Question: Vintage GMT 1675 re-lumed hands

[34southcoast]

IMG_20160415_140814_edit.jpg

I have been offered a 5.5 mm serial 1675 GMT from a very reputable repair-dealer - he says it is all original except that he re-lumed the hands because the original lume had mostly cracked off. He didnt re-lume the red GMT hand. I tried to attach a picture (my first so I hope it works) and he is asking $5500 USD. Any thoughts on this deal and impact on future value? Thanks very much

[34southcoast]

Hi-any thoughts on this relume on hands and resulting value? thanks!

[Paul]

Howdy 34southcoast

Firstly, in a pic any difference between the lume on hands and plots tends to be exaggerated with many totally original watches displaying a contrast between the lume on the 3 plots and the hands. Looks like the technician has done quite well on this occassion, and the overall patina match might be AOK to the naked eye.

Perhaps more important is how much vintage Rolex is on offer there for $5,500 - I say rather a lot. Just one basic pic to work from, but suggests a nice enough case, dial looks ok enough (hopefully those are blemishes on the crystal, not the dial), desirable FFF insert and is the (baggy) bracelet included in the deal ? . Frames on the hands are typical vintage corroded. Difficult to tell but the bezel may be a bit beaten up.

We'd need more pics and sharper skills than I have to sign off all the bits as AOK genuine. But I kinda like what I see and the price seems keen enough to me - $5500 really is base price now for any complete, ready-to-wear , true vintage sports Rolex on a bracelet.

Oh, and the colour matching is a relatively easy part of the relume process. Failure to recreate an authentic texture / granular effect seems to let down many relumes. Once again, not necessarily a deal-breaker for me if the overall effect is crisp and pleasing on the eye.

[Paul]

[QUOTE=Paul;6662247]

I did of course mean ....

...... many totally original watches display a contrast between the lume on [all] the plots and the hands .....

[shawnmarz]

Is this the dial that was born with the watch? If it is that's a pretty fair price. I don't think the relume will kill the value but it does have a little impact.

[shawnmarz]

I like this bezel a lot btw!

[droptopman]

Date wheel looks weird/off. Bezel ring looks really over polished, the teeth are really worn. The insert looks great. Crown guard and lugs look good. The hour hand lume looks different than the minute hand, but it is hard to give much more with 1 picture.
Try and post up more pics.

[springer]

Originally Posted by droptopman

Date wheel looks weird/off. Bezel ring looks really over polished, the teeth are really worn. The insert looks great. Crown guard and lugs look good. The hour hand lume looks different than the minute hand, but it is hard to give much more with 1 picture.
Try and post up more pics.

The date wheel magnifier on the crystal has been heavily polished or the crystal is aftermarket with the wrong magnification. Additionally, the later 1970s GMTs had silver date wheels if that matters at all to you.

On these older models, repaired or relumed hands are very common as well as replacement luminova hands.

Price is reasonable at $5500 for the condition.