Some projects takes longer than others. This one has taken loads of time, and plenty of efforts from @Mitka and Christian at WatchGuy UK in order to be brought back to life. Bought as a project, it has surely seen some action. The dial was carefully cleaned of loose dirt and corrosion before being given a thin layer of varnish to preserve it for posterity. The hands carefully cleaned, but we did not try to blue them again in fear of doing damage. In addition to becoming very hard to source, certain parts for the UG chronographs came in plentiful of variations. Much of the time going into this project/restoration have been spent sourcing the "right version" of a part. Kudos to @Mitka for not giving up! Cal 285. Case ref 22454. More pictures to come, but this is what I have taken so far: (Did I mention how crisp and sweet the chrono functions perform? )
I agree. Mitka has been experimenting a lot with "lesser" dials on how to clean and preserve without inflicting damage or altering the dial appearance. IMO he is getting very good at it! The dial looks so much better "in the flesh" as well. Macro shots does not do it justice!