I understand service hands pre-1994 (introduction of luminova) were tritium.

Is there a way to positively identify these pre-94 from original factory hands?

I'm interested specifically in ref 145.012-67SP.

Follow-on question, did this reference ONLY have the sweep chrono hand with the tear drop tip? Is a straight sweep hand incorrect for this reference?

Thank you.

 

Flat tip on the chrono is also correct for this reference. I would think you could tell by the shade of white of the hand and how the patina has developed on the hands.

 

1999 was the cross over

Shine a light on them. Go to dark room if they glow brightly for more then a minute it have any glow after 5 minutes they are luminova.

Tritium keeps barely any charge. They where lit by the decay of the Tritium.

Tritium vs tritium....

As long as they are correct for the reference there is no conclusive way to tell. Generally though hands would be replaced with current production spec so if a reference had a different Chrono hand it’s easy to tell.

My personal thought is if they look correct color wise and match the dial they are fine. At the end of the day there is no way to tell if any watch has the hands, dial, and mid case it left the factory with if it’s correct for the reference. Eyeball for correctness is the only way to judge.

As for your exact reference I forget when the Chrono hand switch was you can check speedmaster101 for the accepted version.

 

Generally, the transition from drop tail to flat bottom occurred within the 145.012-67, and would have been (imho) well established by 145.012-68.

So for a -67, either is ok, though an early one with flat bottom would raise a flag for me, and vice versa for a drop tail on a later one. Not a show stopper, but I'd be on alert.

 

Thanks you.... lots of specific and helpful details in these responses.

 

What about subdial hands? Rarely mentioned

 

Ask guys here looks like the best way