Restore vs keep original, To whom it may concern
Are you one of those who wonder why a vintage SEIKO is sold for half its expected value? Are you one of those who "restore" watches, either as a collector or as a watchmaker? Then this read might be for you.
There is one aspect where the vintage Rolex collecting community has come farther than many other brand communities, and especially the SEIKO community.
When buying a vintage Rolex the well versed collector knows originality is everything! Unpolished cases are of course very rare when it comes to Rolex but when it comes to dial and hands a relume will most likely destroy the value of a vintage Rolex Submariner.
The collectors hunt for Rolex subs in great condition has made collectors and sellers world wide swap parts to combine a great "package" which greatly increases the value of the watch. These swaps are so common that case serial number needs to be checked to ensure that the dial variation matches the age of the case, the same goes for clasp code (if you are picky). If parts don't match, then down goes the value. This is common knowledge in the Rolex watch community. Same goes for cases, untouched is much preferred over refinished.
In the vintage SEIKO community however, there are a few big players when it comes to restoring. I have no personal gain to bash any of them, I just call it as I see it, and that is that many of the watches going to USA (to the three lettered chop shop and the self proclaimed watch Jesus) returns relumed. There are of course reasons for replacing hands but I promise you that the serious collectors won't touch these relumed watches, "originality is everything".
Some SEIKO collectors have of course not come to this conclusion yet, but given the price increases of vintage SEIKO watches for the past 2-3 years, I promise you, in 5 years, a relumed 6309/6306, 6105 and so on will be next to worth nothing compared to an all original half decent looking example.
Let me give you an example of a watch I once owned.
https://i.imgur.com/lFAzMYw.jpg
I bought this lovely 6105 but sadly it didn't have the original hand set.
https://i.imgur.com/hfzk6Ic.jpg
With help from a fellow TZUK member I sourced a perfectly matching correct handset which made for a great package.
I then sold the watch and off it went to the watchmaker where it got a complete "restoration". The watchmaker even uploaded a video saying he relumed this watch with a "vintage super lume", so good he didn't usually do it since it was close to impossible to distinguish it from original lume.
https://i.imgur.com/mocZjug.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qwqiTzU.jpg
From my perspective it looks awful and this completely destroyed the history, the originality and the value of this watch. Not only did the watch get destroyed, the customer also payed a ridiculous amount of money and had to wait for a very long time to get the "restoration"
done.
So please, pretty please with suger on top, think very hard before you decide to relume the hands or dial on an all original vintage SEIKO even if it has patina, these "renovations" are messing up the SEIKO heritage. Even a good relume is worse than bad original lume, "originality is everything".
As a community we need to unite before most of the vintage SEIKO offerings are destroyed by "restorations". Patina is not always a bad thing, it's a part of the watch which shouldn't be destroyed. The same goes for "case restoration", originality is everything.
Restore vs keep original, To whom it may concern
Fair points of course, but I think the OP's point was that his wasn't a 'knackered old watch', rather a lovely original watch in good condition, with the lume darkening at the edges due to age in a pleasing way (subjective opinion of course).
Restore vs keep original, To whom it may concern
I still have the 6159 I bought from you. I wouldn't dream of having the hands relumed. However, I am still undecided on how attractive I find them.
Do my solution has been to buy a set of NOS hands and when it needs a service I can make the decision then. And, if they are changed the original set is untouched.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a249318390.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...61aab09fee.jpg