If you’ve followed the blog up to this point you’ll know that I recently serviced my nephew’s replica Rolex Submariner. During the course of the service the lume plot at the nine o’clock marker went missing. As I couldn’t return the watch with the marker missing I procured a luminous paint kit and set about replacing it.
Step one, naturally, was to de-case the movement (remove the movement from the case). This involved removing the autowinding rotor so that it would sit nice and even on the cushion while I applied the paint.
The luminous paint kit I received from one of my primary material suppliers. Preparing the paint is pretty simple- mix a little powder and epoxy in the pestal until you have the consistency of a thin batter. A small vile of thinner is supplied if paint begins to set early.
An applicator, much like a large oiler, is included with the kit.
I applied the paint under the microscope; the job was made much easier than it could have been thanks to the nice rectangular “dish” that the luminous paint sits in. I didn’t have to worry about it running on the dial.
Unfortunately I did need to worry about rest of the luminous plots as you can see…
A little epoxy reset the twelve o’clock marker and the job was done.
I re-cased the movement and positioned it on the timegrapher before mounting the rotor to make some final adjustments. I happily discovered this movement is constructed with a beat corrector- no need to remove the balance to correct beat error! How unexpected from such an economical movement. Perhaps that’s a 21st century improvement as I have an Omega on the bench right now from the late 1960’s that requires beat correction via collet adjustment.
The result speaks for itself.
The watch will be posted in a care package for my nephew tomorrow.
Lost Time 