One of my regrets is selling off a vintage SM300. The lume though well-defined had the color of boogers, which turned me off on keeping it as part of my personal collection.

Introspectively, I realized that I passed on keeping many watches because of poorly aged lume. Since I cant get my head around buying a WatchCo, the next option is to just accept something with poorly aged lume and remedy it later.

So the question here is: if you had only 2 choices, would you rather keep a vintage watch terribly aged lume original? Or vintage relume it to make it aesthetically pleasing to you?

As a corollary, if you have already done the latter, is there a go-to guy for reluming vintage watches?

 

Original whenever possible the watches I have that have "matched" relume still bug me at some level. If I need something with bright functional lume I wear something modern with Super Luminova.

I have a feeling my definition of nice looking aged lume may be very different than yours though

 

Depends if you plan to sell anytime soon? Relumed wouldn't put me off an otherwise nice piece but would give me pause for thought. Also affects value somewhat...?

 

I say if the original lume is detracting from the watch. Why not do a appropriate vintage colored relume.

Original flaked off or water damaged lume would make the relume more valuable in many cases.

 

I would say relume or no lume if it looks really bad. I don't mind some of the older pieces where the lume has fallen off all the hands. I think it is miles better than some of the horrific lume jobs.

 

If its to resell then I'd keep it as it is, booger plots or no. But for personal enjoyment, I was leaning towards relume

 

Since you're on the East Coast, you may want to to check with Zaf Basha at ClassicWatch.com. (Someone else here is actually about to send him a watch).
He's a well known dealer and an authority on vintage watches (he wrote a collectors reference book on Jaeger LeCoultre) and he does repairs and "sympathetic" restoration work.
http://www.classicwatch.com/vintage-watch-repair/

I live in France so I have never used him myself, and I'm not sure what his prices are, but this should give you an idea of his skills --and respect for the integrity of vintage watches:
http://www.classicwatch.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48&p=54&hilit=restoration#p54

(I also know a couple people who have bought from him and they trust him completely).

 

James Hyman in the UK is considered by many to be the top relume guy out there; a relume by him might not even affect the value all that negatively if it's documented.

 

Well, in the US the top relume guy for military type watches is considered by many to be Jack Alexyon at International Watch Works. He's the guy who restores vintage Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and their equivalent. but I hear it takes about a year to get the watch back. Hence my other suggestion.

 

Good point - I should clarify to say that Hyman is the guy most Heuer nuts send their watches to, and I've heard of him doing Speedmasters and other sports watches. There might be different "levels" of expertise, i.e. one guy is the top dude for watches in a certain category while another is top for another range. Considering military watches are pieces of history, you're probably right that Jack at IWW is probably top-notch.... I'd expect Hyman's rates might be a little less than IWW though!

 

Customers from the US will send Heuers worth 10K to the UK for reluming? (Or should one assume if they need relume they didn't cost 10k?)

 

i have used jack at iww, happy, he has another one he is working on now

 

That's a good question - those 10K Heuers were 3-4K a year ago!....
But yes, they were sending him Sifferts when they were 9K a year ago, so it's not unheard-of. Here in the States, Craig at Chronodeco is also considered a go-to guy for general restorations / relumes too, so perhaps many US Heuer collectors would stick with him.

 

How long did it take to get the watch back?

 

Let me also disclose, though, that I've never had to have a watch relumed to the extent being discussed. My local watchmaker is skilled enough to match lume on hands to dials, so I haven't had occasion to send any of my watches across country or continents!

 

Well, within US or within Europe seems reasonable enough but shipping transatlantic a 10k watch for a relume seems very gutsy.

 

Some of us live life on the edge!

 

I guess to answer the question posed, I would never relume. I think the original state speaks volumes as to the life and history of the watch. I vote for all original. Take it or leave it, as seen

 

Yes, Jack is a year behind. But is as straight as they come. I get a relume by him tomorrow. We will see. On the other hand I know a lot of collectors who respect a relume. On early divers it is often necessary to either relume or protect the lume you have with a clear coat. That's BP in particular, but tastes may vary in how you think BTW, if you're talking boogers I'm thinking mold. And yes I believe it can occur on radium watches.

 

I love nice lume. I'd get it done just keep in mind though that I'm not a vintage guy so my opinion may not carry a lot of weight.