"Period-Accurate, NOS dial" vs. "service dial"

[daOnlyBG]

Hello all, I'd like to ask a question pertaining to watch collecting in general. Please note that this is a cross-post by myself from another Rolex online forum; I thought I'd share it here to get diverse takes/opinions:

Suppose that after time spent searching for a particular rare watch, you finally found one- and it's an exceptionally rare one, with only a few (less than 10-20) known examples out there in the wild.

However, the patina on the dial is distracting- to the point where it's just not to your liking. We're not talking about uniform fading on a black matte dial, but rather "patina spots" on a brighter colored dial.

Now, to make matters more interesting, let's say that after substantial homework, you're able to track down a N.O.S. dial straight from that manufacturer- and for the sake of the question, we assume there's nothing wrong with the N.O.S. dial- it's period accurate (from the same time that watch was made), legitimate, matches 100%, etc etc. The dial was made with the intention of being placed in a watch, but said manufacturer simply stopped making the watches- so the NOS dial's original intent wasn't to be a "service dial."

The catch is that the company will only swap the dial- it won't sell it to you or allow you to keep both. Your intentions are to wear the watch, maybe keep it in your collection for at least a couple decades, but perhaps one day move it along to fund another watch. You might even keep it indefinitely.

What would you do? Go for the period-accurate N.O.S. dial or just keep the old one with the less-than-appealing patina?

With the intention of some day using the watch to fund other pieces, you hope to keep its value in tact or even increase its value (after all, there are only a handful known, and the watch maybe comes on the market every 5-10 years). Would opting for the NOS dial damage the value, or as long as it's period-accurate, keep the value in tact?

[coaxial]

If hunting for rare examples & you have hypothetically purchased the watch largely in part for future investing with patina you dont like... Youve bought the wrong watch attributing to FOMO.

In this situation sure you could purchase a NOS dial but it wont match your patina handset; Unless you have pristine handset in the watch or purchased separately. Imo, the real collectable value of a NOS piece is only relative to how complete/whole matching NOS condition the watch is in. NOS should be NOS; Not pristine dials and beat to hell & back cases/bracelets. That scenario would have me leaning towards a frankenstein watch. Monetary value would be up to interpretation; In my eyes it would devalue the watch without the inclusion of original parts that got swapped. Service dials/parts from manufacturer service doesnt particularly bother me for a vintage daily piece; Collecting for profitability as an investment I would steer clear & avoid.

In this scenario I would leave the watch alone or save towards a watch that meets the criteria I like.

[Seibei]

Originally Posted by daOnlyBG

What would you do? Go for the period-accurate N.O.S. dial or just keep the old one with the less-than-appealing patina?

What you are calling patina is in this case something I would call damage. If I was in your shoes I would thank my lucky stars that a "period-accurate N.O.S. dial" is available and I would go for that and I would not care what happened to the unattractive damaged dial.

With respect to the value, I don't think a watch with a damaged original dial will be more in demand than a watch with an accurate perfect dial, even if the watch did not happen to leave the factory with that particular dial. Collectors value provenance, condition and rarity. As long as everything you do is carefully documented, you tick all those boxes and your watch will surely command a good price should you choose to sell it. Your watch, in good condition should then be worth more than it would be with an unattractive dial.

[037]

Let's see some photos of each. It's impossible to make a judgment call otherwise.

[daOnlyBG]

I have not purchased any watch (yet, anyway)- this is strictly hypothetical.

Originally Posted by coaxial

In this situation sure you could purchase a NOS dial but it wont match your patina handset; Unless you have pristine handset in the watch or purchased separately.

You can assume the handset is perfectly matching, and the rest of the watch is in decent condition. In fact, even with the NOS dial, you wouldn't even notice that anything doesn't match up.

Originally Posted by coaxial

Imo, the real collectable value of a NOS piece is only relative to how complete/whole matching NOS condition the watch is in. NOS should be NOS; Not pristine dials and beat to hell & back cases/bracelets.

Again, that's not the case. The watch has been treated very well over the years, but because it's a vintage piece, humidity must have gotten inside the crystal and probably (naturally) oxidized the dial slightly. Otherwise, the watch is in pretty decent condition.

Originally Posted by coaxial

That scenario would have me leaning towards a frankenstein watch.

Ehhhh... it would be a pretty big stretch to call it "frankenstein." Again, the dial is an original factory piece from back then. A pretty reputable source within the company itself noted that it was a leftover dial that never got put into a watch's case, because they ended up making so few watches.

It's not like a Rolex GMT 1675 with a "Swiss" service dial and swapped hands.

Originally Posted by coaxial

In this scenario I would leave the watch alone or save towards a watch that meets the criteria I like.

In all honesty, there's value to that advice. Having said that, it is a pretty rare watch. Like, really, really rare- and the others like it belong to a gentleman who isn't keen on selling his. It might be years, if not decades, before another one appears.