Just need some help to see what I should do ? or not do.

I just got back my 'precious' (=I love it) Croton CASD equipped with a Valjoux 23 from my watchmaker.

The movement is now running apparently perfectly. Great... But meanwhile I've lost two indexes/lumes at 4 and 7 : It kinds of annoy me to say the least and I just wonder if there would be a nice way to deal with that without damaging the watch and its value.

Please have a look at the picture :
I am not sure what luminescent material it is.

Maybe the best is to try not to focus on that and move on.

Thanks for those who know more for sharing their views, advices, recommendations !

And for those who are ok to read long stories : here is mine ! I bought the watch in sept 2018 in C24 from a professional seller, the chrono functions started to have issues in late spring 2019. I sent it back to the seller as it was under warranty for 1 year. Got it back a few months later just to realize it was completely blocked : this time I could not set the time . Having discussed with the seller who was proposing to send it back again to the same guy he was working with, I thought it was not such a great idea as I kind of lost confidence, plus the covid crisis started so we decided not to send the watch directly. Meanwhile I found a watchmaker close to my place and finally give it a few watches between two lockdowns. That was summer 2020... in October it was still not done and the guy told me he was going to retire early 2021... he had time to spot the issue (poor fixing from the previous so-called watchmaker of the professional seller), but was waiting for a piece he ordered... Finally the guy retired in Feb 2021 still waiting for the piece (I did got back the other watches fully serviced)... fortunately he found someone to take over his place. So a new watchmaker that finished the job and from whom I collected the watch this morning. Super, and I'm still happy to have a watchmaker in my home town. Just this slight issue of index disappearance... Of course I don't know who 'did' this, maybe the dial spent to much time out of its case, maybe a bad manipulation... I want to believe it is not the new guy.

 

If you are going to keep it and its a nice looking piece, relume it.
It will devalue it a little but if done well it will certainly make it more "complete".Others will chip in but it is really up to you.
Best of luck.

 

It should be tritium, but either that lume is really flaky and falling apart (which would speak to two of them falling off) or it was relumed poorly at some point and the two didn’t adhere well to the surface- and fell off.
Either way, this dial would look 10x better with a proper relume, and I would have the hands done at the same time. There are a few masters at this- James Hyman in the UK comes to mind

https://www.instagram.com/thealchemistrelumer/

I have had relumes done when the original material is toast (dark and ashy from moisture ingress)- no point in trying to keep originality if it’s actually gone. If you find it unattractive, get it relumed.

 

I can't say I find it unattractive, this would be too strong but it lost something in the way and my eyes got driven to this now.
So I thought I would ask the OF fellows' advices. Of course, agree that at the end it will be a personal decision.

Thanks for the recommendation. Had a look on its IG and its website : Looks actually like a very respectful professional !
I will definitely consider this James Hyman.

Anyone has other recommendations ? Maybe in EU where I am located ?

I must say I was expecting some 'BigNoNo' to come up first

 

The day is still young here in the US. Wait until the west coast crowd is caffeinated.

 

Did your watchmaker cause this damage?

 

James Hyman is your man

 

I believe so... but as I explained I had two looking at the watch : the one who retired and the one who took over. I will go back and discuss with them but I don't expect anything...

 

In this case, I don't think that re-luming will hurt the value given the current condition, although I can't guarantee that there will be an increase in value to offset the cost. Obviously you should do the hands as well as the dial.

 

Thanks for that. I just contacted James Hyman through IG. Nice and quick answers.
Everyone agree there that the hands should be relumed And me, believing it was a strange but normal ageing result I thought so as I already saw another picture of such colors on a same kind of watch.

Anyway thanks for these advices !

So I know have 2 things to solve :
- Colour : I am not sure I would like to have straight hands and indexes all in white... maybe some orange hue would be nicer.
- Hands : should I keep those or should I try to look for broad arrow ones ? Is it even realistic ? Any recommandations of where I could find a pair of original hands from the 70s waiting for me ?

So here I am, getting into a new path of intervention I never considered I would venture initially... This definitely never ends.

 

That is really unfortunate. Regardless of what you do, I think this is cause for some sort of reparations as they did inflict some major damage to your watch. I think i'd have it relumed and try to get some of your loss back from the watchmaker, seems like one of them really fucked up.

 

And now I am ordering the book "chronomaster only" as browsing on some posts here I realize my example of Croton with a Valjoux 23 is not so common. I should at least make the effort to see how it did look like originally...

This forum is really a great place : Thanks again guys.

 

I diaagre

I disagree. If there were a huge gouge on the dial or they failed to pressure test it and you took it swimming and it flooded- then I could see wanting some recompense. But aged lume is fragile and every time you pull a dial or hands you run the risks of failure. The pressure that’s needed to pull the hands off can disintegrate old lume- I have had this happen to a few of mine and I understand going in that it’s part of the risk.

 

I love these Crotons... yours is certainly worthy of relume.

 

Thanks I do think/feel so : Now I just want to make this right I'm now following tracks to see how it did look like originally : I even try to contact Grégoire Rossier who wrote the "chronomaster only" book. Who knows ?

 

Yes even though I am a little bit cross I intend to think like you. Those are fragile beauties.
The only bit I am disappointed with is that it has not been said to me... and I had to double check my pictures before I let it there to be sure I was not inventing it I imagine that when it did happen someone notice it but I hope it will be all for the best at the end !

 

If you have JH do it with a nice deep yellow (avoid too much orange- it looks way too Fauxtina) you will probably wonder why you never did it earlier.

 

Maybe study some examples online that you and James feel are likely original, as a target hue

 

What happend with the lug at 5??

 

Good eye! game changer. Now the question is not really value as opposed to aesthetics.