Hello guys

I have had the chance to get a set of tritium hands as a replacement for my Superluminova ones on my 145.022-76.
Pics or it didn‘t happen:




One minute after exposure to UV light. Sorry for the bad quality.

I think those are in a great shape but I have some question about them.

After looking a the post https://omegaforums.net/threads/145-012-67-hunt-over-found-one.76979/page-2#post-978561 I think those do not actually look like replacement hands. What is your opinion?

I would like to have those fitted by my watchmaker. Should the tritium should be secured before they are fitted? What is the recommended treatment?

Although I have no real concerns about authenticity, I would like to get your opinion on this topic too.

Thanks and have a great day!

 

This is the “target“ watch:

Cheers

 

So, I did this mostly cause I was curious to try. A little fiddly, even for me.

I started with my -74, which has its original hands.



Comparisons:

Minute hands:


Hour hands:



Chrono hands:



I think you’re good to go!

For those that are curious, I’m able to do all this photo editing directly on my iPad, without any special apps.

 

Hard to tell correctness without seeing the length.

 

The thread you are quoting goes for 145.012-67 hands. I don't think you can apply the same criteria discussed there.

I believe that your hands are genuine.

I only wonder why these hands come on Fiedler factory cardboard, although they've obviously been used?

 

Awesome! Thanks for your work! I really appreciate it.

Thanks for your reply. What should be the correct length?

Fair point about the year. What makes you think those have been used? I really don‘t know but I think they have just not been treated very well. What would be the consequence if those are from Fiedler? The smaller ones are on Fiedler cardboard as well:


Thank you and Cheers!

 

Do you guys have any tips for securing the tritium on vintage hands? Should I just get them attached as they are? Thanks for your suggestions.

Cheers

 

Fiedler is ok for these.

 

I've had Rolex hands "stabilized" by LA WatchWorks. I'm GUESSING they used something like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Su...2:g:KzwAAOSwN11cLjEF:rk:2:pf:1&frcectupt=truePurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network
Just a guess though. Perhaps one of the local watchmakers has an idea.

 

Well, they have some scratches and the lume looks a bit 'dirty'. Maybe it's just because of these foggy pictures, but the hands look grey where there should be white.

Anyway, I think you made it well to find a set of hands with matching green lume.

Would love to see them mounted!

 

I am a really bad photographer

I am also a little bit color blind (seriously). Are those really green?

I am looking forward to have them mounted too.

Thanks for the hint. I will ask my watchmaker about this.

 

Yeah, they look (yellowish) green on your OP pictures and no, you're not a bad photographer at all...

The latest pic you posted shows the hands with a more yellowish tone, though. There are no scratches as well and so I think that these are not the same hands as presented before?

I don't know exactly which production range it was, this would be a question to more knowledgable members here, like @Spacefruit for example. But I'm sure that in the middle to late 1970s OMEGA produced dials and hands with tritium lume that turned green with age.

Those dials and hands are rare. It's more common to see yellow, beige or brown lume from this period.

That's why I said that you were lucky to find a matching hand set for your dial.

 

I sometimes put some king of varnish behind the hands to "seal" the luminus material.

 

You can just use the same binder that the lume powder is mixed with - this is done all the time by watchmakers working on vintage.

Cheers, Al

 

Hello Archer

That is what I use but I didn't want to be too specific.

cheers

 

For me the key is for the shade of tritium on the hands and dial plots to be nearly identical for the watch to look right. Even when tritium, if the shade of lume on the hands looks strikingly different from the color of the dial plots, then for me at least, it just doesn't look right. I would love to see the dial and hands next to each other.

 

Hi Neek,

Here you go:



I think it‘s not to bad.

Cheers

 

Looks pretty damn close to me. Should look nice on there.

 

Watch is finally back from the watchmaker. Just wanzed to share the result. I am pretty happy with it.