Should I redial my redialed 1675?

[iflooru]

Sent my 1675 GMT out for service to Dallas today Dallas went over the watch back in 1999 for $430 which included new dial, hands, overhaul, crown, tube etc. Dial and hands replaced because of extensive moisture damage (corrosion). New dial is one that reads Swiss T<25 but it's LumiNova. Couple of questions. I've owned this 1675 for over 20 years, serial is 1489XXX but its actually from 1976, have box and papers with it. I'll likely end up with this 1675 on my wrist until I'm very old or decide to give it to one of my kids. I do buy/sell about 6-10 Rolexes every year, I love the brand and do understand how the value can be effected when original parts are replaced. However, I'm unhappy with how my 7 year old dial glows, or lack of. It lost a significant amount of its brightness and longevity after just 2 years and I've read of other complaints about early issue Luminova dials. I realize that my t<25 dial with luminova applied markers has taken value away from the watch but the moisture damage was pretty bad. I also understand that putting on a new dial that reads Swiss Made will take away even more value. But I dont plan on ever selling and I could really use a dial with more lume. Has anyone run across any info or graphs as to the difference in decay of luminance between Luminova and SuperLuminova. Or is this all still a grey area and no one really knows for sure if there was an update to superluminova or whether the recipe just changed, all of the above or none of the above. If there isn't much difference or I'm going to see a quick degradation of the lume within a couple years if I re-dial I'll pass and wait until the next service. But I'm specifically looking for info on a comparison or description of the difference between the old luminova and new luminova. TIA

[Alex Stylianou]

Welcome To TRF.

[mike]

Look here,

http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=13669

[President]

Welcome!

[watchdawg]

I've been wrestling with the same question myself. Mike thanks for the link. I think I'll keep the dial and just change out the hands. What do you think of that, only the 24 hr hand has any residual lume left.

[bwalkerVintage]

Well I just went through all this myself. The watch was my grandfathers - bought the year I was born. My grandfather did alot of sailing and the dial and hands had really bad sun exposure to the point of looking like little flakes were starting to or were going to start chipping off - at first, all I did was change the hands and kept a dial from the original time period.

However, It always looked strange to me having faded cream colored non-functional tritium on the dial and nice new white lume on the hands.

When I had it serviced recently, I decided to get the new dial - and since I don't care about the value based on some collectors opinion, I made the switch. I am so happy I did because I think it looks great now!

I'm really more interested in the functionality of the watch because I wear it daily (i.e., I want to know the time when it is dark). My grandfather bought the watch new the year I was born, then wore it daily for over 30 years. Now I have had it restored and think it looks great and plan on wearing it for as long as it lasts - hopefully i'll be able to pass it down to my son or grandson also.

Here is a pic (I have been posting one every chance I get, I think people are probably getting tired of it).



Basically, I now have a brand new watch that was made 35 years ago.

[G&T Master]

I'm not tired of it. Great picture, great watch.

[tonelar]

I know... what a beauty.

I'm going about it a different way in having a couple of dials relumed with superluminova that are marked t<25...