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Love or hate this patina?

Kapka
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What do you think about this patina?
Sometimes I think it's like a piece of art and so unique. At first I was thinking that it's sucks that the patina is not even but looking again I like it more and more.

Also if someone knows how these type of patina develope please let me know. One interesting explanation that I got from one old (82) watch collector is that this happens because the owner was smoking those wooden tobacco pipes.

Screenshot_20241121_193819_Auctionet.webp Screenshot_20241121_193849_Auctionet.webp
 
impaw
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I have no explanation for the uneven patina, but I am with you - I really like the watch.😍
 
bgrisso
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I don't mind really strong patina sometimes, but for me it needs to be somewhat even. The way this is distributed across the dial doesn't really do a lot for me, if it was more homogeneous, would like it better
 
pitbos
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When I first started getting interested in tropical/patina watches, I always gravitated towards the watches that had the heaviest evidence of change. With Speedmasters, I used to love the very heavy brown dials with lots of gradiation and shades of brown. Over time, as I've gone deeper and deeper into exploring these dials, I tend to like the subtle and homogeneous patinantion the best. A nice, subtle even chocolate brown is my favourite patinanted Speedmaster dial by far and holds my interest indefintely.

For this particular watch, while it does look nice, I feel like I would loose interest in it over time as it's simply "too much". Beauty in the eye of the beholder I guess.
 
Porteroso
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I think it is lucky that the indeces are gold. Silver/chrome, or any sort of mixed material, and it would be too much.

Seems like this could be pretty cool in person, on the wrist. On the internet, it is just a worn watch, nearly catastrophically damaged. Dime a dozen, and not impressive.
 
Dan S
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Too uneven for me personally but it’s all personal taste.
 
Davidt
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Too much for me. Some patina if its evenly spread and relatively uniform can be really nice but this is too much imo
 
rendo
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Too much for me, too. It looks like the right side got some extra tanning oil through the case tube.
 
noelekal
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Uneven and too much of a “good thing.”
 
Wat-1
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Yea it’s a little uneven for me . get the heat gun out and give the other side a blast.
 
mac_omega
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I don´t want to comment on the look of the patina because this is a very subjective choice.

But I want to try to explain how this patina evolved. It has nothing to do with smoking.
We know that old lacquers of that period did not stand time well.
They become porous or develop fine cracks and hydrogen sulphide gas (which is always present in the air in small traces) can penetrate to the silver of the dial over time. The silver reacts with the hydrogen sulphide to form silver sulphide. This can result in colours ranging from pink to various shades of brown to almost black.
Edited:
 
Larry S
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I was gonna do thumbs down. But there is something mesmerizing about that dial. Kinda like Hubble pics only shades of brown. So👍
 
Kapka
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mac_omega mac_omega
I don´t want to comment on the look of the patina because this is a very personal choice.

But I want to try to explain how this patina evolved. It has nothing to do with smoking.
We know that old lacquers of that period did not stand time well.
They become porous or develop fine cracks and hydrogen sulphide gas (which is always present in the air in small traces) can penetrate to the silver of the dial over time. The silver reacts with the hydrogen sulphide to form silver sulphide. This can result in colours ranging from pink to various shades of brown to almost black.
That sounds like a far more scientific and reasonable answer then what my old mate had 😁 Thanks a lot. Do we know when these lacqueres got significantly improved?
60s?
 
Tony C.
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mac_omega mac_omega
But I want to try to explain how this patina evolved. It has nothing to do with smoking.
We know that old lacquers of that period did not stand time well.
They become porous or develop fine cracks and hydrogen sulphide gas (which is always present in the air in small traces) can penetrate to the silver of the dial over time. The silver reacts with the hydrogen sulphide to form silver sulphide. This can result in colours ranging from pink to various shades of brown to almost black.
Thank you, Erich. Can you explain why the lacquers used by Omega seem to have been more vulnerable to such chemical interactions than those of other large manufacturers?
 
H
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uneven, yes. Beautiful, sure. After a proper service, I think it will be perfect on the wrist. The 36mm case is fit for modern standard too.
 
mac_omega
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Tony C. Tony C.
Thank you, Erich. Can you explain why the lacquers used by Omega seem to have been more vulnerable to such chemical interactions than those of other large manufacturers?
TBH I don´t know but I have an assumption: As Omega did not produce dials themselves and they were bought from dial manufacturers it may depend on the contractor. Patek Philippe and Rolex bought dials from Stern Frères company, Omega mostly from Lemrich & Co. and later from Flückiger & Cie. (former Zélim Jacot "ZJ"). Most probably these companies used lacquers of different quality or even different chemical composition/origin?
Just a thought...
 
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