Does reluming a watch hurt the value?

Tubber · Jul 15, 2018

I had a Croton relumed a while back. Before and after.

The main reason being I couldn't see the original hour markers.

What about re-arranging the original lume? I had a WWW Buren that the lume was glooped on. The original lume was used but applied in a more subtle manner.

frederico · Jul 15, 2018

Sorry if I'm missing something here as this thread has drifted somewhat from the OP's original question.
For me, original lume is a strong indicator of how the watch has been looked after through the course of its life. With my limited understanding, exposure to moisture, extreme conditions etc. will cause the lume to degrade in colour or condition. So lume originality is important because reluming results in a firm conclusion that the watch has NOT been perfectly looked after. This then calls all sorts of other doubts about the extent to which the watch has been interfered with. Right?

Tony C. · Jul 15, 2018

frederico
Sorry if I'm missing something here as this thread has drifted somewhat from the OP's original question.
For me, original lume is a strong indicator of how the watch has been looked after through the course of its life. With my limited understanding, exposure to moisture, extreme conditions etc. will cause the lume to degrade in colour or condition. So lume originality is important because reluming results in a firm conclusion that the watch has NOT been perfectly looked after. This then calls all sorts of other doubts about the extent to which the watch has been interfered with. Right?

Not really. As values of vintage watches have escalated, relumes are often done to simply enhance values, and can be found on watches that are otherwise in very good to excellent condition. Also, a watch can be well looked after, but have a case that is not very water-tight. And when such watches were used in humid climates, there was often dial degradation as a result.

In my view, case and movement condition are much more accurate measures of how well or poorly a watch was maintained over its life.

frederico · Jul 15, 2018

agreed, but for me, lume is like litmus paper, it is the first thing to degrade under humidity etc. So if the lume is original and good, the watch has never been exposed to humidity etc.

Edit: obviously degraded original lume does not automatically mean that the dial has / will degrade too, but non-degraded and original lume is a good indicator that the dial has / will NOT degrade. If you see my logic !

frederico · Jul 15, 2018

I'd love to be enlightened by those that know this topic better. What I understand is that the coherence of degradation / ageing between lume, hands and to a lesser degree, the dial, should be consistent for the age of the watch.

Tony C. · Jul 15, 2018

frederico
agreed, but for me, lume is like litmus paper, it is the first thing to degrade under humidity etc. So if the lume is original and good, the watch has never been exposed to humidity etc.

Edit: obviously degraded original lume does not automatically mean that the dial has / will degrade too, but non-degraded and original lume is a good indicator that the dial has / will NOT degrade. If you see my logic !

Again, Frederico, I think that it is a bit simplistic. Of course degraded lume may be an indicator of use in humid climate, but poor case construction or a cracked crystal could also be at fault. Furthermore, you have complications such as the well-known lacquer issues found in Omega watches from the '50s. Because the finishing lacquers were not always good, they de-laminated to various degrees at times, giving dials the appearance of hard use, or exposure to a humid climate, while the lume may have been very well preserved.

Perhaps I am being pedantic, as I know that you know that there are exceptions, but I don't consider lume condition to necessarily be a good indicator of the other variables that we are discussing.

Does reluming a watch hurt the value?

Tubber

frederico

Tony C.

frederico

frederico

Tony C.

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