In-Depth: Four Tips To Spot (And Avoid) A Restored Dial

Collecting vintage watches isn’t for the faint-hearted. There are many, many things that can go wrong if one doesn’t know what to look out for – wrong movements, crowns, hands, franken-watches – the list goes on. In the spirit of what we published a few weeks ago, today we want to share some tips on one step of the vintage watch due diligence process: how to spot (and avoid) a restored dial.

As many collectors will tell you, the dial is the most valuable part of any vintage watch. In most cases, a pristine dial with minimal patina, zero scratches, and no blemishes can fetch significantly higher prices than dials with some degree of wear, with the exception of some specific instances where patina might be preferred (e.g. tropical-dial Rolex submariners).

Why This Matters

In most collectors' minds, what’s worse than a non-pristine but original dial is one that has been redone or “refinished.” That means someone, typically a third party other than the original manufacturer, has modified the original dial to varying degrees. These modifications could range from a simple re-lume to an outright repainting of the dial. For instance, an all-original Rolex 6062 fetched four times the price of a similar, but re-lumed 6062 – showing the premium that collectors pay for originality.

So if you’re thinking about starting off as a serious collector, you’d want something that’s original and untouched when buying your first vintage watch – especially so if you're considering selling the piece in the future. Where would you start? There are typically three places to go:

The first is to buy it from an experienced professional (e.g. a dealer), trusting that he knows his stuff and sells a watch that is all-original, and if not, discloses any previous “work” done on the watch. But it is difficult to be an expert on every single brand out there, especially in vintage watches where reference materials are harder to come by. Given the multiple brands that most dealers carry, with multiple models of each brand, and multiple versions of each model (for example, there are more than eight different Omega Speedmasters in just two decades of production – see our Reference Points article here), dealers may sometimes be wrong. Throw in service dials, which are dials replaced by the original manufacturer if the watch is sent for service (a common practice at brands such as Rolex or Omega back in the day), and things get even more complicated.

The second option is to bid at auction houses. Most auction houses, such as Christie's or Sotheby’s, have dedicated teams that determine the condition and originality of each watch they sell. That said, once again, auction houses also face the same issues as individual dealers do, and may at times make mistakes. What's more is that with a good dealer, he or she will always take the watch back should any issue arise. At auction houses, each item is sold "as-is" and unless you have a long-standing and meaningful (read as "expensive") relationship with the house, there would likely be no course of action should a discover be made after the sale.

"I love eBay; it rewards knowledge, diligence and deft action but punishes ignorance, foolishness and greed."

M4tt, forums.watchuseek, 06/2010

The third, but riskiest option, is to buy off eBay or forums such as ChronoTrader or TimeZone. But be careful – it is the Wild West in these places where literally anything goes. There are watches there that range from small re-dials to complete restorations, to outrageous fakes, as we’ve frequently tried to highlight to you in our Bidder Beware section of Bring A Loupe. However, these places are also where the best deals are found, where information and expertise can be arbitraged for serious value. An old quote from an online forum says it all, “I love eBay; it rewards knowledge, diligence and deft action but punishes ignorance, foolishness and greed.”

Given all of that, the few pieces of advice that we share here on how to spot a non-original dial are probably relevant regardless of the path you choose to take. The list is not comprehensive, nor is it new to the world of collecting, but it nonetheless aims to give you some sense of what to watch out for. One caveat – determining whether a dial is original or 'restored' is not an exact science. There are plenty of examples of original dials that, by our methods, would otherwise be classified as "restored." At the same time, even if a dial fulfilled not just one, but all of the criterion we provide, it still might not be an original dial.

So the final decision is still, as unhelpful as this might sound, really up to one's "gut feeling" – something that comes with experience and lots and lots of research. Welcome to the world of vintage watches.

1. Quality And Consistency Of Printing

The first way to identify a re-dial is to examine the quality of the printing on the dial. With the exception of a few unique, hand-painted pieces, original dials are typically printed in a factory, while re-dials are typically done by hand – which means that they are much more prone to human error. For instance, crooked lines or letters and fonts in poor quality are more likely to be results of a re-dial.

While some re-dials are more obvious (see the rather "mangled" Universal Genève Triple-Date Moonphase above that also "doubles up" as a Polerouter Deluxe), other restorations may be more subtle. Experts may be able to get a sense of whether the ink used in the printing is original to the watch or if any degradation is consistent with the time period of production, but that intuition usually only comes after a long period of collecting (and, well, looking at a lot of watches).

