I posted about this watch on the Open Discussion forum as well, as I wanted to get input from members that may not come over to the Zenith forum. I have reached out to a few members, and appreciate their insight.

I know that watch is going to need a good amount of work to get her back up to speed, and want to make sure that I make the right choices as far as who to use, and what to restore.

Right off the bat, there are obvious issues of a new pusher and crystal. Does anyone know the dimensions of those parts? The watch is not running and will obviously need a full service and lord knows what else in the movement. The hands set, and the quickset works, the rotor spins, but it is completely dead. My first step is to have my watchmaker tear down the movement and see what it needs, and based on that assessment, decide whether it needs to go to a Zenith account holding watchmaker or possibly back to Zenith (last resort).

The dial needs some work, and I have no idea if any of the issues can be remedied. There is a cloudy spot under and around and under the 1 o'clock marker that is covering some of the lettering--it looks like something was spilled on the dial and dried up, leaving a layer of crud. Two of the subdials have what appear to be oil clouds emanating from the center. Again, no idea if this can be remedied. The fields of the dial are very clean with no patina spots (those in the pics are on the crystal). The sweep second hand is missing paint and will need to be restored. The tachy bezel appears to be in very nice condition with slight paint loss at the 12 o'clock position.

The case is what really gets me going. It is sharp from all angles, and with my novice eyes looks as if it may be unpolished, and retains the starburst effect on the top of the case. There are two slight nicks on the bevel above the lugs at 7 o'clock, and some idiot marks on the case back. My plan is to have the case cleaned, but not polished in any way, leaving it in "as-is" condition.

I do not want a NOS looking watch when I am done, but rather an example that is as close to original condition as possible.

I appreciate your collective insight, and would love to hear what others have done with their a3818s, and what you would do if this were your watch.

 

I guess a the worst battle scars on the case could be remedied by a competent restorer.
New pusher. New crystal.
Movement service/repair.

However (borrowing this from a 1973 Zappa song):
That's right, folks..
Don't touch that dial

 

Thank you sir, that is what my gut reaction was about the dial, but just wanted to be sure. Better to leave it and live with it, then do permanent damage. If I ever choose to sell, the future owner can make the call on cleaning it up.

 

You are my hero. Regarding the sweep chrono hand, perhaps it can be restored using the paint that has flaked off onto the dial instead of applying a fresh red coating. A difficuly task to accomplish I'm sure, but a patient watchmaker should be able to do it well. Well worth the effort I should think.

 

What a wonderful pickup. Envious!

 

Might as well try to restore the hand with the existing paint. Worst case scenario, it looks like crap, and then remove it all and start all over with a bare hand. I had some lume repaired the same way on an old Doxa.

I cleaned up the crystal, and the dial already looks so much better.

Going to be a fun project. Thanks for the insight. Just to try it on tonight...

 

Definitely don't touch that dial. Don't even breathe on it. The paint used for the subdial numbers on this dial can be extremely friable and crumble away if the dial is mishandled or dropped.

 

+1 for keeping the case as is

Congrats! Great looking watch.

 

Alright then, that was easy. Dial is staying "as-is" too.

 

I emailed a fellow a3818 owner who went through a restoration, and he sent me a diagram he drew of the pushers with exact measurements. Low and behold, they were identical to a NOS set of pushers on ebay which I promptly picked up. The lot came with a extra crown, gaskets, a crystal and gasket, and an inner tachy bezel. I believe the lot was for a a386, so I know have some extra parts.

As far as a crystal goes, has anyone had good luck with custom made crystals? I found a couple of vendors who say they can replicate the a3818 crystal.

 

For what it's worth, here's another vote for keeping the dial and case as is. Great score on the pushers and extra bits. In regards to the custom made crystal, could you please pass along the name of said vendors to me in a pm? Thanks!