tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 11, 2021 1:18:48 GMT -8
So here's something unusual. I have a 7548-700A. This model has a grey painted edge to the lume on the dial and the lume itself has always had a greyish tinge. I serviced it and replaced the crown and caseback gaskets a few weeks ago and had it 50m pressure tested so I could take it on a beach holiday this summer. Well it took its first brief swim in the ocean yesterday and it got a lot of heat and sunlight today and I noticed that the lume was now a solid grey. There has been no fogging up, so I don't believe that any moisture has got inside. Has anyone else ever experienced such a thing? The hands are off a different watch and haven't reacted in the same way (except perhaps the tail of the second hand). Before: Now:
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Post by leffemonster on Jan 11, 2021 2:49:23 GMT -8
Wow, that’s weird. I’m assuming when you serviced it that the gaskets were replaced? The pressure test would indicate that all is good with keeping moisture out, so I can only guess that the lume has reacted in some way to the heat/sunlight exposure with the residual moisture that was already present in the case.
It’s almost as if the exposure has made the lume go semi-translucent, as I’m guessing the dial is grey underneath the lume plots. Odd how the hands haven’t reacted in the same way, and it’s a bit extreme to have happened so rapidly.
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jringo8769
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Post by jringo8769 on Jan 11, 2021 2:57:28 GMT -8
Well I am so sorry my friend I see you went into the water with this You are much braver than I am What it looks like to me that some odd chemical reaction with a enclosed environment with the sun and new seals... I have had watches with some greying to the lume But never seen anything do it so quickly Did you possibly use anything on the seals when u installed them? Almost looks like when use glue inside a watch or SuperGlue inside a enclosed space to get finger prints I have no idea what to recommend either I would contact GuyJ and Simon amd ask what they think Beautiful orange dial They are one I have always wanted and never been able to find Stay safe out there God Bless,John
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Post by kijafa on Jan 11, 2021 7:15:02 GMT -8
According to this old thread from 2013 lume greying is part of the natural patina process for lume paint of a certain time period. The rapid greying apparently has to do with UV exposure.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 11, 2021 12:29:56 GMT -8
Well I am so sorry my friend I see you went into the water with this You are much braver than I am What it looks like to me that some odd chemical reaction with a enclosed environment with the sun and new seals... I have had watches with some greying to the lume But never seen anything do it so quickly Did you possibly use anything on the seals when u installed them? Almost looks like when use glue inside a watch or SuperGlue inside a enclosed space to get finger prints I have no idea what to recommend either I would contact GuyJ and Simon amd ask what they think Beautiful orange dial They are one I have always wanted and never been able to find Stay safe out there God Bless,John Hey John. I would have used a little Seiko silicone grease on the gaskets when I installed them, and Meobius oils when I serviced it, of course. It's a pity, as I love my orange dials. Maybe one day I'll send it out to Adrian or Guy (who is a master with these) for reluming - it'd be great to get the hand and dial lume matching anyway, as they were never quite right.
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jringo8769
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The life we have is a Gift from God....live it to the fullest every day...Thank God for it...
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Post by jringo8769 on Jan 11, 2021 15:34:52 GMT -8
Well I am so sorry my friend I see you went into the water with this You are much braver than I am What it looks like to me that some odd chemical reaction with a enclosed environment with the sun and new seals... I have had watches with some greying to the lume But never seen anything do it so quickly Did you possibly use anything on the seals when u installed them? Almost looks like when use glue inside a watch or SuperGlue inside a enclosed space to get finger prints I have no idea what to recommend either I would contact GuyJ and Simon amd ask what they think Beautiful orange dial They are one I have always wanted and never been able to find Stay safe out there God Bless,John Hey John. I would have used a little Seiko silicone grease on the gaskets when I installed them, and Meobius oils when I serviced it, of course. It's a pity, as I love my orange dials. Maybe one day I'll send it out to Adrian or Guy (who is a master with these) for reluming - it'd be great to get the hand and dial lume matching anyway, as they were never quite right. well it is hard to imagine that little bit of oils and grease would do anything my friend never seen anything like this have you taken it open for a look and see if anything obvious inside? if anyone can make it looks like before would be either of these guys and Sir Alan too God Bless,John
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 11, 2021 22:31:40 GMT -8
Hey John. I would have used a little Seiko silicone grease on the gaskets when I installed them, and Meobius oils when I serviced it, of course. It's a pity, as I love my orange dials. Maybe one day I'll send it out to Adrian or Guy (who is a master with these) for reluming - it'd be great to get the hand and dial lume matching anyway, as they were never quite right. well it is hard to imagine that little bit of oils and grease would do anything my friend never seen anything like this have you taken it open for a look and see if anything obvious inside? if anyone can make it looks like before would be either of these guys and Sir Alan too God Bless,John Thank you John. I can't get into it at the moment, but I don't think there's likely to have been any moisture inside - I would have expected to see some condensation on the crystal. Just a case of rapid chemical change to the lume brought on my lots of heat, I'm leaning towards. I'll consider talking to these guys about whether they think they can go a good relume job and get the hands done at the same time.
