The Mystery "Maxi" Meters First 5513 Dial

I thought it might be fun to share an interesting dial restoration project that came across my workbench recently. The owner showed me what at first blush appeared to be a "Maxi" meters first 5513 dial. Obviously this in and of itself throws up flags. My first assumption was FAKE.


But on closer inspection I realized everything was in good order except the lume plots. It's most obvious at 12. See how the lume plot is misaligned to the right? Once noticed it could be seen this was consistent across the dial. The other concern was the quality of the lume - simply put it did not act or appear as original tritium. My theory was someone used a pad printing technique to apply new lume to this dial. But in the process must have incorrectly scaled the cliche and misaligned on printing.




With the owner's consent we decided on destructive testing - otherwise said, carefully removing the lume. My theory proved correct.


As you can see the original lume plots exist mostly intact below the lume. Some of the plot paint came up with the lume - thankfully not too much. As expected the removal of the lume left a ghosting effect around the original plots.




With some careful dial touch up it was ready to be relumed. The owner requested the lume color to be a creamy-yellow and applied with a hint of texture. (The edges of 6 & 8 o'clock were unfortunate consequences of the process).



Hope you enjoyed the mystery of the "maxi" meters first dial!

This is one of the many reasons why I've decided not to chase the Vintage Rolex hype anymore. So much can be done to a dial/case/movement/chamfers/bracelet that the premium you pay; is just complete BS.

Thank you for sharing.

Omega has a fair share of shenanigans and there is also a premium but I see And understand your overall point

I will never dip into the vintage hunt for this reason.

Super interesting ! Thanks a lot for sharing

While I love the look of a lot vintage Rolexes (particularly the early Submariners!) I would never dare buy one. Apart from the price I just don't know enough about them to be able to determine if what I was buying was 100% genuine, or "messed" with, a franken or a fake. The world of vintage Rolexes is a real minefield, imho! A shame!

While there are a number of highly learned VR collectors who can tell if the lume is original based on qualities like texture, thickness and how the lume is applied, etc, it is increasingly difficult as the dark side catches up to match as closely as possible.

Very interesting, thank you for sharing

what's the magnification on those photos... ( I know some watchmakers have a 700X capability to check the minutest details on a dial )

At 700X you are looking at individual pigment particles, and you also have very little focal depth. I wonder how much real information they are getting with that magnification? I know when I look at my watches in my lab, I don't usually go over 120X and am happy with what I can see in detail and general texture....but then again I am no watchmaker.