the sellers pics are terrible and i'm asking... has this dail been "washed " of its lume or is it just bad white balance on his part?

pic feels almost monochrome

 

This might be what’s referred to as a “Sinn-refurbished” dial. Seems not to have the T above 6. For dial variations pls have a look here: http://brown-snout.com/horology/articles/heuer_bundeswehr_chrono/#bund_heuer_3ht_bigletter

 

You should be aware that the Heuer Bund is probably the most refurbished watch in history; a lot of them have their cases re-bead blasted, the hands and dials relumed, some with fake engravings, and often passed as "NOS". They are beautiful but do not pay a premium for them.

His dial looks like it's a light yellow/green with bad lighting, I would ask for a photo in the sun. Also, I was going to guess this was a Sinn refurb dial too, but the subdial fonts are different from the example in the brown snout article. It could be right? Lots of variants, but not 100% sure.

In this one the bezel and case actually look good and not restored. Do you have a pic of the back?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324310991317Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
This was the watch. I passed in the end

 

There is a lot of truth in that statement as, if authentic, these were all flown watches (F104 Starfighters in the late 60's and 70's) and they took a beating. Many were refurbished by the Bund and had any number of replacement dials, hands, parts and case refinishing done over the course of their service life. Some were refurbished earlier, and many later or even multiple times, which is why there are different versions of the 3H dial styles, Heuer symbols, no 3H dials - both in tritium (small "T", like mine below) and and even later without - all of that was prior to Sinn taking over the design and servicing!

I posted mine in other places here today, so here it is again:

You can find a good to great example without over extending if you are patient and keep doing some research. Given the fact that these are bead blasted, I think you can get a sense of how much refurbishment has been done based on how clean the case lines are and if you can see the reference number (between the bottom lugs - pic below) or the watch number (between the top lugs).

Blurry, but you get the gist...

My Bund was purchased from an established and current OF member, who in turn acquired it from a well-known seller on the Military Watch Resource forum and it has been in my possession since 2017.

No to disparage the seller or buyer of that example, but I think the OP made a good call to pass on this one, at that price. That example sold for just bit below where I think the market is for a good, non-3H dial issued Bund, the most recent I saw sold on MWR for ~3600€. I believe the dial on the eBay watch to be a very late non-tritium replacement...I have no real comments on the other photos, but that case has been refinished by a (very) heavy hand IMHO.

There are some very reliable sellers and collectors on the Military Watch Resource forum, and good examples will occasionally pop up here too. Sadly, my example has not been getting the wrist time it deserves, so while I have not determined if I will list it (here) for sale yet, you are welcome to DM me and strike up a discussion.

 

++1 to the MWR forum, there's a seller there 'namib' that i've bought a Heuer Bund off before. Good guy good seller.

 

Big +1 for 'namib' as he was the seller my watch came from as well. I know of at least three other excellent references that have come from him too...four counting yours!

 

Haha nice! He seems to have access to a German military surplus supplies cache or something - he has sold many many many heuer bunds over the years hey.

 

thanks for all your insight and help guys

 

yes well, some of those he sells as NOS have redone engravings / aren’t original so be careful

 

Yikes! That is the first I've heard anything like that about the afformentioned seller - thanks for the heads up. It is always such a bummer to hear that other's have had such a divergent experience...

Not to dispute your experience in any way; but the examples that I've seen him list (just) these past few years have never been presented as NOS and he's been upfront about his watchmaker providing a complete service, which to your earlier point frequently involves replacement parts and other refinishing. The watches purchased from him, that I've held, were all totally legit and solid examples.

For what it's worth, I don't want to sound defensive as my watch did come from him, nor do I want to defend a seller's reputation that I've (literally) never directly interacted with, so thanks for the heads up. It is a good reminder to always do your homework and scrutinize every potential acquisition - regardless the seller!