I recently bought a Speedmaster 145.012-67. I'm very glad with it, although it needed a service, new Hesalite and crown when it came in. After weeks I discovered that the lume on the dial still glows in the dark, while the hands don't glow anymore. After a short time they fade very quick (compared to my new watches). There is also a color difference compared to the hands, which may have the following cause:

- The dial has been relumed
- The dial is a younger service dial but with tritium
- The dial is perfectly original

While a relume could be possible, the following things make me have doubts about this scenario:
- The lume fades very quick
- There are some dark spots on the lume and on the edges it flaked of in a non-smooth way.

Here are some quick pictures (can provide more later on):




I'd like to hear your opinion.

Regards

 

Unlikely that it's relumed imo - for the reason you give and I'm sure someone would have done a better job of colour matching if it was more recent.

Could be original or an early service dial - either way not too much to worry about. As the colour mismatch obviously doesn't bother you enough to prevent you buying it, neither should this.

 

For me everything seems original (dial + hands + bezel)

 

One of my 105012-66 with same color of hands :

 

Yeah, for me that's still an option. But the glow... Although the Moonwatch Only book says it could still glow, but needs to fade quickly (I've done the test which is described in the book). Could it be the difference in thickness or base-layer (lume with underlayer/dial and lume without on the hands)? Maybe that's the reason in color difference and glow?

It's also odd to see my example (read, never polished) next to a polished one. My Speedy is extreme fat compared to polished ones. But that's a whole different story

Thanks for all the quick replies.

 

When hands are very dark like yours, it glow a little bit... while dial glow more. Really for me, there is no matter.

 

And it's a very very nice example, congrats !!

 

I'm voting original. Hands often aged to a darker shade than the hour markers.

My all original Ed White is similar (darker hand lume than dial) and the hand do glow very faintly, while the dial is a little brighter when exposed to light.

 

Thanks for the reply.
Ok, nice. Still, I'm curious if anyone has an explanation for the color difference. Could it be the (lack) of underlayer lik I've suggested?

 

Looks like a very good example, I've got a few vintage speedies, including my ed white which Had completely original lume but under bright light they still have a slight residual glow

 

My most recent acquisition seems to share roughly the same issue and has lead me to the same question. Thread with glow photo and macros:

145-012-67 reactivity

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=47672&share_fid=20374&share_type=t


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My dial glows very even in the dark, instead of isolated spots. Hands not or very little as far as I know. But again, after a very short time it quickly fades.

 

I must have mis-read this. You probably mean non-glow dark spots like on 4 o'clock.


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I mean in daylight you can spot some darker spots which seem to have developed in a natural way. When you shine with a light on it and turn off the light, everything looks even.