Noob question here. Is there a difference between refinished and repainted regarding a dial or are the terms interchangeable. More specifically this watch here that I was taking a look at. The seller states that dial is refinished, just not sure if it means cleaned up or redone. Either way does not bother me too much since it is inexpensive and not intended for collectability just regular use.

Thanks

 

I believe both terms mean the dial surface is not as it was when it originally left the factory. Re-finished is an umbrella term - it means re-done. Re-painted is one way of re-doing or re-finishing, though it could be re-enameled, for instance...and while this means it has been re-finished, it has not been re-painted. Cleaned is cleaned: you can clean a re-finished dial, or an original one. Hope this all makes sense.

 

more or less interchangeable. m'Bob covered it well.

in my experience, a redone dial isn't as enoyable as an original one except for some rare cases. for something fairly common, I'd really go for an original one... especially if you'll be into watches for a while.