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Oily Substance/Lume Plots

amphib44
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Question for the veterans here. I’m looking at the possible purchase of a ‘62 2998-5. It’s all correct, and is in, what I feel is excellent condition. However, there are some odd, oily marks around each lume plot. I haven’t seen anything like this before and am wondering if any of you have an explanation.
I’ve attached an enlarged picture of one of the plots. They all have similar oily markings.
2DEED939-DDBD-4B16-92F6-11A812589DB4.jpeg
An advice or insight is appreciated.
 
Archer
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
‘Stabilization’ of old.

I take this to mean you believe that someone has stabilized the old lume?

If so, they have done a particularly poor job of applying the clear binder.
 
Dan S
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Maybe residue from stabilization, maybe degradation of the lacquer catalyzed by the lume, maybe something else. We can all take guesses, but IMO it ultimately doesn't matter how it originated. You need to decide how you feel about how it looks.
 
JwRosenthal
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Dan S Dan S
Maybe residue from stabilization, maybe degradation of the lacquer catalyzed by the lume, maybe something else. We can all take guesses, but IMO it ultimately doesn't matter how it originated. You need to decide how you feel about how it looks.
Yup- doesn’t matter how, just matters that it is. Not something I would happy to look at.
 
eugeneandresson
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Archer Archer
I take this to mean you believe that someone has stabilized the old lume?

If so, they have done a particularly poor job of applying the clear binder.

Its like applying clear coat to your fingernails ... it doesn't matter if you paint your fingers too 😉
 
Archer
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eugeneandresson eugeneandresson
Its like applying clear coat to your fingernails ... it doesn't matter if you paint your fingers too 😉

People tend to jump to the lume stabilization answer, but I'm not convinced. For this to be the case, many watchmakers who are able to apply oils to much smaller places with precision inside a watch on a regular basis, have seemingly lost control of their ability to do so when it comes to applying a much more viscous substance, to a much larger area. It doesn't seem likely to me. Of course there could be random non-watchmakers opening up watches and sloppily applying binder to these watches...but again I find this unlikely.
 
eugeneandresson
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Archer Archer
People tend to jump to the lume stabilization answer, but I'm not convinced. For this to be the case, many watchmakers who are able to apply oils to much smaller places with precision inside a watch on a regular basis, have seemingly lost control of their ability to do so when it comes to applying a much more viscous substance, to a much larger area. It doesn't seem likely to me. Of course there could be random non-watchmakers opening up watches and sloppily applying binder to these watches...but again I find this unlikely.

Well, speculate away. The OP wants suggestions. I can't think of any other reason why there would be oily marks around the plots.
 
amphib44
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Thanks for the input. It makes sense that something like an attempted stabilization took place. I find it very distracting when looking at, for the most part, is a beautiful watch. It wouldn’t seem like there is a way to unwind this type of treatment without washing the dial and starting over. Too bad...
 
amphib44
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Archer Archer
People tend to jump to the lume stabilization answer, but I'm not convinced. For this to be the case, many watchmakers who are able to apply oils to much smaller places with precision inside a watch on a regular basis, have seemingly lost control of their ability to do so when it comes to applying a much more viscous substance, to a much larger area. It doesn't seem likely to me. Of course there could be random non-watchmakers opening up watches and sloppily applying binder to these watches...but again I find this unlikely.

Thread resurrection. So if this isn’t an example of stabilization gone very wrong, what could an alternative explanation be? This reference could have radium plots. Could it be some type of issues caused by that? Supposedly this watch was never serviced/unopened since purchased new. If true, what then?
The reason I haven’t simply walked away is that the production dates, according to the EoA, is 13 days after my actual birthday. Compelling for me.
 
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