The case of the re-lumed tritium seconds hand

Posts

123

Likes

184

Sukurux

·Dec 31, 2019

Recently bought a Tudor sub 75090 and got it serviced by an independent watchmaker. The seconds hand was already in dire straights (see first photo). When I got it back 2 weeks later, everything looked great EXCEPT that he re-lumed the seconds hand (second photo). I imagine the rest of the tritium flaked off when he was servicing it, and so he took it upon himself to re-lume. My fault for not requesting that he not mess around with the dial. Does it look terrible? Should I try to find a replacement? Does it devalue the watch significantly?

 

Posts

24,670

Likes

54,795

Dan S

·Dec 31, 2019

I might consider having it re-done by someone who can match the lume better. These things happen, and clearly the lume in the seconds hand was already unstable. Did you completely remove all the printing from the insert on purpose?

 

Posts

123

Likes

184

Sukurux

·Dec 31, 2019

Dan S

I might consider having it re-done by someone who can match the lume better. These things happen, and clearly the lume in the seconds hand was already unstable. Did you completely remove all the printing from the insert on purpose?

It came that way. Cheap pickup from eBay. I think the previous owner removed it on purpose, but no way of knowing since the watch came from an antique shop and they have no idea. I have a genuine faded blue insert coming in to replace the current bezel insert.

 

Posts

24,670

Likes

54,795

Dan S

·Dec 31, 2019

Sukurux

It came that way. Cheap pickup from eBay. I think the previous owner removed it on purpose, but no way of knowing since the watch came from an antique shop and they have no idea. I have a genuine faded blue insert coming in to replace the current bezel insert.

I did not realize that the dial was blue from looking at the photos.

 

Posts

123

Likes

184

Sukurux

·Dec 31, 2019

Dan S

I did not realize that the dial was blue from looking at the photos.

Yeah, me neither until you see it in person. Here’s a photo of the insert I am expecting to come in soon. The second photo is what I was influenced by, although my patina looks a bit better (except for that damned -re-lume!) Total project came out to under 3k

 

Posts

24,670

Likes

54,795

Dan S

·Dec 31, 2019

That's a very nice insert.

 

Posts

148

Likes

1,216

Bakertime

·Jan 1, 2020

That is going to look great. As for the second hand you can simply have it re-lumed as stated. You can find a watchmaker to use a matching tritium lume and it should be a straightforward task for him. In the meantime don’t sweat over it too much, and enjoy.

 

Posts

123

Likes

184

Sukurux

·Jan 1, 2020

Thanks for the encouraging words. Watchmakers still have tritium lume laying around? I thought that stuff was discontinued a while ago.

 

Posts

16,305

Likes

45,009

JwRosenthal

·Jan 1, 2020

I don’t think many use tritium anymore- unless they have a stash. The lume on the hour hand of one of my watches disintegrated when I was having a watch serviced- he let me know and asked how I wanted to proceed. Since it was gone I said have at it. He was able to mix colors to get it spot on (I believe he used a brush tip of a couple colors of model paint in the lume mix). You can’t see any difference from before and after.

And as Dan said, it was already compromised so not loss IMO. As long as you disclose it if you ever want to sell- I wouldn’t blink twice in snatching that lovely watch up

 

Posts

123

Likes

184

Sukurux

·Jan 2, 2020

Here are some shots of the installed bezel insert.

 

Posts

16,305

Likes

45,009

JwRosenthal

·Jan 2, 2020

Sukurux

Here are some shots of the installed bezel insert.

Talk about a transformation from ugly duckling to beauty queen! 👍

 

Posts

103

Likes

120

DesignerV

·Jan 2, 2020

Great Find! Wear it well!

I would probably let it be, and not stress over it, because from a normal viewing distance it's probably not obvious. But, like others have said, if it's already relumed, then it can't hurt to have it relumed again, perhaps with some pigment or model paint added. I wouldn't say it needs to be tritium. It seems to match the dial indices pretty well, even if different than the other hands.

 

Posts

1,241

Likes

3,840

wristpirate

·Jan 2, 2020

As already suggested, have another watchmaker relume the lollipop hand. It has been done now so no value lost if done again. You could even go nuts and fill it with a completely different contrasting colour