Hi all,
I got a vintage Omega Seamaster but the rotating bezel paint has been totally lost which is a common symptom in vintage Seasmaster.
Any idea who except Aldo can help and repair it perfectly or what kind of paint should it be cos I do hope to restore this black paint by myself instead.
Let me know who has the experiences about restoring the bezel.
Regards,
HL
There is only one way to restore the bezel and that is to send it and a load of money to Aldo and then wait a year for him to grow you a new one.
What information do you need?
If the bezel doesn't turn, it's either fully grown with dirt and need to be cleaned underneath it... or the seller have "glued" it on.
Here's one of mine without the bezel mounted. It's hold on by a friction spring inside the bezel and turn's/clicks over the springloaded ruby balls on the case.
Either way, this seller is telling you 🤬
Need pictures posted here of your watch, before further help.
Hello ,
A follow up....
After checking, I found out that the bezel can be rotated but the watch has been stored for very long time and dirt has accumulated underneath the bezel so making the bezel really hard to turn.
I have taken out the movement, unscrew the plexi retaining ring and immersed the whole case in WD40 for one week.
At first it does not move at all but when I use a big clamp to move the bezel a bit, it turns! so I have turned the bezel for a few round so that more WD 40 can soft the dirt.
Finally I take watch marker knife to take apart the bezel and lots of dirt found underneath and eventually I have managed to clean out those dirt.
Putting back a NOS replacement plexi, together replacing the crown to corrected one. It becomes a jewel!
Now back to the lost paint, I really want to try restoring the bezel by myself since it seems not really complicated.
I heard that there is a need to put on a base paint before go for black and I do need to know the font size as well.
Can Kox kindly send a up right front picture of the bezel so that I can have the correct dimension and what kind of paint should I buy to complete the task? Should it be semi gloss or matt color? Any recommendation?
Many thanks!
Hans
using WD40 on a watch should be against the law.
Come to think of it, using WD40 on anything except for storing heavy machinery should be against the law.
However, since we're also using a big clamp and a knife I think we're okay here.....
Wanna borrow my 10,000 rpm 5" grinder?
I disagree, WD40 is a reasonable choice for the purpose the OP wanted to achieve. He had removed the movement so he wasn't doing an eBay "Watch has been serviced" approach.
😉
The only thing I find curious is that Hans is capable of using the internet, but not capable of posting a photo of the watch.
Your watch is potentially too valuable to do this yourself.
http://www.milwatchmaker.com/lavori.php?lavoro=lavoro9
I would worry more about the dial, which is repainted/redialed. Just look at the omega sign or the "S" in Seamaster etc.
A lot of value and charme in the 1.gen SM300 depends on the bezel inlay, yes ...BUT not compared to the dial and its originality/condition. IMO it's most of the value. These dials are much harder to source than the bezel, yes also with original inlay! And that says a lot.
In that context, give your DIY inlay a go, it will match the dial for sure 😟 Sorry, but we are mostly a bunch of originality nerds on this forum.
Here's a link for you:
A japanese DIY guide...where black tape is used....won't do your bezel much harm ;-)
Everything better than that, would commend the hands of a professional.
Sprayed with lacquer and sanded to 2k? That's impressive. Anyone know what the "compound" is in picture 16?
