Pam Bronzo Heat Resistance

[Rupert Fripp]

Ciao Paneristi,

I was hoping to surprise the community with a freshly relumed pam968 that I’ve been working on forever.

Finding someone who was able to relume to the standard needed is incredibly hard and sourcing the correct lume colour was even harder.

In any case, I will do a full post once completed but in the interim, I have a question about potential heat damage to the case, bezel and glass of my bronzo 968.

I am sending the hands, dial and bezel to the relumer…except the bezel, no matter who tries, will not come off, so I’m sending it attached to the case.

The guy doing the work raised a concern in that the superluminova requires him to put it in the oven between 100-120 degrees Celsius. He’s concerned it could damage the case, glass or rehaut etc.

I wanted to get the community’s thoughts on this. Is there anything to worry about here?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mech500]

Interesting question.

Is it absolutely necessary that you relume the bezel?

Maybe the difference in heat induced expansion rate between ceramic bezel, sapphire and bronze case, cause the bezel/crystal to crack.

crystal gasket could lose its sealing properties - if it’s made from a Micky mouse PTFE grade.

Natas78 might have experience with hearing bronze...my concern would be that it picks up unsightly heat colour Patina (ie it comes out the oven with blue and brown hues).

I wouldn’t risk it. It’s a rare discontinued watch...see if you can live with factory lume.





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[Woundup]

Seems quite risky to me...

Have any of those who tried to remove the bezel used gentle heat ie: placing it in the oven just to warm the case/bezel? Curious to know if there has been any forced patina / restore to original finish on your 968? When I removed the patina from mine I noticed that the bezel was quite stiff until I washed and brushed it several times - I doubt it would have been easy to remove.

Please keep us updated and thanks for working to find a way to improve our 968's!

 

[Natas78]

The superluminova does not require to be cured in the oven. Doing so will evaporate the binder too fast and leave you with grainy looking uneven lume.
You CAN cure it in the oven, but between 60 - 80 degrees celcius.
I'm not sure why the bezel would need to come off?
Please disclose the name of the lumer you have hired to do this job.
I would like to hear what he has to say.
About heating the case/bezel/crystal, my experience tells me it can withstand a lot more than 120 degrees celcius, but again, why?

I know you have asked me to lume this watch, but I don't like to relume these dials, the hands and pip are fine, but too much can go wrong with the dial markers.
I've done quite a few and it never was satisfactory, at least from my point of view.

 

[Rupert Fripp]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and insight.

Regarding the need to lume, I absolutely don’t but it’s been a little bit of a passion project in trying to source and find a great relumer. I feel I’ve gone too far to turn back now!

I obviously won’t if it destroys the watch. I never thought about the effect on the patina, it’s a good point.

Regarding the need to cure in the oven, this guy is the best lume/dial modder I’ve seen and was referred via the Swiss lume maker as the go to guy. He’s not on this forum and said he’d work on my rep only after much discussion back and forth.

I can only follow what he’s suggesting and his work really speaks for itself.

I’m happy to experiment and Natas saying he doesn’t see much issue with the heat gives me some comfort.

I will challenge him again to see if there’s a way around it.

The other interesting thing will be to see how close this lume colour I’ve chosen (from hundreds), will actually be to the gen. The Pantone cards I was sent were very close, but let’s see once completed!

Thanks Woundup for the kind words, let’s see how it turns out! I might be creating a monster!

 

[kidcreole]

I'm going to cook one of my watches now as this subject has intrigued me. My guess is 100dgC would be harmless unless the bezel is glued on so at worst it falls off.

 

[Rupert Fripp]

I'm going to cook one of my watches now as this subject has intrigued me. My guess is 100dgC would be harmless unless the bezel is glued on so at worst it falls off.

Ahahahaha! I didn’t expect my post to illicit this type of action!

 

[Natas78]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and insight.

Regarding the need to lume, I absolutely don’t but it’s been a little bit of a passion project in trying to source and find a great relumer. I feel I’ve gone too far to turn back now!

I obviously won’t if it destroys the watch. I never thought about the effect on the patina, it’s a good point.

