How to Relume a Vintage Watch Dial and Hands!

Horology Biology demonstrates how to repair the luminous compound on a vintage watch. Relume a vintage watch dial and hands. Vintage watches are different to modern watches so they need to be aged. Resulting in an aged lume look for your vintage watch.
I'm not saying this is the right way, the wrong way or the only way but it is the way I like to get these results.
Overall I'm very happy with how it looks but in time will redo the minute hand as I felt it was too heavy.
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#horologybiology
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#vintagewatches

[@HorologyBiology]

If you enjoyed the video please do me a favour and hit a like for me 👍🏼 Feel free to drop a comment below. I'm giving away a Vintage Omega Seamaster Calendar Watch to one lucky subscriber once the channel hits 10,000 subscribers. All you have to do is like and subscribe, it couldn't be simpler to potentially win an iconic Omega classic. Live draw for the Omega Giveaway on 19th November 17:00 CEST kzbin.infooJGoT6xWgFo?si=wRf2Ikp2Ld48p5QT HB Merch available at horology-biology.creator-spring.com/ Latest HB Watch Restoration videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHaoqqeNnN15rMU Latest HB Watches and More videos kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYaxeYelq5p1pNk

[@zeke7515]

All that hard work and effort and no lights off lume shot? I'm sure it looks great lights off...

[@HorologyBiology]

To be honest I totally forgot about that 😂 but no it is not very bright at all because of the treatment and the paint that was added. As it's vintage I don't need or want it to glow super hard. Thanks for watching

[@mrclassic2284]

My favorite watch channel. Fresh!

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks a lot Mr Classic 💪

[@rossjackson3670]

Excellent. The Super Fresh man strikes again.

[@HorologyBiology]

haha Thanks Ross. Stay Fresh 💪

[@francishagen8508]

Best before dinner video maker there is😊 Super fresh….

[@HorologyBiology]

hahah don't let the dinner go cold my man 👍

[@MichaelMitchell-vk9lk]

Enicar (Racine) are really well made and an underrated brand. Best logo ever!!! Thank you for the video

[@HorologyBiology]

Couldn't agree more!

[@tomholloway7566]

Congratulations on the 11K Matt! That went quickly. Thanks for the video again

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks Tom 😀

[@alessandrobenelli3562]

Video stupendo ! Come tutti i vuoi video ! Complimenti e continua così per noi appassionati 👏🏻💪🏻

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks a lot and thanks for watching 👍

[@karanjain5663]

More dial relumes with the Bob Ross theme please - this was therapeutic. Believe it or not black coffee can also be mixed in to "age" the lume. Looks great!

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks for watching 👍 Yeah the black coffee one is a common method for sure.

[@andyyoung3233]

Hi Matt, great video as always and you know I love them Enicar watches great you reached 10000 subs and trust your in humour sir

[@HorologyBiology]

Cheers Andy 💪💪💪

[@swiss_2k]

Thank you for sharing. That was really informative!

[@Trevorpartington-yc6ri]

Nice job mate!

[@HorologyBiology]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@stevewilliams5428]

Great work. The lume shrinks as it dries in my experience so there's no need to be shy applying it.

[@HorologyBiology]

Yes you are totally right about that. Thanks for watching

[@nicknameless5581]

This man is Bob Ross of watches, nice job ❤

[@HorologyBiology]

🤣🤣 Thanks for that

[@Doctors_TARDIS]

There are so few videos with people reluming a dial, thank you for this. I've seen other watchmakers add a little coffee to the lume in order to make it look aged (such as wristwatch revival)

[@HorologyBiology]

I wouldn't recommend food (organic) material on a watch when other methods are available. Thanks for watching :) I think he's a hobbiest no?

[@blakefrost8303]

Super fresh!

[@HorologyBiology]

Super Nice!!!

[@mattcameron9349]

Wow! I really, REALLY wasn't sure about the colours whilst you were working on it, but it really came together and looked great once cased-up! 👍

[@HorologyBiology]

haha like I mentioned it's trial and error. I also was happy with the end results although I do think I will redo the hour and minute hand when I have the time :) I just love how rustic it looks which is exactly what I was looking for

[@WristwatchMedic1953]

Great video. Really informative. Learned some new stuff. Watch looks cool. Thanks Matt

[@HorologyBiology]

Many thanks as always Darryll 💪💪👍

[@petercampbell3828]

Great results! Some would have said to leave it, but I prefer the refreshed vintage look.

[@HorologyBiology]

Me too! It looked really bad before.

[@francishagen8508]

Takk!

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks as always Francis 👍

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

Perfect timing. I've an old trench watch I'm renovating and I've been not sure about what to do with the dial. It's got an outrageous amount of radium, I'm going to replace it. The old fella should glow like it did in its youth. I've got some dye designed to tint resin, think I'll give that a go. Cheers!

[@HorologyBiology]

You're welcome 👍 Just be careful with that radium ☢️

[@GentlemensWatchServices]

@@HorologyBiology Will do. It tastes of fizzing and burning.

