I recently picked up a nice example of a 105.012-65. The watch is totally original I believe apart from the complete loss of lume on the dial. I'm in a dilemma as to whether I should relume the dial. Opinions and advice would be warmly welcomed
Speedmasters are not my thing but personally I wouldn't relume any vintage watch. For me it kills the originality and always looks too new compared to the rest of the watch. I don't care if I can't tell the time in the dark.
His watch is missing the lume already...how could it possibly affect the value? If you want it back the way he found it...you just remove the lume again.
I never mentioned the value. I just feel it looks wrong having bright shiny new lume on an old watch.
well, you have been using the wrong artist then. There are some pretty talented people out there that will enhance the value and look of this watch. It doesn't get much worse than no lume at all.
I've never tried to relume a watch, so it's not a case of using the wrong people. My watches are generally in near mint original condition.
No question messing withe the original lume on a watch is not a good idea, but did you look at the OP's watch?? He is far from mint...and since it has no lume at all its best to relume it. Leaving it as is looks far worse.
I too am usually against re-luming from a preservation standpoint but also simply because usually not everything is relumed so all of the lume material doesn't match, which is a peeve of mine. But, IMO, this seems like the ideal time to use an expert at vintage appearance reluming since the hands and dial will match perfectly since everything will be relumed. I say go for it, you'd have a stunning watch if done correctly.
If somebody can pull it off in a totally convincing fashion I guess it's OK unless somebody knows better. When I look around I see so many vintage watches with ultra bright lume that would light up a room and that would bug me every time I look at the watch. I recently suffered a bad experience with a watchmaker who sent back a Constellation following a service with the second hand bouncing around on the dial after coming loose. Part of the damage involved a couple of the lume markers being destroyed by the second hand as it was pushed around the dial.
I think you misunderstand...I was not recommending putting new lume in this watch. I am referring to an artist applying a vintage looking lume to the dial. It can be removed at any point, which is the point With the right artist, this will look to the average person as if it was original.
Because despite the lack of lume its a nice honest watch which could be something very special if the dial is replaced or the existing dial is sympathetically relumed