Good morning - As I continue to learn about my 145.012-67, I have a question about the lume plots. To the naked eye, they appear original. The texture, thickness, color, and luminosity appear original to me. When direct light is applied and removed, the lume glows evenly and dimly for a short period of time. However, under bright and direct light there is a small area of sheen on the dial around the lume plots. It is not visible to the naked eye in normal conditions. I am wondering what this may indicate and if any of you have seen this before. Relume? Some effort to maintain the original lume? Or, original? Also, does this hurt the value or collectability of my watch? Thanks in advance for your expertise and opinions.
Here is a pic of the lume in the dark. It is most noticeable around the plot at 3. It is most noticeable in the next pic with direct bright light on it.
If you check it with microscope with 30x magnification, the original tritium lume should look like foam. The relumes normally look like crystals of brown sugar in transparent compound. You will also see if the small crystals are spread in the stair on the dial close to markers. The lighting after exposing with UV light is not a reliable indicator, since re-lumers mix old tritium mass in the composition. So even relume light up for short time after exposing to UV light. Regarding collectability - I personally prefer original dial, even if lume is not perfect, however some people prefer the "new" look. Me personally I would pay less for relume as for original untouched dial. Hope this help... However whatever it is - you got a beautiful watch there. Congratulations! Wear it in good health!
While not sure if this is a relume or not I think that something has been applied to the lume and that these shiny areas around the indices are not common for a Speedy dial.