Do the radium dials still glow at all? I know I've seen a radium Rolex 6542 bakelite bezel glow eerily like bright luminova but then most radium dials I've seen on Omegas don't
Florida is the state for great deals on swamp land. We do "prime acreage" here in Jersey, which translates to "former superfund site" or "worthless Pine Barrens tracts".
The radium does glow but only very briefly. The untouched omega radium dials that I've seen has the radium looking a nice golden brown shade.
Yes, exactly as noted by dsio, they look like they were painted on, and have definitely not been stripped or re-painted.
While a subject of continued debate, it is believed that tritium remains very white if kept in the dark. It is not just the tritium that causes yellowing/darkening, but the paints and other components of the compound and UV effects.
My Seamaster Chronostop has life left in it's lume and still looks white. It can happen; you just don't see it often.
Interesting tritium info. I suppose the best evidence would be true NOS dials from the 60s to 80s that have never been left out. If those remain perfectly white, the living in the dark theory would make sense. All of the very white T markers I have seen when viewed closely have no depth...like those on my 145.012...very white...no tritium left at all. I'll have to keep an open mind and check the depth of the white ones now...rather than assume they have been "scraped." The nicest patina, I think, is on the radium dials...often very even and a nice warm color.
Radium seems more stable in general, it doesn't look like it crumbles as easily and readily as tritium does, which is definitely a good thing, my 1680 ghost sub has a few tritium plots that fell off the dial during its last service, which still bothers me, I'm thinking at some point I'll pay the $600 or so for a mint dial, maybe get $300 or so back on my old one just so that it doesn't irk me anymore.
I assume you were wanting to see another Omega....Special ref 2975, large 19mm!! gold medallion on back, with caliber 501, according to Omega's Museum Department less than 1000 made of this ref including versions in solid gold, gold-capped, and stainless steel. There may have only been around 100 of this gold-capped version!
Besides the short production period of 6 months, the main thing that makes it unusual is that the gold medallion on caseback is 19mm in diameter. (See rest of my reply below pictures...it got separated when I uploaded files.)
I feel I have to compensate for all these lovely examples. The 'wrist cheese' came half way up the chrono pushers, but it still worked fine! Ref: 105.012-65
I've seen some dirty Speedys, but this has to be the nastiest one ever! Still appears to have a lot of potential for restoration. Looks like the crystal was melted by a booster rocketWhat do you suppose caused the crystal to break/melt that way? Amazing that the dial is still in good condition!!!
The bit around the edge looks similar to a Certaina I saw that had a cigar melt the plexi but it also looks like it was actually cracked/shattered too. In spite of that, the bezel is actually pretty good, just dirty and with some minor damage at 6, and dial is a bit mucky but not particularly bad either, while the case is actually pretty sharp and relatively ding free, that's one of those watches you buy on eBay for a deep discount and turn around into a good wearable watch.
It was definitely broken by impact, but since the hesalite crystals can safely be hit with a hammer without breaking (I've tried it on an old crystal!) it must have been a hell of an impact! It cleaned up very nicely in the end. It had all these strange Nasa issue markings engraved on it but I soon polished those out.
Was Buzz Aldrin's name etched into it? That's a watch I would have jumped at for a good price. The fact that it continued to run is a pretty strong testament to the 321. I'd say it's a 105.012 judging by the dial...not a 145.012. Is that correct?
