So I have been in the market for a pre 1974 speedmaster and this has been made available to me. I have a few concerns. First, it looks like it has been relumed. Is that correct? The hour markers also look like they are not in great condition. Also, the middle of the seconds hand is missing paint but it looks almost deliberate. I haven't seen any other examples like that. Is it normal/a replacement/a bad repair job. Anything else I should be looking at?

 

Relumed? Not IMO.

The chrono has lost some paint in the middle, because someone was a little careless when removing it.

The case looks polished, which is a deal breaker to me every day in the week

 

The missing paint in the middle is a deal breaker for me. I will just always look at it and be like WTF. How much is this guy worth though?

 

Hard to say via a picture, my -76 looks the same and is not relumed, but a green patina is not the most common way to age. But I would say as the lume is not on thick and you can see the step through the lume my money is that the lume is original. The matching the hands tend to verify this.

It should take a charge via a bright lite and lose almost all of its glow in under 15 seconds, if you want to verify its tritium and not a scraped dial with luminova on it. Luminova will hold a bright glow for at least a few minutes.

As people have noted the hands will need restoration for the white areas that have flaked, I would not replace the hands on this watch as if as I suspect it is all original finding matching hands to that dial is not the easiest as most lume tended to age yellowish.

 

I don't believe the dial has been relumed, I have seen plenty of examples with green tritium. Also, I find it a bit odd that the paint on all the hands have flaked exactly at the same spot, including the small hand in the sub-dial. This could suggest that the watch has gone through repair or substantial work. Either way, I would inspect the movement to have a piece of mind. Lastly, I would leave the hands alone.

 

Got the feeling they just flipped the second hand over

 

I don't think relumed, but doesn't look attractive to me. Opinions vary of course.

 

To me it looks like the markers have been repainted as the paint look newer and different from the tritium on the hands. I have a '71 myself and the tritium turns to a creamy, yellow colour, definately not shiny green. The uneven aging would be a dealbreaker for me, and the shiny green colour on the markers is not attractive IMO.

 

@marturx taught me a lesson very early on...if you cannot shave with the case, then the watch is a pass. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but almost all of my watches have sharp original or lightly polished cases. It is a great "deal breaker" rule to set imo.

 

I think the lume is original.
The missing paint on the hands can be restored, it's not a big problem.

 

Thank you @watchknut!

In the beginning of my watch interest, 10 years ago, I was regarded as a fool and moran when I opposed to all sorts of case refinishing, especially ugly "home polishing" by happy fellow vintage watch enthusiasts!

So it has not always been a mainstream opinion to dislike polished cases on vintage watches

 

Just wanted to say it's not always on removal that this happens, and it's not always carelessness. When you press the hand back on, that's where you do it - right on the round portion. Sometimes the pressure of pressing the hand on causes the paint to flake. Not much you can do if the bond between the hand and the paint is weak.

Cheers, Al

 

I'm sorry but your wrong, tritium does not always go yellow. It's not as common but it happens. Depends on moisture, exposure to light and temp.

Also how is that uneven?

 

I have a chocolate Speedy myself with this greenish colour in the lume. I know for a fact that it came from a sock drawer, and was not touched, so they do exist in this execution

 

Here's one theory-
And maybe reason we find more SM300 with greenish lume.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/different-lume-ageing-patina.11085/

 

I have had two -71s, one completely untouched since original purchase, that had greenish lume. For some reason the -71 in particular seems to go green more often than yellow. OP watch looks original to me.

 

I agree that tritium sometimes go greenish when aging, so I might be wrong and you might be right. But based on the pics I still think the lume on the markers looks newer, cleaner and more 'shiny' than the lume on the hands. IMO they should age equally. That was what I ment with 'uneven'. Have a great sunday.

 

+1
The difference between the hands and the dial lume makes me trend towards resume.

 

IMO
It's very common that original hands lume goes darker than dial lume on never touched Speedies..
very rarely original and never relumed watch have the same tone of dial and hands, it happens, but not commonly on Speedies


This has always been with me since 1988 for example, but I saw many other completely original speedies like this

 

I see your point and hands and dials are manufactured from different batches of lume (I assume), so therefore it probably does not age exactly the same. Your example is very consistent with my Speedy. The hands on your Speedy have aged a dark green. but the lume on the dial looks an unaged, even and newish green to me. The question is: does it glow?
Please keep in mind I have been wrong before.