Dial pitting/mould/water damage? What's the cause?

[104peterb]

Hi all,

Just doing a bit research, and was wondering if anybody can tell what causes this type of pitting to a watch dial? If seems like its a very distract marking that tends to form on glossy dials. Is it mould? Water damage? Or just an old dial beginning to deteriorate with age?

Any body know the cause?

Cheers

[Clay]

That looks to be an early gloss dial from a 666 sea dweller.
These early gloss dials had all kinds of issues do to manufacturing errors.
This looks to be due to that more then anything external.
I could be wrong but I have seen the exact same issue on many of these dials.

[CrownMe]

I really like the way the texture looks on it. I'd be scared to own one but it certainly looks cool.

[Kingair]

If you like it

But I am afraid it would hurt my eyes over and over again . . .

HAGOne

[77T]

An old watch that has lost its seals integrity can allow humidity and micro organic spores to take a toll.

[cdweller]

Ew. (Sorry I never understood the appeal of dials like this...).

[Vincent65]

I like it - character!

[104peterb]

The one in the pic isn't mine or one I'm looking to buy, it's just one a dragged off the net. But I have seen something similar that is a lot less pitted, but nevertheless has the same problem that I'm considering buying. Does anybody think this could be a problem that continues to get worst? Also, how does the tropical/brown appearance of a gloss dial start? Nothing like this a guess? Cheers

[dajiggalo]

I've seen this "textured" surface appear on a few of the gloss dials from the 90's (in my case, a 14270 Explorer from 1991). If anything, this a paint defect from whatever Rolex was using during that time, just like the spider-webbing you would see on the late 5513's. I wouldn't worry about. Consider it "patina"

[watchcrank]

Have had a few on subs and gmt's of the era. Some stop after the spotting but many will continue to self destruct. Depending on any moisture getting in as well. I have some that had lost all the gloss and turn a dirty brown and some that tend to develop cracks depending on years of manufacture.
If you like the look no problems usually. But factor in the cost of a good dial as this is a defect that reduces not enhances value imho. m

[104peterb]

Thanks for all your comments. Yes it's undoubtedly a defect to the watch, but I suppose when you see the patina to this one, which isn't far off how the spotted/pitted one appears, it shows how it can also make the watch look beautiful too. I guess it all comes down to taste. I was just curious if it was a definite no go/ sign of a severely damaged watch or not.

[BaliBryan]

Originally Posted by 77T

An old watch that has lost its seals integrity can allow humidity and micro organic spores to take a toll.

I would tend to agree with this assessment. This reminds me of the spores found on cash money left in an air tight safe for too long. Strong magnification should reveal.

[G Francis]

I've been collecting since 1984......
Let me share a few dubious practices with you. It was very common then for a watch maker to give a watch a light clean, sometimes by putting the movement in an ultra sound. They would then do a partial strip go the movement, oil it and get it out of the door.
Most times they took the dial off, sometimes they didn't....
A friend of mine was a watch repairer and he used to go mad over other repairers who would do this as it would tarnish the layer of lacquer. I've seen "repairers" take cotton buds and rubbing alcohol to clean a dial and one chap I knew would use a pencil eraser to clean off age spots on the dial. Apart from the above water ingress is by far the most common form of discolouration. I'm really fussy about dials for that I don't like ."spider" dials or tropical ones. Ivory 16550's and Marron 16520 sub dials are a different matter!