Reluming a bezel insert pearl with epoxy

[onzenuub 325]

Again an outstanding post from Francisco

 

Some times the pearl of the bezel insert disappears. Follows a Seamaster GMT with this problem:

 

 

There are two main options to repair it:

 

1.- Common relume. Mixture of varnish and lume. The problem is that the final pearl will be a bit weak, and there is a chance of loosing again the pearl.

 

2.- Employing epoxy. The final pearl will be stronger, and, of course, will better glued to the bezel insert.

 

This tuto shows the second option, and SHOWS THREE TRIALS, each time with better result.

 

First trial. Dark pearl.

 

Materials. 5 minutes Araldit epoxy and lume.

 

 

I employed, more or less, the same amount of the two epoxy components and lume:

 

 

Firstly, the epoxy is mixtured:

 

 

And then the lume is mixtured to the epoxy:

 

 

The final mixture is promising, very good lume:

 

 

And now time to relume. Picture shows that I have used to mixture and to apply the lume a tool to remove bracelet’s pins.

 

 

Final result:

 

 

A macro shot shows that the pearl is darker that the dial indexes.

 

 

A picture of the lume glowing:

 

 

The color of the glow of the pearl matches the rest of the lume of the watch. Nice! This cheap rep has a quite good lume.

 

Second trial. Clearer pearl.

 

In order to obtain a clearer (more white) pearl I chose another epoxy. This is very transparent:

 

 

The procedure is repeated again:

 

 

 

As we imagine, the final result is better than before. However, the pearl is a bit darker in comparison with indexes of the dial.

 

 

And the lume shot:

 

 

This video shows how the colour of the pearl gets darker with some light reflection, and seems whiter for different angles:

 

 

Thrid trial. White paint, for a white pearl.

 

The trick now consists of painting of white the area of the insert where the pearl is located

 

The white paint used. Acrylic.

 

 

 

The hole has been painted:

 

 

And the previous clear epoxy is employed to re-lume. A white pearl is here:

 

 

It seems that white layer produces a brighter pearl:

 

 

A video showing that now the pearl is always white:

 

 

Regards,

 

Francisco

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[Massimo 53]

Very cool idea, especially the white paint behind it. Excellent tutorial too, many thanks.

[greg_r 95]

Another great tute from Francisco. Thanks for the repost, Onze!

[tissotman 0]

great idea i need to do a few myself

[swagman 0]

I used your method on my sterile sub, Fantastic Result and so easy.

many thanks for first class advice.

 

s

[ImWatchingYOU 0]

Great job! I would recommend to apply some paper tape around the pearl, incase some epoxy gets out, it will not mess up the bezel. How did you get the epoxy out of the pearl fitting after the two first tries?

[MikeMcNair 0]

Great job! I would recommend to apply some paper tape around the pearl, incase some epoxy gets out, it will not mess up the bezel. How did you get the epoxy out of the pearl fitting after the two first tries?

 

 

just had to redo mine cause i fucked it up after SKA made her perfect. talk about being pissed.

 

as for the tape, no need, using he right sized drip only takes you like 3 tries, and you will get it. to remove old epoxy/lue, a nice sharp hobby razor does the trick.

 

mine was GONE, and here it is now.....

 

 

 

 

thank god i have the right color lume here!!!!!!

 

this tutorial helped me fix mine, i am sure it will help others.

 

cheers.

[davylloyd 0]

Great idea, I have a shitty pearl on a project sub I am working on, must try this

[Loonie 0]

Do you think mixing all four (epoxys, lume & paint) would give similar results?

[DR3M3L 6]

Do you think mixing all four (epoxys, lume & paint) would give similar results?

 

No, the paint will ruin your lume glow.

[mach19 0]

exactly what i was looking for... Thank you!

[CB799 1]

Great, I've got a submariner that needs this.  New project, thanks for the info!

[fetasigma 0]

I do this to age pearls all the time on vintage models, there a yellow resin works really well.







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[stento 0]

Great post, Many thanks