Flaking lume on hands - opinions sought.

[NickD1975]

My 16710 went for service at RSC U.K. and they said they wouldn’t do the service without replacing the hands, although weren’t specific about the reasons why. I don’t want the watch to have brand new SL hands and vintage hour plots so I asked them to send it back.

I’ve got it now and have been able to look at the hands and I can see what their point is - there are some cracks in the lume on each of the hands.

What would you do, I’d like to keep as much of the originalIty there, but it has to be functional as a watch. Would you have taken up the offer of new hands, would you relume? Leave as is? Is there a way of stabilising them?

The rest of the hands look pretty similar to these two. Sorry about the quality, iPhone and a loupe is the best I have!

[alwayshere]

you can try to stabilise the hands via an independent watchmaker (they use a special clear adhesive) but I suspect if you ever want to go to Rolex for a service, they will always insist on swapping them for newer.

[sem.gilst]

I would leave them as they are. Maybe an other place would do service without replacing the hands. I can’t believe they change the hands on all the watches they get, like vintage models.


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[Tavli3]

That’s pretty minor. Definitely don’t put sl hands on. Get it serviced by an independent and if the lume really bothers you send it to James Hyman who is highly recommended. I have a gilt 5513 that has a plot that flaked off about 50% of the lume. I’m leaving as is but if I ever decide to repair it that’s who I’d send it to.


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[swish77]

It doesn't look too bad right now, but it'll only get worse over time. One of the problems with flaking lume is that it might find its way into the movement, or if it's a big enough chunk that falls out maybe even mark/stain the dial if it's not removed right away.

I'd use an independent watchmaker and either have the lume stabilized or perhaps source a better set of tritium hands and replace them. Matching patina can be tricky, though.

[Tools]

The lume is cracking; it will eventually break up and fall out.

Either have them fixed, or replace them before that happens.

Or you could run around with no-lume in the hands just so you can say "they're original"

[swish77]

Originally Posted by tools

or you could run around with no-lume in the hands just so you can say "they're original"

So funny!

[1973jhg]

Originally Posted by swish77

So funny!

They must replace cos on future the tritium falls can damage the movement
So for protocol they must do it


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[swaini3]

I would just have them stabilised now before it gets worse.

[NickD1975]

Originally Posted by Tools

The lume is cracking; it will eventually break up and fall out.

Either have them fixed, or replace them before that happens.

Or you could run around with no-lume in the hands just so you can say "they're original"

No lume is clearly the answer.

Thanks for the input everyone, I think I’m going to get them stabilised when I get it serviced - the watchmaker I’m going to use says he can do that.