Regarding the need to cure in the oven, this guy is the best lume/dial modder I’ve seen and was referred via the Swiss lume maker as the go to guy. He’s not on this forum and said he’d work on my rep only after much discussion back and forth.

I can only follow what he’s suggesting and his work really speaks for itself.

I’m happy to experiment and Natas saying he doesn’t see much issue with the heat gives me some comfort.

I will challenge him again to see if there’s a way around it.

The other interesting thing will be to see how close this lume colour I’ve chosen (from hundreds), will actually be to the gen. The Pantone cards I was sent were very close, but let’s see once completed!

Thanks Woundup for the kind words, let’s see how it turns out! I might be creating a monster!

Well I’m you’ll pay your tuition -and then some- with this watch.
Please do disclose how much this will have cost you in total.

 

[Rupert Fripp]

Well I’m you’ll pay your tuition -and then some- with this watch.
Please do disclose how much this will have cost you in total.

I’m actually shocked how cheap this is supposed to be but let’s see when it’s finished.

I’ll update everyone once it progresses.

 

[KOT1917]

I also haven't heard of re-lume requiring oven roasting.

Also, I understand that the case must be heated as a whole, because you need a re-lume pearl?
If you have a high-class master, then I am sure that he will not only remove the bezel, but also remove the insert. If, as you say, heat treatment is the only way out, I would simply remove the glass of the pearl itself from the bezel, and only process it.

In any case, I wish you good luck.

 

[Natas78]

I’m actually shocked how cheap this is supposed to be but let’s see when it’s finished.

I’ll update everyone once it progresses.

Well I’ve seen €200 (hands only) lume jobs that were supposed to be “perfect” but were a mere disappointment. So I’m very much interested to see the price and result.

My reluctance to take on some of these jobs is simply because it’s nearly impossible to obtain the factory flawless finish on some types of dials, or even to remove the old lume from the markers.

 

[Rupert Fripp]

I also haven't heard of re-lume requiring oven roasting.

Also, I understand that the case must be heated as a whole, because you need a re-lume pearl?
If you have a high-class master, then I am sure that he will not only remove the bezel, but also remove the insert. If, as you say, heat treatment is the only way out, I would simply remove the glass of the pearl itself from the bezel, and only process it.

In any case, I wish you good luck.

Yeah, I’ve actually asked him to remove the pearl and do just that. Let’s see!

 

[Rupert Fripp]

Well I’ve seen €200 (hands only) lume jobs that were supposed to be “perfect” but were a mere disappointment. So I’m very much interested to see the price and result.

My reluctance to take on some of these jobs is simply because it’s nearly impossible to obtain the factory flawless finish on some types of dials, or even to remove the old lume from the markers.

Yeah, let’s see. I’m prepared for a not perfect finish but based on the recommendations, the images of this guys work and the cost involved, I’ve deemed it a worthy risk.

I’m preparing to take one for the community here!

 

[Rupert Fripp]

You guys have got me shook now!

Let me know what you think of his work. I’ve been searching for months and haven’t found anyone even remotely close to this guy.

The Omega he painted the whole dial and redrew the Omega logo etc:

 

[kilowattore]

The light blue Omega dial is utterly impressive

 

[Rupert Fripp]

The light blue Omega dial is utterly impressive

It really is. He says most of his work are getting sent dials to paint for custom project.

I want to recreate that look! Might even try and create come custom Panerai dials etc.

 

[Rupert Fripp]

The light blue Omega dial is utterly impressive

It really is. Makes me want to create a custom dial like that.

 

[Natas78]

It really is. Makes me want to create a custom dial like that.

If he drew the text and logo by hand I’m totally impressed.


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[Rupert Fripp]

If he drew the text and logo by hand I’m totally impressed.


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Apparently so, I’ve actually learned his background is jewellery, not watch smithing. He only gets sent dials and hands and doesn’t take apart anything.

I’ve sent him my parts so let’s all pray!

 

[Natas78]

Apparently so, I’ve actually learned his background is jewellery, not watch smithing. He only gets sent dials and hands and doesn’t take apart anything.

I’ve sent him my parts so let’s all pray!

Any update?


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