What if you’re examining your first few vintage watches? While determining quality as a whole might be a tall order, one might be able to find some clues by looking at the consistency of printing within the watch.

One method we suggest is to compare printed numerals within the dial. In many dials, numerals are typically printed in the same "type" of font; that is, if the 6’s and 9’s are open (and not closed) on one sub-dial, they should also be similarly open at other locations around the dial.

For instance, consider the printed numerals in the two Universal Genève Tri-compaxes above. While both may seem original at first glance, a deeper look at the specimen on the left shows that the 3’s in the outer minute track have round tops, but those in the sub-dials have flat tops. Generally, the outer minute track is also printed poorly.

A correct and original dial is presented on the right, where the 3’s and 4’s in the sub-dials and outer minute track match up in font. The length of the indices on each sub-dial as well as the outer minute track are also consistent and well printed.

While not damning on their own, especially since brands sometimes did use different fonts on the same dial, internal inconsistencies may give some hints as to whether the dial has been re-done.

Sub-Dials And Minute Track

Another way to tell a re-dial is by observing the printing of indices. Generally, these should be sharp and crisp, and neither too close nor too far from the edge of the track. For instance, consider the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock sub-dials on the Universal Genève Aerocompax on the left (below). There’s a small but significant clearance between the track and the edge of each sub-dial that lends it a somewhat questionable and un-crisp look. The printing on the hour sub-dial at 6 o'clock, on the other hand, is too close to the edge.

Compare these characteristics to the correct reference of the same watch on the right.

In the same vein, it's worth also examining any areas with overlapping printing. Does it look clean and without any ink smudges? Repainting an area of the dial with overlapping printing by hand is a significantly difficult endeavor, especially so if the original crispness is still maintained. The dial below shows some rough smudging and general low-quality printing in those areas.

2. Incorrect Logo Font

The second, and sometimes either the easiest or most difficult way to tell a re-dial is to look at the printed logo on the dial. Some re-dials of the logo are blatantly obvious, and a quick Google search can show you an example of a correct and original version. Here is a correct version of a Longines font during the 1930s-50s.

This, for instance, is evidently refinished.

But this is probably a little harder to tell.

Upon a closer examination and comparison with correct fonts, I believe there should be a longer line on the top of the "L" – and the end of the L should not be at such an upward slant. The "S" also looks a tad too fat. The rest of the dial gives more clues – see the discussion on this particular dial here on OmegaForums.

The issue with this method is that even fonts in the same periods may undergo subtle changes year to year. This makes the identification of a re-dial even harder – one not only needs to match the serial number of the movement to the year of production, but also take into account that the movement may not be cased in the same year, then look up references (which may not exist!) to different fonts or logos to determine the exact style. It really is more like an art than an exact science. The good news? After a while, you start to develop a sense of what to look out for and some dials intuitively start to seem "off" to you.

3. Consistency Of Lume

The third method is to check the consistency of the luminous material, also known as "lume." For instance, is the lume on the hands consistent with that on the indices? In an all-original watch, the material of the lume on each of the hands and indices should be the same.

To illustrate this point, consider the pair of Omega Speedmasters below.

The seller correctly points out the re-lumed chronograph hand on the watch on the left (the rest of the watch appears to retain original lume). The lume on the hands and dial are somewhat a faded yellow, while the lume on the sweep seconds hand looks more white, presenting a case for a re-lume. The watch on the right – from the same seller – presents a case for original lume.

Having said that, the shades or colors of lume might be slightly different even within the same watch, because for whatever reason (e.g. moisture) the lume might have aged differently.

However, also note that if the lume on all parts of the watch is too consistent, but does not match the time period that the watch was produced, then the watch has likely either gone through a complete re-lume or the dial and hands have been replaced. For instance, tritium lume (perhaps applied on a watch sometime in the '60s to '70s) should no longer glow either too brightly or for a long time in the dark, given that the half-life for tritium is ~12-13 years. It should also not look too "white," but rather a somewhat faded yellow or brown. These descriptions may seem somewhat vague, but it's not too difficult to get a rudimentary sense for a re-lume after spending some time examining contrasting examples.

Lastly, to further complicate things, some re-lume jobs may use inactive tritium for the re-luming process, which might match otherwise naturally-aged tritium. At this point, it gets a bit more difficult to differentiate original lume from a re-lume. We won't go into the details here, but there are a few guides out there on forums that deep dive into this process.

