Kind of odd to have a racing-themed chapter ring and then some Greek or Roman dude lookin' all emo on the 9 o'clock subdial.

 

But it is pretending to be something it is not: old.

Beige lume (let's face it it's beige) isn't used on strikingly modern pieces for funky colour contest purposes, it's used exclusively so at first glance your shallow co worker thinks you dropped £20k on an antique 60s piece. Would you prefer the more accurate description 'faux aged lume' because that is what it is. It is homage, which from one POV is the first baby step on the slippery slope to fakery.

 

I don't read "beige" as "forgery". I read it as a design choice with a nod to vintage. And let's face it - no one CARES about the lume colour of your dial in outside world. The only people who care are here, and they know perfectly well that this ain't vintage. Anyway, that's just my opinion, so may be we can agree to disagree on this one. Still, a hell of the watch this Speedy is...

 

Can modern lume materials age (develop a patina if you peter) like the old stuff did, or have they developed them to the point that they now last and will always be the colour when originally applied? Same goes for other elements like the dial paint?

 

Why did they stop with the lume? If they really wanted to reference the 50s pieces as they are now perhaps banged up bezels, flaking dials and scratched crystals should have been recreated too. If you think about it, the lume is the only faux aged part, everything else nods towards how the pieces looked in 1957 when brand new. That inconsistency jars with me and maybe many others hence the comments.

 

Siperluminova doesn't age, so it will look as new in 20-30-40 years down the track. The dial making tech is MUCH better now so in theory there should be no cracking or discolouring but I am sure some pieces will develop that, either due to manufacturing defects or because of damage (micro scratches on dial surface, removing protective coating in some places, etc).

 

The Dude you are talking about had his step on the Moon itself, so why not be on a ceramic subdial?

 

Apollo the bringer of light and god of the sun? Or did you think it was a bad likeness of Gene Cernan?

 

The watch commemorates the Apollo 17 mission, the last of the Apollo missions, hence Apollo's mug on the dial. Gene Cernan was an astronaut on the mission, and the last man to set foot on the moon, but he doesn't have his face on any watches.

 

Thanks for that information.

So I suppose that means the choice of a coloured lume and slightly off-black dial is actually the only way that anyone could get that vintage look on any watch because it isn't going to happen on its own. I guess I'm happy with that choice.

Reminds me a lot of the so-called "dirty lume" that was introduced on Panerai watches a few years back.

 

Hands-On : http://www.ablogtowatch.com/omega-1957-speedmaster-seamaster-railmaster-trilogy-watches/

















Regards,
Alexander

 

Yes truly very nice, though you don't see Speedmasters and Seamster 300s in quite that good condition in the main, the bezels are often damaged. I wasn't being completely serious, I don't really expect them to remake damaged parts but it is an inconsistency, discordancy even in my mind with the new releases. The pink/brown lume on the new ones is in effect fake damage/patina.

 

I don't buy the whole 'superluminova doesn't age, and will look bright white in 50 years' line.

100 year old ceramic tiles, antique glass, everything ages to a degree. It might not turn a dark orange colour, but I can't see it being a smooth, consistent bright white in 50 years time.

The late 90's Seamasters already have a slight tinge to their markers.

 

Lucky they left out the Tees on each side of SWISS MADE.
The aged loom looks great.It puts a warmth to all three watches.

 

Thank you

 

The Seamaster Pro models such as the Bond SMP made from 1993-1997 used tritium so of course will age and lose luminosity. Those produced from 1997 onwards show very little if any change whatsoever over brand new so I am not persuaded that S-L changes in any meaningful way over the short to medium term, perhaps a very slight shift from green to grey on a few examples I have seen. It is not widely realised that there are many skeleton hands SMPs out there with fading tritium dials, only problem is the hands never seem to change colour as much so many look mismatched when in fact perfectly straight. The early dials don't have the T's which can make people think they all have S-L. They don't.

 

Exactly this. Thank you. No one has ever called my curtains faux vintage, even though they're the exact same shade. In the end, it's just a color that you either like or not. Sure, it is reminiscent of patinated tritium, and they make it that way because people seem to enjoy that color. Nothing fake or faux about it, IMO.

 

What a beautiful example !

 

Yes I believe the SL and tritium dials can be distinguished by some if the fonts. The SL dials having the longer F on ft.

I guess we'll just have to wait another 30 or so years to see how SL changes over time