Hello everyone,

I was wondering what the "tells" are of a service dial on a Big Blue. In many cases, a "swiss made" dial vs. a "T Swiss Made T" dial is an easy way to identify a service dial, however every photo I've seen of a Big Blue dial (regardless of condition) simple shows "Swiss Made" with no "T"s.

These two seem to have unusually clean dials considering the age, and intended purpose when new. The first link obviously has incorrect hands, and the bezel is in sad condition, but those dials look almost perfect. Am I missing something obvious?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261725832547?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151536233890?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:ITPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

Thanks as always!

 

If you look closely at the first one you can see the the brass material of the dial at the edges of the subdials.
These dials sometimes have the problem that the brass of the dial shines throu the painting.
I would say both have original dials.
The second one has the nicer colored Tritium.

 

Agreed, the second one is the way to go (lume, hands, bezel). I suppose my apprehension was simply around the fact that for 40 year old divers, they both seem to have pretty clean dials.

 

Another tip of original tritium vs luminova dial is the distance between the hour subdial at six mark and button line, tritium dials has applied the material flatter, luminova is more bulky, in this case both are original tritium dials, the second is beautiful.