Application Of Lume

At the same time, it might be worth checking whether the application of lume is consistent. If luminous material is on the indices, then they should be on the hands as well (and vice-versa). Having lume on only one of the two would defeat the purpose of lume in the first place – to tell time in the dark.

As an example, consider the two Longines Conquest Automatic watches below. The watch on the left has lume on the hands and not the indices, but the one on the right has lume on both the indices (see the small protruding tips) and the hands. The former is a telltale sign of a reworked dial for most watches.

(In this specific instance, note that some Longines Conquest Automatic watches may have come with non-lumed hands and dials as well. But consistency is key – lumed hands should come with lumed dials, and vice-versa).

However, there may be exceptions to this as well – for instance, there may have been examples of the IWC Ingenieur 666A that came with only lumed hands (and no lume on the dial) – once again, showing that the one rule in vintage watches is that there are no absolutes. With Patek Philippe, it is common to see luminous dials with non-luminous hands and vice-versa, so again, what may apply to one make will not necessarily apply to another.

4. The Dial Itself

Finally, some re-dials are obvious if you know what to look out for. For instance, they could be as obvious as incorrect Roman numerals (e.g. VI comes after VII), or something more subtle as incorrect tachymeter markings.

For instance, consider this example of a Longines 13ZN:

Take note of the printed number at the 6 o'clock position, below "40." The (Base 1000) tachymeter measures your speed by calculating the time you take to travel one mile (or one kilometer). You start the chronograph at the beginning of the mile, and stop it once you reach the end of a mile. Hence if a mile takes 60 seconds (one full turn of the sweep seconds), you would be traveling at 60 miles per hour, hence the “60” marking below the 12 minute marker. Two full turns would indicate that you're traveling at 30 miles per hour. If it only takes you 30 seconds to travel a mile, you would be traveling at 120 miles per hour and hence the number at 6 o'clock on the tachymeter should read "120" and not "140" in the example above.

Examples of "wrongly" printed dials are typically less common, but once spotted can give you clear warning signs about its originality. However, note that misprints do happen. One well known and accepted example is the Omega Speedmaster "220" bezel (technically part of the case, and not dial) that can be found on the reference 145.022-69.

Checking The Back Of The Dial

Lastly, if you have access to the watch, you might want to bring it to a watchmaker to check the reverse of the dial. For some examples, the (dial) manufacturer's name is stamped on the back of the dial itself. For instance, check out this Longines dial:

You can see "SINGER" faintly stamped on the dial near the top right of the picture. While the presence of such a stamp might not prove the dial's authenticity, if the stamp was not there (this is a situation perhaps more relevant to some vintage Rolex watches) – then some questions should be raised about the authenticity of the dial.

Final Comments

Our final piece of advice is: it is always good to err on the side of caution. Perhaps you’re purchasing a watch on eBay, and the price looks very attractive. Though the pictures are blurry, you think the dial may have a chance of being original. At that point, it might be worth taking a look at who the seller is. Has he or she been selling watches for a long time? If so, chances are the seller has a good idea of whether the watch has an original dial or not – and hence the blurry pictures could be intentionally hiding something. Especially if past listings have always shown clear pictures.

But is the seller someone who also sells coins, candles, and other types of jewelry? Then there may be a larger chance that he or she is simply bad at taking pictures, and the dial might be an original one despite the poor pictures. That said, caveat emptor is your best friend in those situations – unless you’re really sure and ready to take the risk, we would recommend avoiding these deals.

There is one last point I'd like to make – you might think that this whole talk about originality, perfect dials without patina, and non-re-dials, is only relevant if you're going to sell the watch. If you're thinking of keeping it for a long time, and really enjoying wearing it, it really doesn't matter. That is completely true and is a fair statement to make, and we agree.

But one thing to keep in mind is that your preferences might change. Personally, my collection – both what I collect and the condition of watches that I collect – has evolved since I first began collecting watches. You might be okay right now with watches that are not in great or original condition, but there may be a time a few years down the road when that changes. At that point, you may either regret your previous purchase or find it hard to sell off to someone else.

Given that uncertainty, and the fact that originality is important to most people, the optimal decision might just be to avoid unoriginal dials and watches in your purchases.

In the meantime, feel free to check out a wonderful set of books here at HODINKEE that would be great as references, as well as the huge resource online in many different forums. Research and knowledge is your friend, and hard work definitely pays off.

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