Reluming Questions?

[gasdoc]

Can anyone tell me the best way to remove rep lume from a dial without killing the dial?
I assume there is a preferred solvent? I tried gently scraping it, but that looks like a slow and destructive process, especially for lume that is applied directly to the dial.

Recs please?!

Second, whats the best way to relume a pearl that has a crystal on top of the lume like the BCE/SFSO?

I don't wanna ruin the watches to experiment if someone has a good plan.

Thanks!

Just finished my first real relume, pics to follow.

 

[Yannou]

And what did you use as binder with your pigment ? :roll:

 

[gasdoc]

No lumers want to share their sneaky tricks?

Come on, share the wealth guys.

 

[Rocketeer]

Most relumers just put the new layer over the existing rep lume. It makes the job much easier and safer.
If you really are after the best lume you can manage and want to start from scratch with a good base layer of ultra white, careful shaving with a scalpel is the only really practical way to remove the old lume for most dials (applied markers create their own problems).
Any solvent that will remove the old lume will almost certainly also soften and remove the dial printing and surface finish.
Extra precautions are needed doing this on older Tritium dials, as breathing in tritium dust is extremely hazardous to the health.

CARE IS NEEDED! Until you are well practised at working at that fine a level of precision, it is incredibly easy to mark a dial surface, particularly on rep dials. You must keep removing the old lume debris constantly to prevent it from marking the dial surface. I use an aerosol airduster.
A trick that can save lots of heartache is to protect the bulk of the dial surface with art masking fluid (a kind of liquid latex), I still use this at times on an irreplaceable dial as a kind of safety net.
Then if you do slip slightly, there is a good chance that the mask will save the dial from damage.

Rep dials with high gloss finish and applied markers like Rolex are the worst, the dial surface marks at the slightest touch and cleaning with Rodico more often than not will remove some of the applied markers and that can easily put a lovely scratch on your dial.

Pearls under glass, like the ones on a lot of Breitlings, are a separate small piece and after removing the bezel or bezel tab, can be lifted out and the old lume is fairly easy to clean out from underneath before reluming.
HOWEVER - many lume compounds deteriorate on exposure to moisture, so you MUST use a pigment that is suited to exposure to water (some have every particle encapsulated in a waterproof coating, some are just naturally immune to moisture deterioration). You should also use a binder with better than average adhesion.


Good Luck :wink:

 

[jmd33]

Most relumers just put the new layer over the existing rep lume. It makes the job much easier and safer.
If you really are after the best lume you can manage and want to start from scratch with a good base layer of ultra white, careful shaving with a scalpel is the only really practical way to remove the old lume for most dials (applied markers create their own problems).
Any solvent that will remove the old lume will almost certainly also soften and remove the dial printing and surface finish.
Extra precautions are needed doing this on older Tritium dials, as breathing in tritium dust is extremely hazardous to the health.

CARE IS NEEDED! Until you are well practised at working at that fine a level of precision, it is incredibly easy to mark a dial surface, particularly on rep dials. You must keep removing the old lume debris constantly to prevent it from marking the dial surface. I use an aerosol airduster.
A trick that can save lots of heartache is to protect the bulk of the dial surface with art masking fluid (a kind of liquid latex), I still use this at times on an irreplaceable dial as a kind of safety net.
Then if you do slip slightly, there is a good chance that the mask will save the dial from damage.

Rep dials with high gloss finish and applied markers like Rolex are the worst, the dial surface marks at the slightest touch and cleaning with Rodico more often than not will remove some of the applied markers and that can easily put a lovely scratch on your dial.

Pearls under glass, like the ones on a lot of Breitlings, are a separate small piece and after removing the bezel or bezel tab, can be lifted out and the old lume is fairly easy to clean out from underneath before reluming.
HOWEVER - many lume compounds deteriorate on exposure to moisture, so you MUST use a pigment that is suited to exposure to water (some have every particle encapsulated in a waterproof coating, some are just naturally immune to moisture deterioration). You should also use a binder with better than average adhesion.


Good Luck :wink:

:shock: :shock: :shock:

About all I have balls to try is changing a quartz battery.

 

[gasdoc]

Thanks for the information, that what I was looking for.

Is there a technique to remove the glass from pearls on the breitling or just pry it out?

Once it's out, is there a recommended adhesive to reattach the glass to the pearl?

Thanks!

 

[Rocketeer]

You remove the whole section with the pearl in and work from underneath, so there is no need to remove the glass, which is pressed in from underneath anyway.

Top

Underside - just dig the lume out from here.

If you have a model where the tabs are fixed and don't separate when unscrewed, you would need to attempt to remove the bezel, good luck with that!

 

[Yannou]

I still didn't find an appropriate binder for a reluming...too bad

 

[alvinado]

any transparent paint varnish will do!

 

[watchblog]

I've tried a lot of different binders, but I personally like Binder 1A from Noctilumina. It's not too expensive, it's easy to get and it works well (just my opinion). Their lume isn't the best, but I like their binder.
I've also found that if you apply a layer of white paint prior to reluming (let it dry for 24 hours before luming), you get a slightly brighter appearance (it reflects off the white background).

 

[Rocketeer]

any transparent paint varnish will do!

Although this is basically correct, many varnishes contain a UV filter to prevent colour fade in the layer beneath. This UV filter will seriously reduce the ability of the lume compound to glow as it's mainly light at the UV end of the spectrum that activates it.

 

[jwan84]

Any solvent that will remove the old lume will almost certainly also soften and remove the dial printing and surface finish.

learned that the hard way.... me and my rolex sub without the "crown" marking on dial....=(