looks like a rare, distinctive and highly specialized Omega "Chamäleon" with ability to change color to blend in with it's surroundings.
No pics provided, but given the fact it's a standard pop off back and the numbers appear rusty, I'd get we're looking at significant water damage.....Still like the patina though!!
You realise it's radium lume, not metal that has rusted, right? With your track record I'm betting this one will be added to your collection soon
Funny guy! How many years did you swim through the river of average or substandard watches till you built up your watch empire? Buying and flipping , buying and flipping, buying, revising, and flipping, buying, revising and keeping: you can slowly get through to the good stuff. Who has the money, and the expertise to buy right off the bat at the top end? I don't! The fun is often in the hunt and the small risk taking. I've only once paid more than 500 Euros and whilst my collection probably reflects this, there are actually a few really nice ones in there that are already worth considerably more. I'm just happy to break even most of the time and enjoy the short time with them as the watches come and go through my hands. It's a hobby after all. So Coneldio, bidding on this one is currently at 49 Euros..i know you wouldn't touch it with a barge pole as you (and I hope you don't take this the wrong way) and many a collector here would consider it a an utter POS. ...I however, see it as kind of visually interesting , a bit of an oddball anomaly, and quite unique.... I'm certainly not about to bid hundreds on it. There are so many bog standard watches out there that are in good condition, worth the price and utterly boring. I passed on a nice JLC last week for peanuts because it just didn't speak to me in any shape or form. I could have bought to flip , but i knew I wouldn't enjoy even a transient moment of ownership.... Some people like Sea fishing and some people sit all day fishing for inedible perch in a muddy pond. Watch collecting, mending, flipping, whatever etc is a great and rewarding hobby. I'm never likely to be wearing the top notch example of anything haute orology watchy, but that's ok Thanks for the Radium Lume advice I didn't know it reacted to water like that..... If we assumed then the movement was in ok (working, probably pretty tired but needing revision) how much would you pay for it if you then decided you wanted to flip it and NOT lose more than say 10%...
Hey hey... It was all in good humour I think it's fun to see that you like what a lot of others don't - there's plenty of room for all sorts of fancies here. Have a look at some of @kyle L's older posts to see some of his watches; he's the king of patina around here Btw, I don't think the movement has corroded on this one. If it was massive moisture ingress I am sure the hands would be much, much worse afflicted. It is probably just a weird lacquer reaction to moisture and whatever unholy material was used to make the numerals glow. I do have a few fairly patinated pieces myself - I bet someone would say that they are badly damaged, too: (okay, that last one is gone now...)
A patina so even it looks as good as unpainted. 1st division blemishes!! So what would you pay for the funky patinated beauty then?
@chipsotoole as far as I know the reason the radium turns dark is not because of water or humidity.... it's because it's a (radioactive) combustible and it slowly burns with age.
Interesting. I've seen plenty of Radium dials but never with this effect, mostly it seems to go blurry at the edges. Was it applied to the whole dial in this case or did the lume on the hands and markers spontaneously combust a little more spectacularly than normal.
I believe that more correctly it's the fluorescent material that has burned out. Radium has a half-life of around 1500 years and will still be merrily pumping out radiation whether it's glowing or not This is an interesting article (I make no guarantees as to it's complete scientific accuracy)
It looks like it needs a good shave.... Not sure that is Patina really, Patina is is a film that grows on top of a material....spiderwebbing, pitting, hair growth** and actual damage is not really patina, as much as vintage sellers insist on expanding the definition.
Love this crackle-dial... Dibs, PLEASE, if you ever decide to move it! I'm a patina-lover, too, as KyleL can attest ! I had a crackle-dialed Eterna until recently: Gotta blame this one on the lacquer degradation, too... has tritium dots, not radium...
