A Hand Question (service vs replace)

[Watindes]

Hey all,

So I have a 16750 Polar Exp 2, it’s an L serial with Tritium dial. The hands have been replace sometime in its life with Luminova service hands. I have sourced some Tritium hands but the color mismatch one my dial (my tritium is still white) would be noticeable.
My question is, do I leave it as is or would it be better to get the off color hands and put more money into it. I don’t plan on selling it anytime soon (it’s a great watch!) but wouldn’t mind the “correct” feeling. However I would other collectors not like the fact the hands are a different shade than the dial indexes.
Basically, keep the lumi hands paired with my polar and still white indexes or replace the hands with light tan Tritium hands?

[enjoythemusic]

IMHO it's really up to you. Since she is a keeper (excellent choice), you could choose whatever hands you want that fit the posts and have the entire dial / hands re-lumed so everything matches.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Watindes

. . . I don’t plan on selling it anytime soon (it’s a great watch!) but wouldn’t mind the “correct” feeling. However I would other collectors not like the fact the hands are a different shade than the dial indexes.
Basically, keep the lumi hands paired with my polar and still white indexes or replace the hands with light tan Tritium hands?

If the handset is not the original handset, you have options. (Collectors want it original, color doesn't matter)

Most hand lume can be tinted to match the dial plots. The various restoration shops that frequent TRF can likely do the job.

Keep in mind, this is restoration or customization. I would not ruin a decent aged tritium handset for this.

[Watindes]

So the tritium color itself doesn’t matter? I want it original personally, I do plan on keeping it but the hand set is a different shade than the dial. But if color doesn’t matter than its not a big deal.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Watindes

So the tritium color itself doesn’t matter? I want it original personally, I do plan on keeping it but the hand set is a different shade than the dial. But if color doesn’t matter than its not a big deal.

Hands and dials are not made at the same time or use the same paint. They frequently age at different rates.

If your present Luminova hands match in color to your plots, why do you want to change them to a set of color mis-matched tritium?

Certainly, it is up to you, but you do need to step back and ask yourself what you want to achieve.

People do like color to match. What I said is that to a collector, originality trumps color match. What you have said is that the original hands were changed, so your watch will NEVER have "original" hands. Changing them back to tritium will not make it original - that ship has sailed.

If you do want it to have tritium hands, look around and find some that match more to your liking, or tint some to match.

[Watindes]

Got it, thank you for the replies Gents!