Help - need advice!

[Abbasababa]

Late Saturday afternoon, I picked up my 1948 Rolex Bubbleback 2940 from the watchmaker who serviced it. Later in the evening, I noticed that the hour hand has lume, but the minute hand is now a skeleton. Both used to have lume.

What should I do now? I mean I'll go back and tell the watchmaker when he opens up un Monday. It's his responsibility, right? Assuming he will want to make things right, what WOULD make it right? Should the hands be repaired? Or should the hands be replaced?

Naturally, I'm a bit disappointed. And I wonder whether it is conceivable that the watchmaker made an honest mistake. He talks a good game about his reputation, and asked me to be sure to write an online review.

I am grateful for any assistance.

[andromeda160]

Any pics of the watch beforehand? If they've been relumed before i'd say get them relumrd, if not I feel asking for him to pay for a new set or split the cost of a new set wouldn't be unreasonable. The hands are very fragile on early BBs and seem fairly prone to lume falling out. The fact that he didn't disclose it happening would really irritate me though

[Abbasababa]

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I do have some pics. The first is what the watch looked like before going in. I don't have enough experience to determine whether or not the hands were ever re-lumed. I do know that they do not glow in the dark - not even a little bit. And the second is what it looks like now.

[Kingface66]

I'm not sure how an honest mistake could've been made. If there's no piece of lume under the crystal now, floating around on the dial, he clearly removed, or discarded it, yes? Which means he KNEW that when he received it, the hand was intact.

[Abbasababa]

Is there a way to know, from the pictures, whether or not the hands have ever been relumed? And if they were original, how would I replace them?

[springer]

My perspective in looking at and magnifying the first photo is that the hands were definitely relumed in the past.

[05carbondrz]

I would make him relume both Hands to better match the Markers on the Dial.

[ref1655]

is it possible that the radium on the minute hand deteriorated to the point where upon its removal, all that was left was a skeleton of the middle hand?

[Abbasababa]

Just got back from the watchmaker. He told me that he noticed that the hands didn't match, and looked around his workspace for chips of lume. Not finding any, he assumed the watch came to him in that condition.

When I told him otherwise, and showed him the picture on my phone, he apologized, and accepted full responsibility. He said that if I bring the watch in on Wednesday or Thursday, he will relume both hands, and return it on the next day.

He seemed quite genuine. I hope he is an artiste, because I plan to give him a chance. Of course, I wish he would have spoken up, rather than make me go back to him with a problem.