Great answer Mark
Yes i was aware of the 1533B's fading to violet - nice effect. I haven't seen a picture of the 1553's doing the same thing, I'd appreciate if you can post a picture upon your return just for comparison's sake.
You raise another good point when you highlight the fact that Singer were playing with the paint mixes/finishes on the dials. This has resulted in so many interesting results concerning aging of dial finishes.
Cheers - Darren
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: Hi Darren. I'm in Berlin atm, so away from my picture library so I
: can't link a picture until I get back.

: Cal 15 blue dials fading to violet in sunlight affected the Monacos
: as well as the Carreras (better make sure I spell it correctly,
: even on this netbook's keyboard!) and is something that has been
: discussed a few times on the forum. Shaun posted two 1533s side
: by side before to show the comparison, one recognisably its
: original blue, the other distinctly violet. I found that post
: with a search but the picture link is broken now :( I might
: still have the photo on a HDD somewhere though, I'll look when I
: get home.

: The dial finish on Cal 15s is quite distinct from the Cal 11/12s;
: though some 1153s do have dial problems of their own, it's not
: usually a fade to violet. The first 1153s have what Heuer
: referred to as a charcoal grey dial, which usually remains
: fairly intact, just gaining an even patina - I think I've only
: seen one beginning to suffer the serious paint loss that ends up
: with the brassing so beautifully shown by Jeff's Chronomatic
: Monaco. The next dial was a dark blue and again this seems
: pretty resistant to change - if anything, they go slightly
: lighter blue with UV exposure but the change is relatively
: marginal. The "yachting" Carreras have a different
: finish all of their own, much more metallic than a regular 1153,
: which seems to be a bit more temperamental than those dials; the
: most common problem I've seen with those though is bubbling of
: the paint on the (black) registers rather than with the blue of
: the dial. Finally, the 110.253 had a different dial again - in
: fact, it used the same dial as the blue barrel-cased Carrera; in
: extremis, those can lose the CdG detailing and can even end up
: with a similar lapis lazuli effect to Nic's watch.

: Now, I've identified four distinct dials for 1153s there but it's
: important to note that Heuer and Singer (I think all 4 are
: Singer dials off the top of my head, would need to check dial
: reverses to be sure) were playing around with the finishes in
: each of those four "families", if you like, to try and
: improve resistance to change under UV, moisture, salinity etc.
: Some of them can indeed fade to violet like a 1553 dial, but
: they don't do it as often or as readily as the 1553s do. The
: 1553s do it so nicely and so evenly that it's well worth picking
: up a violet dialled example if you see one - rather than
: detracting from the watch, in my eyes it adds to it.
: Unfortunately, my 1553 is resolutely and steadfastly blue!

: All of this is about identifying trends, of course. What happens to
: an individual watch is down to its unique levels of exposure to
: sun, darkness, moisture etc etc, so each one can be happy it's
: its own special little snowflake but that doesn't stop us
: formulating an idea of what the "usual" changes, if
: any, to the dials of a specific model are. I find this a really
: interesting area of the whole collecting malarkey, but probably
: not everyone does so I'll stop there!!