Dear distinguished members!

I have a watch undergoing restoration. An Excelsior Park EP4 chronograph dating back to the 1950s.
Unfortunately the original dial is not salvageable as too much corrosion has gotten to it. However I did get hold of another, NOS/Original dial.
I do realize that old hands / new dial will look a bit apart, but as I have mentioned earlier in this forum, I am a caliber oriented collector, and the Excelsior Park chronographs are truly greats of their time.
The question now is whether to leave the dial as is, or to apply lume (color matched to the original hands of course) to the hour numerals of the dial?
I have a catalog copy downloaded some time back that shows this specific dial version to have been delivered both with and sans radium compound, so I guess both can be said to be according to specs.
I am not certain myself, and I would highly value your comments and advice!

Picture with the new dial installed:


And a movement shot (just for showing of):

 

I vote to leave it as is.

Cheers, Al

 

+1 leave as it is. It is easy to explain why it is not matching with the hands

 

I would leave it as is or if you feel compelled to do something I would re-lume the hands to match the NOS appearance of the dial.

BTW what a fabulous dial!

 

Nice watch! I'd vote as is...

 

I like that idea! The hand lume will be fraigle anyway.

 

Leave it.

For what it's worth, the dial and hands do not look mismatched to my eye. They would if there was a light oxidation on 'em, but that's pristine, blued steel.

 

Those EP movements are gorgeous. Nice watch btw!

 

First found them when I was reading up on Chuck Maddox publications. He obviously had a soft spot for them.
I have one more In my collection, a three dialed one branded for Certina. Girard Perregaux, Zenith, Gallet and others used EP movements at some time. They were also widely used by armed forces across the world. My watch here comes from a Danish Air Force guy. Not signed our stamped, but background confirmed.
Here is my other EP (original dial).

 

Interesting. I knew about Gallet, perhaps their most common client, but was unaware that GP, Zenith, and Certina all used EPs as well.

Northernman, can you point me towards a good history of the EP chronos, or would you be willing to compile one when you have the time?

I've got a Gallet EP 42 (aka Commander) in one of those funky oval cases. The dial is quite clean. It has been off at the watch doc for a very long time. The balance and hairspring were bad and although EP parts are hard to find in general, hairsprings are almost impossible to track down. I had okay'd my watchmaker sending it off to a hairspring vibrator to vibrate a new spring for it (very costly and you can forget about seeing it for at least 6 months). At the last minute, he was able to track down a NOS spring and was working on adjusting it properly.

I'll post some pics when it comes back.

 

For all their technical excellence, the Gallet/EP chronos are frequently spotted with some incredible hands--perhaps my favorite part. Their version of the blued steel leaf hand and blued steel lume hands is truly the most pleasing profile that I've ever seen in a vintage watch.

Anyone have an example?

 

If I were designing a watch from the ground up, these would be my hands... perfection IMHO.
Here's my contribution from the intertubes:

 

Hi!
I am no expert, and holds very little information on Excelsior Park except the stuff I have read.
This is the best compilation of information I have seen so far:
http://www.invenitetfecit.com/modeles/excelsior_park_jeanneret_st_imier_en.html
Definitely worth a read!

 

OK! Based on "Popular demand" the dial and hands stays "as is" for now. Will get it back from the watchmaker and see how it wears. Look out for a WRUW post next week! Now it is time to decide on a good strap for it.....

 

In this case I vote for "lume", ie not glowing. It´s hardly a relume, since this replacement dial wasn´t lumed from the beginning at the factory.

I was faced with the same question some years ago, and I did go for lume



Looking at it today, I would have done the same

 

A NATO - go on I dare you

 

Always a couple of NATO straps in the box... Maybe I will try a oiled leather NATO on this one? TWT (Time Will Tell).

 

1 - Right choice on leaving the EP dial as is
2 - That Certina is...

 

Holy cow! (yes, I said that.) Where do you people hang out that you just happen to find these?!

 

Excellent resource. Duly added to the library--thanks!