Hi everyone,
Most vintage watch collectors are sticklers when it comes to originality and sometimes will give up on aesthetical improvements for the sake of “not tampering”.
There are instances where for me, aesthetics trump originality and one of those instances is when the original lume on one or two hands is damaged.

Here’s a watch whose hand(s) my watchmaker relumed- I must admit I may have failed to indicate I prefered one hand to be left alone but I simply did not care enough to pay attention and give him clear instructions.

If the relume is done nicely do many of you really care? Do you prefer thiswatch before or after?

I didn’t care because my goal is to wear watches, not to sell them— but I’m now contemplating a sale and curious how much experienced sellers or buyers think it actually impacts value?

 

To me, a hand relume is a minor issue. Somewhere behind service crown.

 

I don't like white lume, but it's best that both hands have the same colour.

 

Really appreciate the reply, in this instance where there is no white lume- what would you have done? Relume with this color (which IMHO matches the dial very nicely) or leave as is?

 

I think it depends on attractiveness. Sometimes a watch with missing lume looks fine, others it looks fugly. As long as the overall appearance has been improved I don't see an issue with it. Having said that I'm one of those collectors who like to keep things as they are.

 

So there is the thing: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
To me, in your pic, the new lume looks too bright, & I always avoid that. Perhaps it looks better in real life. I would have held out for a darker lume.
But I would essentially have done what you did - please myself as to its appearance.

 

IMO there is no harm in re-luming a hand that has lost most (or all) of its lume, and it will make the watch more attractive. However, if the hand is only missing a small bit of lume, and the rest is original and matching, then I prefer to leave it as is.

 

If it improves the look I wouldn't hesitate to do it. Your watchmaker may have have done both hands so you did't end up with different coloured hands. They may have looked a bit better if the colour wasn't so bright. I had the same issue with a Glycine Airman. Initially I didn't intend to get the hands relumed but in the end I couldn't actually read it very easily so I did. He relumed all 3 hands. The result is a lot easier to read the time on.

Before.


After

 

For me i think you take each circumstance as you find it and if appropriate re lume.
If the Lume plots around the dial are faded and flaking or missing then it would look odd to have perfect hands. However if the lume plots are all in place and a consistent colour and say just one of the hands had its lume missing i would certainly consider having it done and i would feel all the better for it.... Whatever makes you enjoy the watch that you own more really.

 

Posting one more picture which is less blurry and may show things better. Actually on this one it looks like my watchmaker did leave the original lume on the hour hand actually.
Really happy about that.

 

I think for me originality is one of my biggest pet peeves, I would much rather have a hand set that needs reluming be replaced with a period correct handset rather than actual reluming itself. The only situation where I could tolerate reluming is if it was a very minor hairline crack or something of that magnitude. Maybe it’s just me, but I just feel that after lume is refinished, it ruins the originality for me. I think in your case however, since most of the hand has lost its lume, it wouldn’t be the worst idea reluming as it is clearly more attractive after, but it would be more about finding the right buyer who is ok with that.

 

It looks a lot better in that pic.

 

I don’t see this as being a big issue as it’s now common practice. Heck, dial relumes have now become mainstream, I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

Thanks much, I agree the other one doesn’t do it so much justice. And I’m really pleased to discover the hour hand appears to have been left intact in the end.

 

Non glowing, well antiqued replacement lume is fine IMO if the hands are so far gone. This said as the price goes higher, tolerance goes down. This is especially true for old Rolexes. I think the job your watchmaker did looks great.

 

I'm not the typical vintage collector, but I would much rather have an original dial + hands + case + movement together as a package. That's how it came originally and the 'history' of the watch is that collection of parts.

Everyone prefers beautiful original lume. However, if the aesthetics of the original dial and hands are so bad as to make the watch not worth wearing anymore, I would rather have the dial and hands re-lumed to look attractive (as close to nicely aged patina look as possible) than to have them replaced with parts from another watch. (again, I know I'm different from most).

For me, the hands look great re-lumed and the watch is better than before (still original parts, looking much better).


I bought this Suveran that nobody wanted because the original lume was gone...


I had it re-lumed by J.Hyman...


I know it's no longer "original", I know the lume isn't perfect, I know the colour is a bit too 'bright', but I can now happily wear this watch and it is better than if I'd sourced an original dial and hands to replace in this case and movement. Just my opinion.

 

This, and disclosure.

For my own watches, I don't mind a good relume - it all comes down to whether I like the watch better with the doctored hands or not

 

Interesting qn! When considering value: I think it impacts value slightly when selling, but not massively, and I'm ok with it as long as it's disclosed.

 

Thank you @Larry S for the kind words and to all of you for your kind replies.
I find them reassuring although it’s clear people’s views may differ and personal preferences come into play.

 

Funny as I’ve also been in this situation where a handset had lost small patches of lume and it was very annoying to me.
However I didn’t want to lose the original radium and relume the hands entirely.
So I asked my watchmaker to patch up the tiny bits that were missing — leaving the original radium in place but filling the holes.
I’m sure purists would give me grief over that but I can’t help it, I like it much better now.
Below is before and after.
While the patch is visible on a close up picture due to slightly different depth and texture I find the color match near perfect and it is absolutely invisible to the naked eye when worn.