Asking for some advice on my 1966 Rolex Submariner 5513

Contact Eric Ku LAWatchWorks.

I think you've received plenty of good advice, but just wanted to say keep us updated 😀 Think we're all curious to see how this ends up, however long that may be!

Hi guys, sorry I didnt update this thread for a while. The service is kind of in a holding pattern at the moment. The watchmaker who is working on the watch has had to thin out his work force due to covid-19. Plus he had to order a service kit for this watch from Switerland and with the post being very slow that will take a while.

I was waiting for the dial to be removed and sent back to me so I can send it to Hong Kong. I have spoken to the guy who can restore dials over there and he has promised me he can carefully restore the dial without wiping it. I just want it in a functional state. As some have said, I can one day obtain the original dial if my financial situation changes, but its not really imporant to me. The main thing is the watch will be back to the state I remember it. In the end the watch was given a major overhaul and the dial and hands, bezel insert were all replaced in 1978 (Mind you my step dad only spent $67aud on it! Bargain!). I have a vague memory of seeing the watch on a shelf in the shed, a long long time ago. It was sitting dial and hands up and the crystal was sitting next to it face down. Thats pretty much how I found it what must have been twenty five years later. This exposure shows on the dial.

I am just looking for a set of hands as the current handset is not great. Amazingly I did find one of the original hands from 1965 in the box, so that was cool.

Here are some more photos with hopefully more to come in the next few weeks. This will feel like it is taking forever, but when this is back on my wrist and back to work this world will seem slightly less crazy.

Very cool, thanks for the update! Been wondering about this watch/thread.

Thanks Dan, the person doing the dial restore said he had a set of hands and he will match up the lume on the dial to go with the hands.

The dial is back with me (briefly) before I ship it off to HK. I dont know, I am seeing so much more now, dirt, rust? Well, lets see how this turns out.

Ah that'll buff right out 😁

Hongkong and Vietnam have their magic with dIal restoration. Did you have to mention the level of patina you want to have to the watchmaker?

I dont know how it works sorry, he has a handset, so perhaps he will match it to that.

Looking at the naked dial I'd be inclined to just get the lume plots stabilised and not relume. If you relume, even with vintage look patina, those perfect circles and rectangles will look out of place against the rest of the beaten-up dial and the case. I don't think you're planning on getting the whole dial restored, and neither would I, but if you intend to then obviously you'd relume. You've got a unique tough-as-nails looking toolwatch at the moment and I'd keep it that way.

I have asked for a very light restoration. So I asked for the lume to be tidied up and then a light clean up of the dial. Im not sure how it will turn out, but looking at it I was worried it would be shedding paint so it should come back looking slightly better but stable. Hey we will all find out together!

This is a really good thread, thank you. Do you think it possible that the HK dial wizard can work on small, localised areas first and send you pics to discuss in order to try and get it just right, it is such a fine balance to try and strike, but....if he gets it right it will be a fabulous conservation of your historical watch, and not a restoration.

I'd vote no to any redo. Either wear it the way it is or think about retiring and retaining the dial as it is so as to keep the provenance of the watch intact and source another much better condition original. If funds are an issue, I'd consider a "vintaged" aftermarket dial just for wearing purposes.

I look forward to seeing what magic can be done on that dial, thanks for posting the progress.

Hi, thanks but I just dont know if I can just leave it as is. It looks really dry and unstable. Upon close inspection I see lose particles everywhere. I just dont want to risk it.