[@brucebarlow6604]

Came out great HB, Bob’s painting skills came in handy. Keep well from New Zealand 🇳🇿

[@HorologyBiology]

😅😅😅 Cheers Bruce 👍

[@slashdotism]

Technically well done but the color looks too red to me for a tritium dial

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@samnova450]

Thanks for the show and tell.

[@peterchang7646]

Is there a lume shot somewhere of this watch after u relumed it? Wanna see the performance in the dark. Well produced video

[@HorologyBiology]

It actually slipped my mind but please do bear in mind it will never be mega bright. Deliberately downed as you wouldn’t want it mega bright on a vintage piece

[@superman-gj4cc]

is there anyway to decrease the glow time of the watch lume to mimic old tritium? Trying to match the lume of my old watch that only glow for a while before fading of rapidly.

[@HorologyBiology]

When you add paint to the mix it automatically reduced the flow dramatically

[@andyyoung3233]

Hey Matt when you doing your 10000 sub video can't wait any longer to win that watch mate. 😃

[@HorologyBiology]

check the community tab mate

[@orvillefindley8117]

Nice job on a nice watch ⌚👍

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks 👍

[@christianespinoza416]

How is the white paint called?

[@soundmindtv2911]

Very nice demonstration! Is there any product that can be used to practice (effectively) a few times without using the expensive lume material?

[@HorologyBiology]

Well you can buy very cheap lume on eBay that in principal work the same

[@stoneriverwatches]

tough

[@HorologyBiology]

👍

[@joewatkins1667]

Cool video, this is definitely a job for an expert/specialist in my opinion - especially if you're working on a several thousand £ watch

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks for watching. I totally agree that doing this is not for everyone at all.

[@RyeOnHam]

*Correction, I was wrong: For the record, Tritium is a gas and it is not a part of painted-on lume. Tritium is only used in glass ampules on watches like the Luminox branded ones. Old lume will usually contain radium or a phosphorescent powder.

[@tomholloway7566]

That is now, however there were lume paints that were tritium based. You can usually tell as there will be an uppercase T on the dial, sometimes T- Swiss Made -T

[@HorologyBiology]

Like Tom also mentioned the T on the dial is a bit of a giveaway. Radium was abolished years before the watch industry moved on to tritium based paints as the radioactive compound was less dangerous (and has a much shorter half life, around 19 years) than radium is. This is 100% not radium.

[@HRM.H]

Tritium phosphor PAINTS were outlawed in 1998.

[@RyeOnHam]

Well, I stand corrected. Wonder why it wasn't used for gun sights?

[@planespeaking]

The tritium gas in glass tubes or microbeads energises the phosphorescent paint. The colour comes from the paint. The tritium decay provides the energy source. T SWISS T indicates tritium. Swiss P indicates promethium. Super Luminova just uses normal light to charge the phosphorescent type paint. Apologies if any egg sucking is being taught here

[@timothy4664]

I was asking myself if you were going to talk about tinting the lume for older watches. Nothing worse than bright white lume on an old watch with patina

[@HorologyBiology]

Haha and then I revealed it 👍🏻 thanks for watching. I agree with you as well, nothing worse than it looking brand new as it would be so out of place

[@kokovucic6607]

Just like the others said: wheres the lume shot lol

[@HorologyBiology]

Yeahhhhh I kinda forgot about that. Although it's not very bright anyway as it's toned down with the paint mix as it's vintage anyway. Thanks for watching

[@MrGrentch]

Nice job and on a tricky enough watch too. 🙂👍 Now I'm no watchmaker but I've relumed a few of my watches(mostly to get rid of radium off trrench watches and the like) and FWIW I found if you want to keep the luminescence feature, I apply it 'raw' and untinted in the mix and when it dries use nicer quality watercolours(very fine pigment size), ochres, burnt umbers as a diluted wash. Gives lots of control and you can build up the wash in layers to suit. it's a more longwinded process of course, but in the day it looks like old radium and you keep nearly all the glow in the dark effect. Trench watches are great for this as they laid it on thick originally, so now with new lume they glow like torches for most of the night. I like the idea of making a 100 year old watch useful today, but I'm clearly mad so.. 😁

[@HorologyBiology]

It's always best to experiment if you have the time. I really don't like messing around with radium watches so to be honest I boycott them. It's a personal preference of course as some people do not mind working on them. Thanks for watching :)

[@MrGrentch]

@@HorologyBiology Oh avoiding radium is probably a good plan alright. 😀

[@geneticepistomology]

I have a Wyler Lifeguard 660 day date, diving bezel & four o’clock crown that would love to visit you. 4 vids on my channel and it’s the only short.

[@HorologyBiology]

Thanks for watching. Best to email me about it 👍

[@geneticepistomology]

@@HorologyBiology Will do!

[@shaneand4]

I wish people would stop driving up the price of ebay enicars lol

[@HorologyBiology]

😲 They are a bit pricey

[@deeman1643]

use coffee to age lume.

[@HorologyBiology]

No thanks, I don't want to put food on my watches 🙂