Is this most likely an example of having the hands replaced while keeping the faded dial?

 

The dial and hands look fine.

I have a 10 year old SMP 300 and the dial never faded. The aluminium bezel faded and I had it replaced during service (looks like new again).

The vivid bright hands are supposed to be more visible when underwater.

 

Ditto that. I've got a 20-year old SMP midsize specifically for use in the ocean and sports in general--the dial is still a beautiful deep blue, but the bezel insert is incredibly faded. Is it caused by sun bleaching? Years of scuffing against clothing? I'd love to know what actually causes it.

Honestly it seems fine to me, and I'm super picky about color mismatches--it looks more like an issue with the angle and lighting than anything else? My full-size SMP dial looks exactly like that with a little reflection--otherwise it's a perfect match for the new bezel.

The watch in that photo looks like a fantastic example. I don't see a mark on that bezel. I'm sure it will look better if you have the seller/owner take a picture without so much backlight!

 

Thanks for the replies. It's particularly the small (supposed to be red?) triangles next to the hour marks I'm wondering about.

 

Looking at pictures of this model (2599.80) on the web, most seem to show that the red colour on the hands would appear to fade through red-orange to almost white in some cases and the small red hour triangles on the rehaut would appear to fade at the same rate. Given that observation and the almost spotless bezel insert, I suspect these may have been replaced fairly recently, but without some kind of service history, it's mere speculation on my part.

In any event, it's a nice looking watch

 

Yes...I've replaced many hand sets that have faded, but people are more tolerant of faded dials. I suspect it's partly because the red accents fade so they look white and " normal" and also the fact the dial us more expensive to replace.

Cheers, Al