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The mint green color usually means it was redone. A dead tell on a watch is that the lume is usually this mint green color, which is not how most radium or tritium aged from the 1960s and earlier. With regard to lume, usually you can tell whether a vintage watch has been refinished by the color of the lume. So, if I see a reference 6610 with a dial with white instead of gilt printing (and perhaps two “T’s” on the bottom edge of the dial), then I can tell you that the dial was not original. The dial should also be glossy (although it can take a bit more expertise to distinguish glossy from matte dials). If, for instance, this is a vintage Rolex Explorer reference 6610 from the 1950s, it should not have “T’s” on the bottom of the dial (indicating tritium lume) and the coronet and Rolex text on the dial should be “gilt” or gold in color. So what should you look for when examining a dial? First, one must consider the originality of the dial. Earlier this year, Christie’s sold a cloisonné enamel dial Rolex for approximately $1,242,040, but that watch with a normal dial would have been four or five figures depending on condition, so the dial literally added over $1.2 million to the value of the watch. No question that the dial is typically the most valuable part of a watch, contributing up to 99.9999% (or more) of the value of a watch – literally. If these collectors had spent a bit more time researching, they may have avoided these troubles.
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I have seen people with scattered interests show me their collections and all too frequently I see a few bad watches in the mix: perhaps a fake or franken (a hodge-podge of mis-matched components), or at least a badly redone dial. I have found this to be true: the best vintage watches of any given brand are usually in the collections of those that are focused on them, rather than in the collection of someone who says “I want to have one of everything.” That scattered approach is certainly fine, but it usually leads to getting run-of-the-mill timepieces, and can lead to trouble. Usually, what they want also happens to be the type of thing that generally increases in value at a much higher rate than more pedestrian pieces. It is through this sort of deep dive that collectors begin to develop a perspective on what is special and rare, and develop the contacts and appreciation for what they really want. They may focus on vintage Rolex or Patek or Heuer or Omega or whatever, but they are usually checking the appropriate forum(s) daily, getting to know other experts, and reading all available material about the watches they like. Typically, collectors with the very best watches have a focus. You can also look on HODINKEE, in forums, and past sales at auction houses to see other examples and compare details. You can research many places – take a look at past eBay auctions (particularly sold items) to get an idea of value. What do the original components of the watch (including the dial, hands, movement, case, crown, and case back) look like? If you can’t answer that, you may have a problem. Part of buying what you know is first learning about a watch. Even at that price, how many people would buy it if you wanted to sell it? You would essentially be searching for another sucker. Should I buy it?” My response generally is: "If you don’t like it, why would you buy it?" Someone recently sent me a yellow gold Vacheron triple calendar watch that was approximately $5,000, but, of course, the dial was crudely repainted and the case was heavily polished. I have gotten too many messages from people saying, “I don’t really like this watch, but it seems like such a good deal. Don’t try to suddenly become a dealer right after reading this article, as you could get burned by buying bad watches and take a loss when trying to sell them. If I had to give one bit of advice to you, it is to buy watches that you like.