Another thread sparked my curiosity on the topic of refinished dials.

Are refinished dials a common occurence?

Why would people make the effort to do this vs. just acquiring a service dial?

Are they considered counterfit or just an undesirable consequence of repair/degradation?

Curious..

 

Yes. Service dial may be unavailable or extremely pricey. Don't think it's a consequence of repair or degradation of the dial. It's a conscious decision to get the dial back to the original state. Unfortunately, the vast majority are poorly done. I don't know if this is the thread you're referring to but, if not, this is a lot of the reason why it's undesirable. https://omegaforums.net/threads/worst-redials.2304/

 

With some watches like Rolex,s and Speedmasters it could be used to fleece a unsuspecting buyer out of thousands of dollars. Whenever anythings sold for money there is always someone out for a quick buck

Worth a read
http://nickhacko.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/tough-times-ahead-for-collectors-of.html?m=1

 

Thanks for the info! I learn more every day on this forum.

 

Refinished dials seem to be everywhere. It's getting harder and harder to find an affordable vintage watch with a dial that hasn't been retouched in some way. For some people a repainted dial isn't an issue if they like the look of the watch but, for anyone who is really into watches, a redial is usually a no-go. However, if you compare watch collecting to cars collecting, there are original cars and restored cars and both can command astronomical prices so maybe, someday, when these pieces are becoming rarer and rarer, redials may be more accepted if done well.