There has been a lot of us here wondering what the story is with the white and the silver coloured sub dials on the a385. Well the other day I was browsing through my data base of el primero pictures and I came across this a385 with white sub dials, and lo and behold underneath the white paint there is a silver colour coming through, the white paint is starting to rub off when the hands were replaced after a service. I am now convinced that the silver a385 were all white at some point and the white paint has rubbed off when the dials were cleaned, but the black numbers stay on the sub dials because they are made of a more glossier harder paint. From what I gather I think all these dials are made of brass and I can only presume that the silver colour is an undercoat .Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

 

An interesting observation, BGBG! You could be right, but I'm not yet convinced, given the evenness of the silver colour and the clarity of the numbers and markers. Seems to me it would take baked enamel to survive the removal of the white, but I could be wrong. Photos below from a spare in my collection. Hey I know! Take off the white paint and see what happens!

Anyone else?

 

John I think when the white gets old it deteriorates nearly into powder, a rub with some white spirit or whatever is used and it will be gone leaving just the black numbers and silver. The black painted numbers are a lot tougher and resilient and will remain. On the silver colour there is also a strong chance that the silver colour is not undercoat paint but plating, and also the whole dial from top to bottom is also plated silver and then painted and then fonts applied . Here is another picture of a dial with its white sub dials about to turn silver all on its own just a rub of a white spirit or a chemical and you have silver subs.