Repairing damaged lume

[highcotton]

A couple of years ago I bought a Tudor 7928 from a guy who bought it at the Naval Exchange at Pearl Harbor during the Vietnam War. I ended up getting the movement serviced and the dial was damaged during service. The lume on the 5 o'clock mark was damaged. Who would do the best job repairing this?

Before

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[linesiders]

Tough call, the rest are in good shape? Maybe just touch up that one?

Can you live with it?

[omitohud]

That sucks. It would annoy me every time I look at it. I would get it relume if the color match.


I blame it on the autoconnect.

[sdwtchlvr]

I've heard ABC Watchwerks does good work...but I might consider leaving it. Tells a story.

[wallasey runner]

There is an element of risk in doing any repair. A dealer near me had a tritium marker on a red sub damaged during a service and had it touched up and it looked aweful.

Only do it if you can find a top professional restorer who knows what they are doing and more importantly they support doing it - get their advice first before doing anything.

[lsavoldi]

Michael Young ( the expert bracelet repair guy) did a great relume job on a 5513 dial I have.

[Vincent65]

x2 Michael Young - looks like a small job, too, as a lot of it is still there, which is good.

[donaker]

Just a thought, but you might want to get the remaining lume stabilized at the same time so it doesn't happen elsewhere.

best of luck with it.

[watchcrank]

ABC does good work. If the other lume is not damaged I would not touch it. Damage as well as repairs do influence future value. My watchmaker used old tritium to add to the lume when a lot has come off and has had good results cosmetically.

[highcotton]

I appreciate all the responses guys. When they stabilize lume are they putting some type of clear coat over it? How do you know how stable this material is long term?

[RC2]

If Happens to these older dials. I am afraid if u try and fix it up it will make it worse. It does not look bad at all

[Subjeff]

I would leave it. It will be very hard to just match the one without doing the entire dial and hands. Also the newly finished one will glow brightly and the others probably don't.

Lume is a paste (mixture) so there is no finish applied over the top.

[QueueCumber]

Reluming it will decrease the value. I would leave it but ask the person who did the damage to reimburse you for the large loss in value caused by the damage he did to it.