16014 DateJust - Great Transaction - One Concern with Lume

[Gregghia]

Is this on the dealer or on me?

Bought a 16014, ~1985, from a reputable dealer. Great physical transaction. Called yesterday at 4pm, asked a handful of questions, purchased the watch, and it was in my hands today at 10am.

The watch was advertised as "Mint". On arrival, the finish looked outstanding, no swirls nor scratches however the was one link in the Jubilee that is kinked. I can most likely remove a link since the band is too long for my wrist anyway.

The one concern is that the lume is non-existent. She's got no juice left in her hands. Before I go complaining, I want to understand if that is normal wear/lifespan for the lume on a 16014 from the mid-80s? Of course, the eyesight is going (almost 50), so I do depend on the lume in the dark. In my early years probably wouldn't have cared.

So really, I am trying to understand if this is normal. If so I will leave it be as the rest of the watch is nice for the price.

If it's not normal - was that on me to ask the dealer specifically about that function or should it be expected being listed as "mint"?

Thanks.

[CTech]

The luminous material used in the 16014 is a tritium paint and that generally has a useful life of around 25 years, so it is normal for a nearly 40 year old watch to have no active lume.

If you like the rest of the watch but the lack of working lume on the hands bothers you, you could get a watchmaker to source and fit a set of hands that have either been relumed or are from a later model with Luminova/Super Luminova lume.

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think the 16234 hands will fit and the later versions of that model after about 1999 had Luminova lume.

Purists might disagree with that approach but if you kept the original hands safe in case you wanted to sell the watch later there is no permanent damage done, and except for the Luminova hand lume not matching the color of the tritium on the dial there would be very little evidence of the change.

You could also get a spare set of hands relumed by one of the industry experts and they can give you working lume that matches the color of the dial lume very accurately for a relatively low cost.

[Gregghia]

Great info, thank you. Looks like it’s on me for not asking and to be expected for the age. Love it.