Out of curiosity, did you or anyone here know if the Omega Service Center cleans dials?
There are a few dial maestro's who may attempt this. One guy is in Italy, but I forget his name. And probably very expensive, as the video I watched showed him working on a vintage Rolex sports model that was probably a six figure watch.
I would NOT send this to Omega. And really, I was very very lucky not to destroy the dial. So cannot recommend anyone taking a similar chance unless they truly accept that they may ruin the dial..
I'm resurrecting this old thread with a new cleaning result. I purchased this old Geneve on ebay, then found out it was posted about on this forum.
I removed the bezel and hands and went to work with a few different things. First distilled water and a Q-tip, then diluted lemon juice and a mascara brush. Then I got nervy and tried a bit of naptha on a mascara brush. Was very careful to try to avoid the lettering. But certainly did touch the lettering. And found it to be pretty tough on this particular dial. So very lucky. I think the waffle has something to do with the lettering having better adherence. Anyway--central stain mostly removed with naptha and mascara brush and I'm fairly pleased with the result.
May bring this to my watchmaker for a service and wear it a bit..
I cant believe @MikeMan2727 is wearing anything but an IWC.
do you mean Roberto Taraballa?
https://instagram.com/roberto.tarabella_watchmaker
He really is a magician!
I have a hard time believing his magic, I think he's a 8.5'er and a good photographer, my impression is that he can bring a 5/10 dial to a 8.5 - but would downgrade a 9 dial to a 8.5 too
He seems very experienced in painting with lumes and I assume has good material experience for touch ups, as in, he can match dial material/color, yet from his before/after's it's clear that there's some photography magic too
With this said I hope his magic is real and wish there were more like him
I have a rose gold matte black dial C-Case that was rough handled, that's why I'm in the pit of despair that I'm in, someone did a lot of mistakes on it, removed 3 minute indices trying to rub something out and touched the dial with an oily substance, that's why I pay too much attention to restoration attempts and methods
I believe Tarabello is an expert painter with a precise hand and has good experience with materials and color matching, that's what I deducted from what little he shows, he does good touch ups but on live streams he directly touches dials too, like the front parts of matte black dials with his naked fingers, which really puzzled me
He gets lume material on black dials and then can wipe them off, this is pretty interesting
I've been trying to endure this need to get my dial improved, if your friend has experience with black dials and small touch ups like restoring minute markers, I'd appreciate an introduction
Fabulous result! I had one good attempt with lemon juice and one disaster (watched the lettering float right off the dial 😲 )
Naptha is an amazing chemical for these kinds of applications - I know many art conservators that use it - but they know exactly how it will react on what surfaces. They also swear by enzymatic solution #1
By enzymatic solution #1, do you mean spit? It's top of the list for conservators.
