Take a look at the hour hand and and numerals. I don't know enough about how either of these were made - gold over brass; gold plate over base metal; rolled gold (fill).

Since pure gold is not supposed to tarnish, I figure this could either be: 1) microscopic rust from the base metal through a porous gold plate; or, 2) the copper in the gold, tarnishing.

Questions, then: what is it most likely? What would you do about it?

Interestingly, those who are familiar with these are aware how fragile these dial are. I find it odd that the metallic elements have taken the brunt of something, rather than the dial surface. Exposure to sulfur vs. moisture? Too much chemistry for a Friday morning?

Thanks,

M'Bob

 

I'm no expert on the topic, though I have given it some thought over the years.

I am a fan of vintage Omegas, but it is clear to me that around the mid-century they used, at least at times, chemical processes that contributed to worse than average degradation of their dials. There is the well-known "tropical" Speedmaster dial issue (and its chemical origins), but also some of their other models suffered from more severe degradation than those of many other brands.

Again, I have no expertise in chemistry, but from what I gather, the laminates used were, at times, a problem.

Now in this particular case, the question of gold content in the markers is an interesting one. I have owned a couple of early Rg chronometres, but have not had enough experience with them to have formed an opinion. Erich would certainly have a valuable insight, and perhaps he will join in the discussion.

Certain later, high-end models definitely had markers with high gold content (e.g. Connies, early Geneves), and I have not seen the kind of direct degradation that seems to be apparent in your example. Was the gold content lower in the early Rg models? Or was there a reaction with early laminates that caused degradation that would otherwise not have appeared on the markers?

I look forward to other contributions to the discussion.

Regards,

Tony C.

 

get a better picture in different light and a new angle. the markers look fine to me. hour hand maybe.... kind regards. achim

 

AFAIK the markers are not gold plated but solid gold, also the hands should be (when they left the factory) however the winding crown and buckle were only gold plated... even on the 18K cased models.

Tarnishing of gold is not uncommon, even on outer case parts - when they sat in a vault or drawer for quite some time.

I can not tell you what happened chemically, I can only confirm that it is not uncommon and the markers and hands can be polished to shine again (if you want to erase the patina which took decades to build up).

I saw tarnishing of gold markers even on a vintage Patek pocket watch and you can assume that these markers had been executed in 18K sold gold as you can expect from PP. I think it is not a bad alloy, it just happens under certain (unknown) circumstances - I assume that moisture content of the air is one possible factor.

Hope this helps

erich

 

PS:
under closer inspection I think the hour hand has already been replaced with a (maybe) gold plated one, the luster is different from the minute hand´s one...

And the dial looks to be all original to me - I like it!

 

You have a very sharp eye, and I believe I may be in trouble, because I saw the watch in person, and I'm sure you are correct: the hour hand is absolutely plated, as I can see tiny rust spots, and the base-metal underneath the plating where it has been scratched.

So now the big question: is a replacement possible?

Many thanks,

Bob

 

Totally agree. What to do?

 

Thanks for this thread and its contributions. I love this forum for these kinds of threads. There is so much out-of-the-way knowledge to soak up in threads such as these.