GMT Master II 16710, no lume oh hands…

[stainless-steel]

Hi all,

After several years on the AD wait list for a Sub date or a GMT Master, and with a significant birthday on the horizon my patience ran out and I decided to treat myself to one of my favourite references, a 16710 GMT Master II.

I’ve spent a good few months looking for a nice one, and finally pulled the trigger this week and bought from a reputable watch dealer here in the UK.

It’s a year 2000 A series serial number with the “Swiss Made” dial.

The watch arrived yesterday, overall in better condition than I hoped for and so I was pretty delighted.

Until it got dark.
There’s no lume glow from any of the hands, nothing. The dial indices are great - bright and clear, but nothing from the hands. Not even a dim glow.

Are they likely to be cheap replacements, or should I be seriously worried? The store won’t be open until next Tuesday as a result or the holiday weekend here in the UK so a bit of feedback from those far more knowledgeable than me would be appreciated.

[khalifam]

That's strange, 2000 would have used Luminova, UNLESS yours is extremely rare and your hands were tritium (which is possible)

do you have a purple UV light? Shine the light on the hands, you'll know if they're tritium :)

If you don't mind me asking, who did you buy it from? I am after a 16700 you can DM me.

Sent from my SM-F936B using Tapatalk

[Andad]

Even without UV I would expect some speckles?

[stainless-steel]

I did wonder if it was from a mixed batch of the new luminova dial and last of the tritium hands, but there’s no apparent glow from the hands at all.

A macro shot of the hands does seem to show the slightly granular texture you seem from luminous paint rather than just white paint, but iPhone image sharpening could be exaggerating the effect.

Would I expect to see some trace of luminescence from 23 year old tritium? There’s nothing in terms of patina evident from aged tritium to my eyes.

[SparklesMcgraw]

Weird. Could be normal under high May but they do look pretty rough those hands. Could be cheap replacement. Easy fix, buy new super luminova ones and have them fitted. Not too expensive. Maybe tie in with a service

[stainless-steel]

So as an update, I’ve booked in with my local RSC for a service appraisal in a couple of weeks.
It’s running at about-1 second per day at the moment, a fair bit better than I’ve ever had from my Speedy Pro.

I can see this being my daily, it’s a very comfortable wear and flies well under the radar. ;-)

[Tools]

Originally Posted by stainless-steel

. . .

I can see this being my daily, it’s a very comfortable wear and flies well under the radar. ;-)

Good choice.

I usually have a GMT of some sort on and it is my favorite reference.

Lately I've been wearing this very similar sibling. Watch set to Alaska time and the bezel on Zulu.

[Kalev007]

Does the serial number put it also in the year 2000?

99 was SWISS only so the watch could easily be ie a 97 with a Swiss Made service dial and still has its original tritium hands.

Nothing wrong with that either keep as is or change to Super Luminova hands or to a tritium dial for a match.

[Ski Dummy]

So, yesterday, my father gifted me his nearly perfect 31 year old GMT Master II. It has been sitting in a safe for many years (with original box and papers). I know almost nothing about Rolex watches, but it seems that even though it was manufactured in '92, it seems it should have at least a little lume in it but it seems to have absolutely zero.

In all those years he never had it serviced; can the lume be 'freshened up' during servicing?

I have no idea of the value of this watch but I could never sell it and want to service it and wear it occasionally.