i acquired this earlier in the summer direct from the original owner. He'd lent it to his lodger for several years, unaware of the value, before they realised how much it was worth and decided to sell it. It had incorrect mark series hands, a missing endlink and years of wear, but it had the original dial with beautifully patina'd lume, lovely faded bezel (not to everyone's taste but I love them), nice thick case and the original 1175 bracelet. Critically it had the years of dirt and grime which I like as it acts as a seal, suggesting no dealer has messed about with it in recent years. It was with me for a few weeks before being sent to Simon Freese for a thorough going over. Simon worked his magic, giving the case a good clean (no polishing of course), a new crystal, new hands aged to match the dial, and a full service, even managing to salvage the original pushers. And here we are, before and after.
Now it looks clean suggesting a dealer has messed with it Juuuuuuust kidding! Came out lovely Perfect dial and lume... Congrats and WIGH...
Haha that's the dilemma isn't it. I like barn finds covered in dirt but I then proceed to clean them up . The key thing for me is that I've cleaned it so I know exactly what was done.
Absolutely not. Case work, polishing etc is a big no no for me. I prefer to leave the wear and scratches in place.
Looks great David! Aging the hands. How is that done? Is the aging refering to the lume or also the hands themselves?
As I understand it the superluminova material is removed and replaced with a compound (either glowing, slightly glowing or on-glowing) with more patina like colouring. The white paint may also be darkened slightly.
