It's Fresh From the
Showcase here at SwissWatchExpo.
We're talking about vintage watches today and the things that we have an inventory that
have some really unique and interesting characteristics, not only about the dials themselves, the cases
themselves, but also the specifically the paint and the luminescence on the dial because
those things change over time and there's a lot of things that occur because of that.
And you have a few pieces that you like that are favorites.
Absolutely.
And it is absolutely my favorite thing about vintage watches to really see the changing
in color you get on the dial.
It really does take a whole watch, you know, to the next level.
Especially some of these older pieces.
These first two right here are probably my favorites.
We have here an Omega Speedmaster - a Pre Moon, I believe.
(Calibre) 321.
This one actually has just the Omega Speedmaster emblem etched on the back, not "The first
watch worn on the Moon".
So this actually predates that.
Not imprinted on the back.
You said etched.
I wanted to highlight that cause that's really important.
And as you could tell this one, obviously no loom left on this marker, but you've got
this beautiful brown patina color that you see on so many of these vintage Seamasters
or Speedmasters, I'm sorry, as they age.
And it really does add a lot of definition between the black on the dial and the color
of the lume.
So even though it's sort of turning a darker color, you still get that high contrast with
the dial.
So the markers still like absolutely beautiful.
It also matches that so that vintage leather strap to it, they go hand in hand.
Something that's really cool over time.
Now, one of the things I think we should point out to folks is, especially on the Omegas,
the loom does tend to come off over time.
So if you get one of these watches, a lot of people think, well I want them exactly
patina'd and I want it all together in this kind of thing.
The thing is is that these watches over time, the, it's got like a paper thin material that
the luminescence is actually painted on.
So it's going to come off, especially in between the Omega Seamaster I'm sorry Speedmaster
because there's literally a gap on the hands right down the center.
There's no way to avoid that.
As this watch gets older and as it gets jostled around and vibrated around, that's probably
going to come off and it may even leave some things in the dial, a little specks of things
in the dial.
Don't be afraid of that.
That's actually normal.
It doesn't detract from the value of the watch.
Well, I would tell you if you're going to do nothing but sit there and stare at the
watch in a vacuum, seal the case and it's, you know, it's low humidity and it's like
just perfectly preserved and fine.
Maybe that's not the watch for you, but if you want to wear this watch absolutely every
day do it.
Don't let this watch sit around because the longer you wear it, the the older that it
gets, the more valuable it is.
As far as I'm concerned, just for being a personal value item.
I mean what's the point that happened in the back of the steel case?
To me, unless you're just wanting something that's going to be worth $10 million in the
future.
So if you love patina, that's not what you're going to be doing with your watches anyway.
Exactly.
But this was probably my absolute favorite here.
This is a Rolex Seadweller, and as you could tell with the dive watches, you've got the
real big lume that was originally supposed to glow up real bright, and now you see it's
all turned, this uniform tan color.
Really one of the best examples of patina you can get on a vintage dive watch that I've
ever seen.
Vintage Rolex collectors I know are going to absolutely flip over this.
It's absolutely beautiful.
I'm holding up this one because one of the things that we, you pointed out earlier, this
one has the patina on the loom, but this one has the patina on the dial.
Now it's going to be really hard to be able to see it under normal light circumstances.
But this particular dial is called a spider dial.
It has a crazing in it.
The dial in the paint on the dial has cracked in a very unique pattern.
It's such a cool piece.
It's, it's almost like stained glass window.
Absolutely.
You know, it's got that real unique pattern in it.
I'm a huge fan of the spider dial because every single one is different from all different
types, whether, especially depending on the manufacturer.
This one's literally the coolest watch I've ever seen.
I honestly would like to own this watch because it, the way that the, the aged patina on the
dial looks.
Yes.
So, and, but they're both Submariners, and they're both very similarly aged.
They just aged differently, which is important to know.
Right, right.
So go ahead.
All right, so I think next was something you were example, an example you were using to
watch you're currently wearing and this beautiful looking (Panerai) Luminor is an example of
manufacturers and brands really trying to capitalize on the crazy people have for these
colors on the patina, right?
So this is what some collectors are calling the folk container where they have very much
a weathered sort of look on the color and yeah, I wonder if you can get a closeup on
both of these.
These are two great examples of two brands that love doing this.
We've got, I believe a Tudor Pelagos right there and those of course, Panerai Luminor
- both look really great on distressed straps, which I think goes hand in hand with this
color of patina we're talking about.
Right?
And so the reason for the faux patina is because number one, at the original moment that they
introduced the faux patina, there were supposed to be two ideas here.
One was, it was very good to go fine watches that have the patina on them because a lot
of people literally would toss things away or they would send them back to the manufacturer
for service and service departments would say, Oh, you need a new dial.
Enhance, they don't glow anymore.
So let's replace all this stuff.
I mean, they're in the business to make money.
Right, of course.
So this is what we tell people a lot of times here at SwissWatchExpo.
First of all, when you buy a watch that has a history to it, a lot of people ask us, has
the dial been change and all these other things, listen, we want to make sure that you understand
that we not change the dial.
We don't change anything here at SwissWatchExpo, when the watches are serviced, when they come
in, they come in, they leave exactly how they looked.
We don't monkey with anything like that.
And that's real important for a lot of people because when the service manufacturers want
to change things out and update them, and that's fine, but for the collectors, let's
not do that.
Let's leave the watches exactly as they are, right?
So in comes, the faux patina, the watch manufacturers said, Oh well, maybe we were doing the wrong
thing all these years.
Now people really want that.
So if you want, now there's, there's people out there who actually want their watch to
glow and have that luminescence at night, but at the same time, they want to have that
look.
