Bringing old red back to its glory days

[ToniH.]

Hello

I recently got my hands on this really nice unpolished 1680. It's in quite original condition except the dial has been changed to MK 1 white dial back in the days. The dial and matching hands looks really nice now with great patina. Anyhow as it goes in this hobby I have started to think about to try to find a red dial to complete it. So I thought about asking couple of questions about this from you fellow forum members.

1)
The serial number of my watch is 287****. Does this mean that correct dial for my watch would be either the

Mark IV (Open “6” Feet First) 2.45M to 3.?M or
Mark V (Open “6” Feet First) 2.?M to 3.?M

(Info from http://www.doubleredseadweller.com/w.../untitled.html)

2)
The matching patina of the dial and the hands that are in the watch now is perfect. Just the right degree of cream that I could dream of. Would you sacrifice it in risk that the patina of hands and dial with sourced red dial wouldn't be as matching?

3)
Do you think that the fact that the dial has changed lowers the value of the watch significantly. It's still the mk I Lemerich dial with nice matching patina and unpolished case. That must be worth something also?

Here's better pic of the patina.



Thanks for your opinions.