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small
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Post by small on Jan 12, 2021 12:17:43 GMT -8
If it's warm or hot where you are you might not see the moisture. I thought I read the test was to put an ice cube on the crystal. Don't do that because of my say so though...it needs more investigating for sure. Have you worn the watch outdoors in the past? MAybe being tucked away for so long it didn't need much UV to do its thing...
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Henry
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Post by Henry on Jan 12, 2021 13:58:25 GMT -8
tritto It is just a mild case of sunburn.. The Tassie sun is known for it's ferocity in summer. If you are lucky it will retain a nice tan but if you have been particularly careless on this day at the beach it will know doubt get very flaky and then start to peel. Might I suggest a thin smearing of SPF50+ over the crystal in future. It should still be fine for swimming and give you some protection for at least a good 4 hours.. Cheers henry
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 13, 2021 1:24:50 GMT -8
tritto It is just a mild case of sunburn.. The Tassie sun is known for it's ferocity in summer. If you are lucky it will retain a nice tan but if you have been particularly careless on this day at the beach it will know doubt get very flaky and then start to peel. Might I suggest a thin smearing of SPF50+ over the crystal in future. It should still be fine for swimming and give you some protection for at least a good 4 hours.. Cheers henry I'm pretty good at slip slop slapping. There seems to be a touch of lightening of the burnt lume so maybe it's not a fatal case of sunburn 🤞🏻
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 13, 2021 1:26:47 GMT -8
If it's warm or hot where you are you might not see the moisture. I thought I read the test was to put an ice cube on the crystal. Don't do that because of my say so though...it needs more investigating for sure. Have you worn the watch outdoors in the past? MAybe being tucked away for so long it didn't need much UV to do its thing... I've worn it outdoors occasionally, but this is the first time I would have exposed it to strong sun for an extended period.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2021 3:18:16 GMT -8
Only time I've seen this was when I used a unknown brand of lume I had kicking around. I ended up having to redo the dial. It went grey fast and believe me we don't get strong enough sun to worry about here in the UK for that to be the cause. That didn't grey the same as your lume though. It was more subtle. It's almost as if the grey border has leeched from the border into the lume. For the record I use a combo of Bergeon & a tint lume on all my dials to give it that not brand new look. I've not had any discolour from that product.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Jan 16, 2021 3:26:18 GMT -8
Only time I've seen this was when I used a unknown brand of lume I had kicking around. I ended up having to redo the dial. It went grey fast and believe me we don't get strong enough sun to worry about here in the UK for that to be the cause. That didn't grey the same as your lume though. It was more subtle. It's almost as if the grey border has leeched from the border into the lume. For the record I use a combo of Bergeon & a tint lume on all my dials to give it that not brand new look. I've not had any discolour from that product.
I'm home from our break and have had a chance to look at it under a loupe. It wouldn't surprise me if they grey paint had leached through. I'll take a photo under controlled lighting and then stash it away for a month and then take another one. Will be interesting to track progress towards lightening (if any).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2021 3:50:59 GMT -8
Lume uses a clear lacquer normally. That lacquer is solvent based. I wouldn't mind betting the lume was too fluid when applied. It would make the lume flow easier and thus easier to apply. The problem I can see with that is it being a solvent. I dropped a bit of lume on a 6139 dial I was working on. I got it off within a few seconds but it had eaten right into the paint on the dial. I then proceeded to do what might have looked like a Indian war dance on the dial.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Feb 16, 2021 20:50:39 GMT -8
Well a month has passed since I stashed the watch away in the dark. I've been good about not peeking. I just opened the box....
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Feb 16, 2021 20:51:39 GMT -8
Negligible lightening (if any). Back in the box for another month.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2021 1:11:39 GMT -8
I swear that has taken the colour from indice circles into lume. It has the same tint. One of my jobs at Rolls was mix matching classic paint colours. I have a wide colour pallet I can see. That colour the lume has gone is the same shade of grey as the indice lume. That's not going to lighten even if you sit there for a week telling it ghost stories.
T
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Fergus
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Post by Fergus on Feb 17, 2021 1:27:28 GMT -8
I would wholly agree with Tony. The odd thing though is the second hand lume has gone the same grey.
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tritto
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Post by tritto on Feb 17, 2021 1:40:25 GMT -8
I swear that has taken the colour from indice circles into lume. It has the same tint. One of my jobs at Rolls was mix matching classic paint colours. I have a wide colour pallet I can see. That colour the lume has gone is the same shade of grey as the indice lume. That's not going to lighten even if you sit there for a week telling it ghost stories.
T
Yeah, I fear you’re right about the colour leaching from the paint surrounding it. Maybe I need to find some dark grey lume and redo the hands to match.
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Adrian-VTA
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Post by Adrian-VTA on Feb 18, 2021 20:04:04 GMT -8
Typical darkening of that shitty era of lume unfortunately. I don't wear anything I actually like in the Australian summer. I doubt moisture played a part.
I wore a Vostok Amphibia once to the drags on a 42 degree day and the dial went from blue to brown over a few hours.
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