At what point does reluming an old GMT make sense?
 

Hello. Please bear with me for a moment, and consider the following scenario:

Let's say I wanted a GMT that glows in the dark, but during the day, has a vintage appeal. The intuitive thing to do would be to get an old GMT-Master and relume the dial and hands- after all, tritium doesn't exactly glow in the dark anymore (and if any still do, they're on their final frontier).

Now, many here would be quick to say "Don't relume the dial, it'll take a hit in value" and they would be correct: the watch is no longer original when the dial (and hands) are relumed.

Ah, but relumed dials exist. As long as someone made that grave error before you, you could (in theory) buy it off that person for the discounted price and either wear it, or if you want to go the extra mile, you could apply the "yellow" luminous material that IWC uses for its Big Pilot Heritage to give off the aged patina look that many collectors look for.

So if the watch already has been relumed, there's not really a problem. You pay the asking rate for a relumed dial and do whatever you want with it.

But what if the watch hasn't been relumed?

The trivial case involves an otherwise original watch in very good (or better) condition. You don't touch it. If you don't want the watch, you just let someone else buy it. Easy.

Nontrivial case: what if the watch's dials and hands have peeling/chipping/damaged lumes? Is it still OK to relume them? Does have to be tritium, or could you use luminova?

Even if it was OK, would the presence of damaged lumes imply that the dial is probably damaged too, or are there plenty of examples where the lumes are messed up but the dial is otherwise OK?

First, there is nothing wrong with a proper re-lume.

However, a sloppy job can destroy your satisfaction and render a gorgeous example horrendous.

You do have to take what comes with a re-lume.

. It is not as valuable as an original lume dial, if that is important to you.

. It may cost more than a proper service dial, which will have working lume.

. A rare/collectible dial with a relume can drop it's worth by thousands, therefore the watch value drops as well.

Lastly, a damaged dial with missing or broken lume that is difficult to find can be enhanced with new lume. A trashed dial isn't valuable to anybody. :cheers:

Thank you for your response! Honestly, this is a watch I'd look to keep forever, and am reasonably confident that I wouldn't need to sell it. I'm not looking for capital appreciation or any of that stuff. I just want to be able to find a "problem" dial after-the-fact, so I'm not the one taking a bath.

So the next question becomes: is it possible to find a dial where the broken/chipped lumes are the only problems with said dial? Or does that usually mean the rest of the dial also has issues?

It would be a matter of degree, just depends how bad the lume damage/loss is. An original dial with minor lume loss is often much more valuable than a relumed dial. If you have a specific example in mind, please show a photo and you can get advice.

There are many dials with damaged or flaking lume where the dial is otherwise fine.

Why not just get an example with a luminova service dial?

If I wanted working lume on a vintage watch I'd just get a luminova service dial and hold on to the original if given the opportunity.

Oh, man, I have said that about, at least, half a dozen watches. And probably more. It’s just the nature of the beast. And if you DO have second thoughts about keeping it, when the time comes to put it on the block, be prepared to field a lot of questions and a lot of scrutiny over a “problem watch”.

The reason I'm confident in keeping it is because it'd be a gift from my folks for my wedding. Given that the GMT is my favorite watch (and has been for a while), it's really difficult to imagine selling such a piece.

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I had an ugly washed 5513 mf that i had relumed couldnt be happier.

If you’re dial is a nice and clean original example just buy an extra service dial and handset. Problem solved. Def do not relume an original dial unless you enjoy burning $$$.

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