Hello all, I’ve been reading this forum for several months, but this is my first post. Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide. I have a semi-vintage (OK used) Speedy Pro. It is an early 3570.50 with a serial number that dates it to 1997. Posting my question in the vintage forum because of the Tritium lume on the dial. This was my first Speedmaster, which I bought it as a daily wearer. A purpose it has served dutifully for a year. I chose it because the tritium gave it a nice vintage look, because it came with receipts from a fresh service, and the price was well below what seems to be the market level for a good, but not perfect 3570.50. Anyway, since I got the watch, there has been one thing that bugs me about it. There is a weird stain on the dial (picture below). The stain is not visible in most light. It is less of a stain, and more of a difference in reflectance between the top and bottom of the dial. The picture I’ve attached shows just the right angle and light to make it as visible as possible. My question is there anyway to remedy this stainwithout losing the Tritium? Is the easiest thing just to source a new Tritium dial? If so, any recommendations on a trustworthy place to source one. The local watchmaker thinks the stain is residue from a cleaning product used during the last service. He recommended sending the watch to Omega for a replacement dial. However, I also have a brand new Speedy, so no interest in a Superluminova service dial. Thanks a ton!
If the stain is oil, you could just cover the whole dial with a thin film of oil to make the color uniform.
You won't get a tritium dial from Omega. They come up occasionally on eBay, but don't look as nice as yours. The oil notion is interesting, but fraught with risk---not clear what it would do to the tritium. I would get permission from the mods here (because of your low post count) to put up a "want to buy."
I'm sorry, that has to be one of the worst pieces of advise I've seen on this forum. Why on earth would anyone intentionally add a foreign substance to the surface of a dial? It simply defies logic, we do everything possible not to get anything on a dial.
What type of oil sunflower, peanut, ricebran, canola, vegetable, olive, linseed, or more of a sump, gear, motor, 2stroke, chainsaw not forgetting baby oil, massage oil........
It sounds ridiculous, but if the stain is oil, that's probably a result of an incompetent watchmaker spilling oil on the dial. The person in question probably tried to get it off by shifting the oil around but wasn't able to actually clean it off. If you're going to look for a new tritium dial anyways I don't see the harm in doing a little experimenting. Moebius 9010 might be a decent starting point...
Theres a lot of comments around the internet that baby oil/mineral oil is good for cleaning dials. I don't speak from experience as far as dials are concerned, but on some dials it may work. They would have a benefit of evaporating slowly. An oil that doesn't evaporate, but eventually cures hard, would be terrible. If I were considering tossing the dial, or trying an oil, I'd go for one that evaporates. Good luck.
If the OP were to choose an oil which evaporates, it would best be one which doesn't leave any residue on the dial. And in general: sometimes the most preposterous solutions can yield the desired results. The world, and by extension, watches, don't always adhere to convention.
I used rodico with great sucess on a black dial with stains, dont know if it was oil from the beginning. If you try, start touch an edge because some dials are prone to be more sensible than others.
There seems to be a lot of suggestions about which type of oil to use but IF it was oil that stained the dial and you wanted to have an even colour stain you would need to use the same oil that caused the problem. Each of those oils suggested have different consistencies and would leave a different finish to the original. That is IF is was oil and then your shagged if it wasn't.
jesus...... God no ! buy some silver cleaning solution from a jeweller , remove hands and dial and grab one of the dial feet with a small plastic plier and dip the whole dial in the solution. have a small espresso cup with normal tab water next to it. dip the dial in for 3 seconds, then straight into the water. blow dry and have a look. if still stained, repeat until stain is gone. but do not let it longer in the cleaning solution. stop if no improvement is visible. Progress depends on the oil used..... good luck ! kind regards. achim
Lot of odd suggestions here, but until someone has the dial exposed in front of them and can determine what is really going on, any suggestions about what the problem is are just guesses. Everything suggested here so far has potential for damage to be done to the dial. It sounds like your current watchmaker just doesn't want to be bothered dealing with the issue, so you might find one who is willing to do something other than suggest it should go to the factory (which I agree is not a viable solution). Ideally finding a "new" dial would be a good thing, and with that in hand as a back-up, some cleaning techniques could be tried. None that I would try would involve adding oil, using Rodico (which will leave it's own residue behind), or dipping the dial in anything. Cheers, Al
If I was you, I’d look for a new dial if it bothers you enough to have it fixed. You can then try to sell this dial and recoup some of the cost.
It may be a struggle to find a nice replacement dial. The cleaning suggestions are fraught with risk and there may not be a real solution on that front. As such, I would consider selling the watch on eBay (lots of eyes there for a watch like this, less exacting buyers than on collector forums where you may struggle given dial condition) and buying a different but similar 3570.50 without the dial issue - hopefully you’ll get most of what you paid for it back and you can use that to fund a cleaner example. This may, at first glance, appear to be the solution that amounts to being the biggest pain the ass. But I would bet that it’s likely the quickest, cleanest and easiest (barring a mint dial falling from the heavens).
Hello All Thank you so much for all of the replies. From reading them all, it seems like - in order of rationality - my options are: 1) Live with the dial as is 2) Sell the watch and replace it with another one of similar vintage with a better dial 3) Source a replacement dial 4) Attempt to clean the current dial, or alternatively to stain it more uniformly Seeing as I’m somewhat attached to this watch, I think I’ll (irrationally) attempt #3. Then with a good replacement dial safely in hand, maybe also attempt #4. Follow-up question: Does anyone know a reliable watchmaker in the Denver or Boulder CO area who would be willing to take on the project of swapping out a dial like this? The watchmaker closest to me is associated with a high end jewelry store that also has a good stock of new, high end watches (Omega, Rolex, JLC, Panerai, even Patek). While he seems highly competent, I don’t think he has interest in low dollar repairs to (comparatively) low value watches. Thanks again!