Advice on a vintage Chronograph - Fludo mechanical - restore??

[kevkojak]

It's not often I need to ask advice on restorations (generally DO NOT RESTORE!!!) but this just came across my desk and I'm in two minds.

It's an 18ct Rose Gold Fludo mechanical chronograph.
Swiss of course, I believe this one runs the Landeron 151 calibre.
I'm presuming it dates to the mid 1940's.

Bought as all original - certainly the plated pushers are originals but I'm not so sure about the crown, it feels a bit big.

My issue is mainly with the dial, it does appear to have a few little war wounds which I couldn't in good conscience describe as "patina" (thought I might still do if it goes on ebay - don't judge!)
How bad does it look? My watchmaker has a chap up in Scotland who does an exceptional dial restoration for around £180, I'm wondering if it'll prove worthwhile or just turn the watch into a money-pit?

The case also has a couple of pretty small dents, common with 18ct gold vintage watches simply because of how soft it is and how thin old case-backs were. Is it worth trying to get those out?


As I write this I reckon I'm 90% swayed towards selling it as it is and letting someone else restore if they choose to. You can't "un-restore" a watch, as I discovered with the 1950's Explorer I destroyed by having the dial re-painted (8 years ago and it still stings!). It's running and the chronograph action is still fantastic, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" springs to mind.

Here are a couple of snaps, if the vintage experts would cast an appraising eye and let me know what you think?

Thanks in advance!

[sweets]

I would leave the dial well alone.
I would service the movement, replace the chrono-second hand (which is missing its counterpoise) and replate all the hands gold to match each other. Preferably adding a little patina.
I would leave the crown, and I would leave it at that.
And I would ensure the crystal is as good as could be (if needed, a replacement is reasonable).
The dial is almost all of the personality of a watch, and yours is actually very good for this age. None of the print has come off, almost, and it is not corroded or illegible.

Dave

[kevkojak]

Cheers Dave! I hadn't noticed the second hand, definitely worth replacing that. What I really wanted was a second opinion on the dial - that's really helpful so thanks for that. 👍

[ktmog6uk]

i like that a lot, fix the hand and bobs your auntie!

- - - Updated - - -

i like that a lot, fix the hand and bobs your auntie!

[Carlton-Browne]

Just to echo what's already been said.Ideally the hands should match the gold/gold-coloured indices on the dial. I have watches with worse dials which I happily wear. There's a tiny bit of info on Fludo here:

http://www.mikrolisk.de/show.php?sit...rk#sucheMarker