celebrated the Submariner's 50th anniversary by launching the Rolex Submariner-Date anniversary edition (16610 LV), with distinguishing features such as the green bezel and Maxi dial; its production ended in 2010 with

8256-420: The watch was worn with a leather strap. In Goldfinger and Thunderball the strap had been swapped for an undersized NATO type nylon band . (The Ministry of Defence "G10" strap was not commissioned until 1973, and then only in admiralty grey without stripes.) George Lazenby wore a reference 5513 with an oyster bracelet in parts of On Her Majesty's Secret Service ; Roger Moore wore reference 5513 with

8352-569: Was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2013 for use in medicine as a cancer treatment of bone metastasis in the form of a solution including radium-223 chloride. The main indication of treatment is the therapy of bony metastases from castration-resistant prostate cancer. Ra has also been used in experiments concerning therapeutic irradiation, as it is the only reasonably long-lived radium isotope which does not have radon as one of its daughters. Radium

8448-493: Was discovered they could have serious adverse health effects. (See, for instance, Radithor or Revigator types of "radium water" or "Standard Radium Solution for Drinking".) Spas featuring radium-rich water are still occasionally touted as beneficial, such as those in Misasa, Tottori , Japan, though the sources of radioactivity in these spas vary and may be attributed to radon and other radioisotopes. Radium (usually in

8544-463: Was in recognition of radium's emission of energy in the form of rays. The gaseous emissions of radium, radon, were recognized and studied extensively by Friedrich Ernst Dorn in the early 1900s, though at the time they were characterized as "radium emanations". In September 1910, Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne announced that they had isolated radium as a pure metal through the electrolysis of pure radium chloride (RaCl 2 ) solution using

8640-568: Was isolated in its metallic state by Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of radium chloride in 1910, and soon afterwards the metal started being produced on larger scales in Austria , the United States , and Belgium . However, the amount of radium produced globally has always been small in comparison to other elements, and by the 2010s, annual production of radium, mainly via extraction from spent nuclear fuel ,

8736-505: Was less than 100 grams. In nature, radium is found in uranium ores in quantities as small as a seventh of a gram per ton of uraninite, and in thorium ores in trace amounts. Radium is not necessary for living organisms , and its radioactivity and chemical reactivity make adverse health effects likely when it is incorporated into biochemical processes because of its chemical mimicry of calcium . As of 2018, other than in nuclear medicine , radium has no commercial applications. Formerly, from

8832-469: Was low. The formation of an Austrian monopoly and the strong urge of other countries to have access to radium led to a worldwide search for uranium ores. The United States took over as leading producer in the early 1910s, producing 70 g total from 1913 to 1920 in Pittsburgh alone. The Curies' process was still used for industrial radium extraction in 1940, but mixed bromides were then used for

8928-463: Was only about 100 g in total as of 1984; annual production of radium had reduced to less than 100 g by 2018. Radium is seeing increasing use in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics . Symmetry breaking forces scale proportional to   Z 3   , {\displaystyle \ Z^{3}\ ,} which makes radium, the heaviest alkaline earth element, well suited for constraining new physics beyond

9024-409: Was still radioactive. In July 1898, while studying pitchblende, they isolated an element similar to bismuth which turned out to be polonium . They then isolated a radioactive mixture consisting of two components: compounds of barium , which gave a brilliant green flame color, and unknown radioactive compounds which gave carmine spectral lines that had never been documented before. The Curies found

9120-480: Was still used in 2007 as a radiation source in some industrial radiography devices to check for flawed metallic parts, similarly to X-ray imaging . When mixed with beryllium , radium acts as a neutron source . Up until at least 2004, radium-beryllium neutron sources were still sometimes used, but other materials such as polonium and americium have become more common for use in neutron sources. RaBeF 4 -based (α, n) neutron sources have been deprecated despite

9216-469: Was then repeated to further purify the mixed sulfate. Some impurities that form insoluble sulfides were removed by treating the chloride solution with hydrogen sulfide , followed by filtering. When the mixed sulfates were pure enough, they were once more converted to mixed chlorides; barium and radium thereafter were separated by fractional crystallisation while monitoring the progress using a spectroscope (radium gives characteristic red lines in contrast to

#968031