I do understand how a hour hand has smudged the old lume from 7 to 1 o'clock area, but that deep circular scratch from 2 to 4 o'clock area? Old lume seriously is hard enough to damage a surface that deep?
Also, it does not look like a redial per se, does lack of "t swiss made t" indicate it is a redial anyway?
If I had to guess, I would say lume falling from the hands on the dial and then the hour hand might spread out the lume on the dial, like you might spread your peanut butter on your sandwich ☕
I would say it’s likely the watch was squashed and the plexi compressed pushing the hands against the dial. The hands then turned scratching the dial and scraping out the lume in the process.
^^ Peanut butter. This dial got wet, then the lume fell out of the hour hand while it was running (or after it froze up someone moved the hands around the dial trying to get it back to life) and as the hour hand is lowest, it smeared it across the dial like a Roomba with dog shit.
“Swiss” may be under the retaining ring which may be covering it if this is an aftermarket crystal (I have had that happen- hidden Swiss under wrong retaining ring).
The shit smeared lume will most likely clean up some. And the crystal is crazed to hell, so a new crystal will make a huge difference. All that said, the lume on the dial is baby-pea-puke green from the exposure…just nasty. And if the dial got wet enough to cause this- what’s lurking under the hood??!!
This watch would have to be dirt cheap for me to consider the full restoration project it will be- a full movement overhaul (possibly a donor required) and dial/hands relumed.
