Hello!
I have my Speedy (145.022-68 trans) in for service locally. I purchased it off of a forum member almost 2 years ago and have enjoyed it immensely. I have a conundrum with the hands however.
There is some lume falling out of the long hour hand and long minutes hand. My watchmaker suggests they be replaced as he does not think he can repair/ stabilize them.

My priorities are this:
1) make the watch function safely. I want to wear this piece and do not want to risk more lume falling of the hands and into the watch.
2) I want to hurt the watches value the least. I would like my dial to match my hands as much as possible.

Options:
1) Do nothing /YOLO option. Put it back together and risk lume falling out.
2) Replace the hands with either something from Omega, or worse, Ebay. There do seem to be some hands on ebay that are "genuine". None are tritium...

So here is my ask: What are your thoughts? What would you do in my shoes?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Lots of watchmakers these days have figured out how to sympathetically preserve lume - what I'd do is have the current watchmaker do nothing, and then at some point in the near future, find someone who can stabilize the lume.

 

I'd leave it alone. I've seen dozens of Speedmasters with holes in the lume, and have not yet heard a single credible story where lume flakes got into a movement and hurt it. Also, have your watchmaker straighten the bezel.

 

Search this forum for relume examples... there are several watchmakers here that have shown spectacular results. Hands don't look at that bad to me... I think the dial plots could benefit from a relume. I would leave it as is unless and until it gets so bad that it really bothers you, then I would send it off to get both the dial and hands relumed by one of these experts.

 

More detail: At one point the 30 min recorder hand was replaced but broached out to fit properly so someone bent the hour and minute hand up to accommodate the too high hand and cracked the lume in the hands...

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

I agree with this. I'd certainly want to do something about the lume (stabilize it) BEFORE more falls off.

 

I bought a 66 with a cracked tritium hand, and during service it fell off... I think that it is inevitable to touch up the hands at one point or another, and it's not a big deal. Leave as is and wait for the rest to crack or have them relumed/stabilized.
Just enjoy the watch in the meantime