Advice on ameliorating water damage to the dial

conorwrichards · Nov 8, 2021

Hi all,

Here is a photo of my vintage Omega. It was fully serviced last year, so it's mechanically sound. This included changing gaskets, but, regardless, some moisture accumulated on the inside of the crystal and fell onto the dial, leaving smears.

I would appreciate any advice on how to ameliorate this, for example:

- should I give it to Omega and see what they can do?
- should I go to an independent watchmaker/servicer and see what they can do?
- or should I leave it as any tampering/cleaning of the dial would damage it more?

Glad of any advice. FYI, I live in Geneva (CH).

All the best,
Con

peterkirk01 · Nov 8, 2021

If it were mine I would leave it as is. Just looks good to me.

jaegodylan · Nov 8, 2021

There is unfortunately nothing that can be done to get it back to whatever it looked like prior.. you could source a new dial.

Dan321 · Nov 8, 2021

I think Omega would just replace the dial with a service dial, if they had one.

Larry S · Nov 8, 2021

It’s not going to get better. 1) Live with it. 2) Source a cleaner period dial. 3) Send to Omega for refinishing.

gbesq · Nov 8, 2021

Larry S
It’s not going to get better. 1) Live with it. 2) Source a cleaner period dial. 3) Send to Omega for refinishing.

+1

masteroftime · Nov 8, 2021

conorwrichards
It was fully serviced last year, so it's mechanically sound. This included changing gaskets, but, regardless, some moisture accumulated on the inside of the crystal and fell onto the dial, leaving smears.

Unfortunately, it would likely also need to be re-serviced if moisture accumulated inside the watch. Otherwise, you will likely have some rust/corrosion to deal with at some point.

Otherwise:

Larry S
It’s not going to get better. 1) Live with it. 2) Source a cleaner period dial. 3) Send to Omega for refinishing.

gbesq
+1

+2

Canuck · Nov 8, 2021

You might be able to source a compatible donor dial that is better than what you now have. What movement is in the Seamaster?

conorwrichards · Nov 9, 2021

Thanks all for your replies - very much appreciated.

conorwrichards · Nov 9, 2021

Canuck
You might be able to source a compatible donor dial that is better than what you now have. What movement is in the Seamaster?

It's a 30T2 movement.

Where would be the best place to look for (un-refinished) dials? I assume Ebay. I would be open to this for sure and I find this kind of water damage (as opposed to general degradation from aging) pretty off-putting.

cristos71 · Nov 9, 2021

conorwrichards
It's a 30T2 movement.

I think it more likely to be something like an automatic 552 than a 30T2 which is both manual wind and much earlier than the watch reference

gatorcpa · Nov 9, 2021

conorwrichards
Where would be the best place to look for (un-refinished) dials? I assume Ebay.

Only if eBay exists on the planet Unobtaina. Because unrefinished Omega dials of that era are made of Unobtanium.

You could possible find a non-working watch with the same case reference. But chances are that the dial would be just as abused as the movement.

1950’s Omega watches were noted for having fragile dial finishes when they were new, let alone those that are over 60 years old today. The lacquer tended to crack with time and even the slightest bit of water vapor intrusion would get under it and cause the dial metal to begin corroding. Add in the constant radiation exposure from radium on the dial and hands and you can understand how these dials became a mess.

Even if you found a raw dial that looked the same online, it may not fit your case.

I think your choices are to either leave it as is or send to Omega. The cost for refurbishment at Omega will be several times the watch’s value as is.
gatorcpa

conorwrichards · Nov 9, 2021

actually, sorry, you're spot on - i think it is a 552.

cristos71
I think it more likely to be something like an automatic 552 than an 30T2 which is both manual wind and much earlier than the watch reference

Dan S · Nov 9, 2021

I'm sorry to hear about this, but I'd also be interested to hear a bit more. It could be a good learning opportunity since we often see damaged dials and speculate about the cause. You saw it happen in real time.

I'm curious about the state of the dial prior to this last episode. Did all of the damage occur from a relatively small amount of condensation inside the crystal? Or was it already damaged? Did it happen immediately or gradually over time?

conorwrichards · Nov 9, 2021

gatorcpa
Only if eBay exists on the planet Unobtaina. Because unrefinished Omega dials of that era are made of Unobtanium.

You could possible find a non-working watch with the same case reference. But chances are that the dial would be just as abused as the movement.

1950’s Omega watches were noted for having fragile dial finishes when they were new, let alone those that are over 60 years old today. The lacquer tended to crack with time and even the slightest bit of water vapor intrusion would get under it and cause the dial metal to begin corroding. Add in the constant radiation exposure from radium on the dial and hands and you can understand how these dials became a mess.

Even if you found a raw dial that looked the same online, it may not fit your case.

I think your choices are to either leave it as is or send to Omega. The cost for refurbishment at Omega will be several times the watch’s value as is.
gatorcpa

thanks gatorcpa - well copied. i might go into omega here in geneva at at least see what they say.

conorwrichards · Nov 9, 2021

Dan S
I'm sorry to hear about this, but I'd also be interested to hear a bit more. It could be a good learning opportunity since we often see damaged dials and speculate about the cause. You saw it happen in real time.

I'm curious about the state of the dial prior to this last episode. Did all of the damage occur from a relatively small amount of condensation inside the crystal? Or was it already damaged? Did it happen immediately or gradually over time?

hi dan - sure, here's a photo before the water damage.

jaegodylan · Nov 9, 2021

I can't see much of a difference.. I guess we all assumed the dial was perfect prior. By the way not enough props have been given for the usage of ameliorating

Dan321 · Nov 9, 2021

jaegodylan
I can't see much of a difference.. I guess we all assumed the dial was perfect prior. By the way not enough props have been given for the usage of ameliorating

I was expecting a photo of a mint condition dial too

Dan S · Nov 9, 2021

I assume that some of the larger and darker spots on the dial are due to the latest water intrusion, e.g. especially the area to the right of the "9" marker.

ChrisN · Nov 9, 2021

If your options are a new dial or a repaint, then you can have a watchmaker try to remove the lacquer and replace it with new lacquer as it all appears (from what I can see) to be damage in the lacquer. You may lose the text but, I don't think you have much to lose if you aren't going to keep the dial as is simply because you can always replace the dial or have it repainted.

I don't like doing this but have done it in the past when a customer insisted. I think I have some photos on Instagram somewhere. I managed to keep the writing but it was not "as new".

Good luck, Chris

Advice on ameliorating water damage to the dial

conorwrichards

peterkirk01

jaegodylan

Dan321

Larry S

gbesq

masteroftime

Canuck

conorwrichards

conorwrichards

cristos71

gatorcpa

conorwrichards

Dan S

conorwrichards

conorwrichards

jaegodylan

Dan321

Dan S

ChrisN

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