You can't have both because these watches, the older watches go from radium to tridium
and now to super LumiNova -- three different types of, of luminescence that were painted
on the dial.
And now the stuff that they use is a Super LumiNova.
Now the Tudor actually uses a gel inside of each one of the markers as well as around
the outside of the bezel.
It's, yeah, it's an actual liquid that they're using.
It's not paint, something that a lot of people don't realize.
And so it glows this bright blue, for an extraordinary long time.
And even though it has that, that yellowish patina, the color comes out as blue, which
is really interesting.
Yeah.
So you get the best of both worlds with this, but that's not the only reason that patina
or faux patina exists.
For example, Panerai -- they do the throwback on their, their dials.
Now this happens to be a sandwich dial with the patina color on not only painted.
So let's, let me go over something real quick cause it just, it comes into my mind as we're
talking about it.
This is the sandwich dial, becaused there's a dial below, that's painted with luminescence,
and then there's another dial that's carved out that's laid on top.
Yeah, that's why it's called a sandwich dial.
And so what they did was they took that patina colored paint, which is still Super LumiNova.
It goes a really bright green, probably one of the best glowing watches in the industry,
if not the best to watch glowing and watching the industry.
So if you want something that lasts all night, it's definitely a Panerai.
Now why is that important?
Panerais, when they first came out, there was the 1930s, they were using radium on their
dials.
So what would happen is, and you would find that the half life of the uranium that they
were using to make the dial with would start changing within two to three years.
And now remembering that the service people that wore these, and these were only service
dials, or I'm sorry, servicemen dials, these were not allowed in the civilian market.
It was only in the Italian Navy that these things were allowed.
So even within a two to three year period, these are highly radioactive.
The paint was highly radioactive, which is really strange.
You wouldn't think that, but they, the color would actually start changing because of the
radium that's in them.
The dials would getting a brownish color or an orangy gold color.
So a dial that was originally black would physically change and you wouldn't really
see it right around each one of the markers.
Now, over time, Panerai has introduced a few watches that have that faux dial change color
to, they also have a tobacco color, which is what we refer to it as, but it's actually
a Brown color.
And that's because of the original type of dial that would fade due to that radium.
So they, they didn't just do the faux patina, they did the faux patina dial, too.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
So that's why there's so many different versions.
And by the way, some of those really expensive, we don't happen to have one here right now,
but I'm sure we'll run across one soon.
So obviously keep watching here at SwissWatchExpo.
So that's why there are certain manufacturers that are doing the faux patina and that's
why you find so many different types.
Okay.
Now, one of the other things that we also have here, fortunately we have a watchmaker
who's also a co-owner that specializes in this service of vintage Rolex.
Now historically, if you had a watch that was from the 50s, 60s, or 70s, and you sent
your watch to Rolex, they may not service the watch.
They may reject it because they simply don't have the parts to replace them.
The watches, well that's not necessarily there again, it's not always necessary to replace
parts.
Watches work just fine as long as they're cared for, they're well maintenanced and you
buy watches that haven't been completely destroyed and heavily used and dropped and broken things,
right?
So just like anything, if it's wealth cared for it to last a long time.
So we had a lot of vintage watches that you can buy here that have full patina on them.
Now some people ask, do they have them little markers on the dial?
Do they fall off?
Are they, but yeah, they do.
The individual little luminescent markers can fall off the dial.
That doesn't detract from the value.
It doesn't make it work any less.
If you're looking for something that has a vintage history to it, it's going to be missing
a few things.
It's just, it's just unavoidable.
Right.
But what's also cool is that this watch here has a dial that has also changed, just like
the Panerai dial did.
Yeah, for a different reason.
It's not because of the radium on the luminescent markers.
This is just exposure to light.
So this happens too.
That's why there's a lot of times where we take pictures of watches where you'll have
the exact same model.
One will have a certain color dial, the other one will be a little bit different.
So we literally have to go into our case, look at them, compare them side by side and
let you know this is the difference between the two and here's the colorized difference.
And yes, what you're seeing on the screen is correct.
This one is a little bit different than the other and a lot of people ask us what the,
did they ever make that color dial?
No.
That's just how it's changed over the years.
And that's what makes it cool.
Exactly.
And nothing ever ages the same way you could get in another watch exactly like any one
of these from about the same age that has a different history and you get a different
type of potato or a subtly different shades.
And that's part of what makes it so cool.
That's why the pre-owned watch market is absolutely exploding.
If you have a watch that's got some unique characteristics to it, whether it's scratched
or whether it's deemed or if it has a scuffed bezel, or whatever the case.
A lot of people really liked that.
They liked the character and the history of, and especially when you start combining it,
you know, this is a perfect example.
This Omega right here, the case has got, we haven't touched it.
It's not been polished.
It's not been buffed.
We're not doing anything with it.
We're leaving it just as it is -- the patina, the dial, the case and all.
We want you to have it just as it's always been worn so that you don't have something
that looks faux, and looks like today's watch.
Exactly.
So that concludes all of the patinas -- why we have vintage watches, what happens to them
over time?
As I said, the radium, the tritium, and the SuperLuminova.
The LumiNova is the most recent paint history that started out in the mid to late nineties.
The Japanese introduced it and, uh, that's the, that is the main paint used now.
And they're sort of supercharging all those, uh, to get them to look just right.
Just like this, this Tudor.
And I would encourage you, if you really like luminescence, the Tudor is the one to go with.
And by the way, the Pelagos is just an amazing watch to deal with.
Fresh from the Showcase here at SwissWatchExpo.
Chat with us, find us at SwissWatchExpo..com, and give us a call if you have any questions.