Another family watch, another redial

Lets not forget that hour hand and a proper re-dial would do it wonders.

Hi Syrte;



I have a "family" Glycine as well and it appears to also be a re-dial. This one was the first vintage watch I ever acquired, in about 1983. My step-grandfather was going through a bunch of old stuff in his garage and gave me a .50 ammo can full of things. Rattling around in the bottom was this watch on a crusty leather strap. Wound it up and it ran. So, in my ignorance I installed a strap on it and wore it for some years unserviced.

Story was that it had belonged to my step-grandfather's son-in-law who was a test pilot. He suffered a fatal crash at Edwards Air Force Base in 1950. The watch had languished in this ammo box in a harsh environment with steel tools and bits and bobs since.

I later discovered that it has an 18kt gold case and asked if he wanted it back, but he didn't.

Apparently the original dial finishes on these Glycine models dissolved rapidly so most that are seen are refinished with varying degrees of skill. I'd like to find an original dial, but in sporadically looking for them have not yet found a decent example.

The moon hour hand is characteristic of the one's I've seen on Ebay and Chrono24 over the years. The lugs are different than those on your watch. This case is a distinct green gold hue as seen here with some of the other solid gold watches on hand.




Show time at our youngest son's wedding in October of 2016.

Original dial?



An "original" attempt at value inflation?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2221777339...o0JbN5TJbTRnwCfG54dCT5O5U=|tkp:Bk9SR-ifs-z8YA

And another with a different take on dial printing. They're coming out of the woodwork on Ebay! At least this one isn't quite so inflated.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/XwcAAOSw79limk9i/s-l1600.jpg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3344631690.../f4x0Egg21jy1d6MHB6ici7U8=|tkp:Bk9SR-ifs-z8YA

A trashed Glycine dial of the type at top of photo. This seems to be the condition of most originals.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3137895810...r++kzrs0ORSzp9V4RZPFiLueU=|tkp:Bk9SR-rE6ez8YA

More examples found in a search of Google Images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Gly...HaS9BMQQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1277&bih=840&dpr=1

More than one would ever wish to know about these vintage Glycine models.

I had been saving a replacement dial in my Ebay watch list for quite a while, but hadn't determined to purchase it because of some scratches within the minute graduations. Otherwise it was quite nice. It was $45 which seemed too high for my purposes. This morning I see that it's gone otherwise I would have shared the link to the auction with you for your consideration.

It might be fun to send mine for a re-dial. If you discover a good place to get a re-dial would you share the information?

I once saw a black dialed example of this watch on Ebay. While it was obviously a fresh redial, they got the "Glycine" font right. It resembled the style of the first example that I posted as possibly "original." The sub-dial on the black one resembled the more elaborate sub-dial of the second example in my post above.

I was afraid you'd say that.

Observation indicates that more disappointment than satisfaction occurs with re-dials. The only time I attempted a re-dial was on a Longines and it was less appealing upon return than the "original" re-dial was. Not wishing to throw more good money after bad, I have not worn the watch since.

I was hoping you'd know of the secret source for quality dial refinishing.


I misspoke.

I forgot about a 1960s Longines watch with 280 movement I acquired back in early days of Ebay. It charmed me with its full set of Arabic markers. It had a large lump of corrosion engulfing the numeral 7. I picked it up for cheap and sent it in for service and a dial refinish.

The results were uneven. "Longines" is not well rendered, but the re-dial was far better than the great furry lump of corrosion which had almost consumed the 7. The effort was mostly a "won't-do-that-again" experience.