Guess not

Not that I really needed another 145.012, but not many 105.012 around, so…….

Arrived last week. Lots of nice old dirt, sharp case, great bezel, original crown and a nice condition 1039 bracelet (stamped 68-1). Minute and hour hands are old as there’s cracks in the lume. Obviously the sweep second hand is wrong and one of the pushers too small.

Under the very scratched original? crystal, the dial itself seems perfect, but parts of two lume plots are gone, and a part of a third is about to go the same way. Any way to secure the rest of the lume?



Polished the left side of the crystal some to get a better view of the dial.


More pics:









Seller said his grandfather was the first owner and that it has not been used for many many years. That’s all he knew about it.

All comments welcome.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Changed the title to get the lume experts attention - hope it's OK.

A member contacted me telling me he bought the watch and returned it, due to he believe it’s relumed, as the plots appears glue-like and glossy. I’m no expert, and I’d like to learn – maybe others can benefit too, should I have judged wrong. So give me your honest thoughts guys.

More pics (sorry for them not being better, but not easy with a crystal so scratched up):



It glows up to two minutes after exposed to strong light, if that's any help.....

Thanks,
Paul

 

When it glows after being subject to strong light source, what do the glowing plots look like?

I'm not saying this is exhaustive, but every watch I've seen with original lume has a uniform glow (even if faint and for 30 seconds), equal brightness etc.

Ones which have been relumed usually have no glow at all, glow too brightly, or look inconsistent and bitty - I assume as its a mixture of vintage tritium from various sources.

I don't know if this is 100% correct but it's worked for me so far.

 

It does look awfully shiny... it's usually quite flat. That would be a red flag, but I've been wrong about lume plenty of times.

I believe relumers can mix luminova (or similar) in with various pigments to make the lume colour look good and achieve a faint, short glow, so I don't rely on that alone.

 

If it's luminova, even diluted, won't the duration be the same (i.e. It'll glow all night), just at a reduced intensity?

 

I don't know for sure, but the one I've seen would glow almost exactly like tritium. Strong and even at first and fade over a few minutes.

 

Interesting. I didn't know that.

 

Tried to capture it, but with my lack of photo skills and that scratched up crystal, it's not easy



Thanks,
Paul

 

Obviously not the best of pictures. As with Rolex, some of the 60's tritium seem to have a "puff" look to them, which appears to be the case here on some of the plots but with better pictures it is hard to determine.
A beautiful watch and not all watches have to be perfect but if the price is right... then a very nice acquisition..

 

That looks like at the very least it's had some of the plots touched up.

 

I've dealt with plenty of tritium dials and they certainly do not all glow, even for a little bit. Seems highly dependent on the life the watch has lead..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I would vote original yet puffy lume.
Do you plan to work on that crystal a bit more?

 

I've just viewed this on a larger screen and agree that it looks original.

I initially thought it had been touched up at 1, 2 and 8, but looking on a larger screen Ive realised the lume is actually missing here hence the dark areas (bloody iPhone screens!).

 

Isn´t the seller Lauritz.com? I saw this a while back on that site.

http://www.lauritz.com/sv/auktion/omega-speedmaster-professional-herrearmbaandsur/i4388660/

 

I will if I keep it.

 

Thats was the first auction on it. It went for a total of $5200 the second time.....

 

Thank you for all comments - very helpful - as always