Yes, I know- a hotly debated topic and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The current ideology is to keep a watch original- at all costs. I frankly am of the mind that if there is damage that can be easily and unobtrusively repaired, then no harm is being done to originality- particularly in the case of missing or damaged lume.
Case and point—a very rare dial variation of an early 60’s Mido Ocean Star. The dial is in great shape, but missing lume on the minute hand made this watch look shabby.

A simple relume of the hands to match the dial color and this thing is a stunner- no harm done to the watch as the original lume on the hands was already toast.


Zodiac Seawolf....this one speaks for itself

Would love to see other successful relume jobs as a counterpoint to all the arguments against the practice.

 

Absolutely fantastic results. A relume to repair missing lume is completely ok for me as a collector. The hands, while important, take a significant back seat to the dial when I'm looking at a watch. If a watch is a pristine or nos example, then the category of condition is different from a watch that has been worn. I personally feel a sympathetic relume for chips or lume loss adds significant value to the watch.

Before and after:

 

With you 100%

 

Agreed, especially if the watch isn't the most expensive thing out there, and it removes one less bit of distraction
when looking at it.

Some I have done.




This had paint in the plots and the wrong hands.



Green was no-bueno.

 

I couldn't agree more. I'm all for lume repair to bring a watch back to looking pleasant to the eye.

Oh and jaydubbya...I want your seawolf. I don't care if its not for sale. I want it and I will get it.

 

If the lume is mostly or completely missing from a hand (or even a section of a hand), there's clearly no harm in re-luming it.

 

It is a sexy little beast isn’t it. Love the factory bricks (Holzer/JB whatever we want to call it) bracelet- it’s been fitted up better since that pic.

 

The bracelet is precisely why I want it.