My First Dial Re-Lume Seiko 6309 After Thoughts

[Chuy]

Im not sure of this is the best spot for this post but I just wanted to post up some after thoughts for anyone attempting this.

This was my first time working on an automatic watch and trying to re-lum hands and a dial. It didn't come out the best aesthetically under close inspection but functionally and wrist shot distance it looks great. The lume is about 5x brighter and last much longer than the original aftermarket dial and hands that came with the watch.

Lessons Learned:

1. My biggest issue is was getting the lume mixture correct. I went with Noctilumin and T3 binder with a 1:1 ratio mix. The lume on the hands was fairly easy to get on once I added a little thinner, but I still used way to much on the hands. I should have used more thinner or more binder on the dial lume aswell. I think this is what caused the lumpiness in the lume. 

2. Another thing that surprised me was when letting down the main spring (big thanks to petevig for walking me through this process) I had no idea that a little spring had that much power. I really had to hold onto the screwdriver to prevent it from slipping. I might try the toothpick on the gear method next time.

3. Practicing with the lume more probably would have helped. I thought that I would barely have enough lume to do one watch, turns out I could probably do 50 more hands and dials and still have plenty left over. In short lume goes a long way.

Overall I am happy, lume is a huge deal to me and weak lume pretty much ruins a watch for me as far as daily function. I built up a lot of confidence attempting this project and know the next time around will be much neater. This watch is a daily beater for work, so I will be using it to experiment on more. I may order another dial and set of hands to attempt this again in the future.

Big thanks to Mark's videos and the forum here for the guidance. 

 

[bobm12]

Excellent results Chuy and great insight of your experiences. Very helpful!

Cheers,

Bob

[ro63rto]

Good result on the dial but the hands get lumed from underneath not from the top.

Braver than me though. Haven't had the guts to try a dial yet. [emoji4]

[Chuy]

Yes, my problem was I used to much lume and it bleed out. I still have a lot to learn, I will most likely redo the hour and minute hand again. Next time I will mix the lume with more binder or maybe add a little thinner. I think this will help, as the lume tended to set very rapidly. A new aftermarket dial is fairly cheap so I will be attempting this again. Im a total noob at this hobby, the learning curve is the fun part.

[szbalogh]

Nice results especially for the first try. I have practiced on cheap 3-4 usd watches from China. 

[clockboy]

Good result nice looking watch