Anyone care to say (or guess) why the dial seems so unevenly patinated?

 

From case images looks like maybe something up at the 6 o'clock position. Might be seal issue.

 

I would hazard a guess that the crystal failed at the bottom around 6 o'clock letting in moisture in.

 

Reveal:

I took a gamble that this dial just had some flaking lacquer from moisture intrusion and that the underlying paint was unharmed...

The lacquer was completely removed and then the dial re-sprayed. It's on a 1035 and has a new lease on life.

In my opinion this is one of the great Connie references of all time so it justifies the time and money spent.

 

Merely liking this post doesn’t do it justice. That is spectacular.

 

Dibs!

 

Second dibs, please

 

In my country, saying something is spectacular is the same as calling dibs.

 

@Rman that's impressive. The before pics looks like the original black paint had faded. Very impressive that all of the clear laquer was removed and replaced giving the glossy finish.
Do you mind sharing who did this work for you and some details of the process and your decision making process!
Dial wasn't that's bad before work was done and would be interested to hear how you decided risking removing all the dial printing with the laquer.
Great topic post, thanks

 

.... dibs

 

Kudos to you! What a beauty emerged! I’ve never seen a Connie on that flat-link bracelet before! What an amazing pairing! Thanks for the “after” photos!

 

I first heard of the process of re-lacquering on Desmond's blog although "S.D." did not work on my example.

"S.D." is probably living in Shangri-La somewhere in the Himalayas for all I know, although I did try to find him a couple years ago...

I'm abbreviating his name so that those who search for him don't come to this thread.

It was a dilemma whether to show the "after" pictures because I'm not at liberty to disclose who did the work.
He is a master watchmaker who restores for auction houses and some dealers, and is probably known to other collectors here.

He starts by putting the dial under a microscope and determines whether the watch is a good candidate to be re-lacquered because of how the inking was done. My understanding is that some dials are lacquered and then inked and then sometimes re-lacquered which makes restoration impossible. The inking has to be the first layer of the dial after the paint.

He then showed me examples of stuff he is working on, and if I was allowed to photograph and display the watches he had in his "inbox" to you in this thread you would know why I trusted him to mess with the dial. You would also be salivating and jumping around like a rabid baboon like I was.

All I can tell you is he has a proprietary process for removing the lacquer(not known to me either), and starts with an extremely small spot on the edge of the dial to see how the dial reacts before proceeding. He then actually matches the lacquer by mimicking the original matte or degree of glossiness of the lacquer in his new lacquer mix.

Other watchmakers have this knowledge as well so he is no wizard, but he is freaking talented.

 

The idea of the Connie on flatlink comes from Cristos, he made me take notice of that combo with his beautiful watches.