Lacquer Peeling: Return it or Love it?

[foletsc]

I recently bought a vintage seamaster off of Ebay. The watch is a little slow and could use a service, but other than that it's in quite good shape. One area of concern, however, is that it appears the lacquer on the dial has peeled at some point in its life and took a couple of second ticks with it. It's at near the 12 and 3 position. I saw it in the seller's photo but thought it might have been the reflection (stupid me).

Will the lacquer continue to degrade or will it stop as long as its being cared for?

I was already planning on having it serviced but if the dial is doing to keep getting worse, I'd rather just return it and buy a different one.

 

[drpaul]

No one can say for sure if the lacquer will stabilise or keep getting worse. If you are planning to use it as daily wear you have to assume it will keep getting worse. So I guess it depends on whether it was accounted for in the price. If it was then a little bit of character is not out of place for a vintage watch and you can were it a bit more freely than you would a pristine example.
that being said, to a collector dial is one of the most important features of the watch, if you have the option of returning it and keep hunting for one with a pristine dial that will be a good choice, it not being a particularly rare example or anything.