First of all, welcome to our forum. Great to have a new participant who has an old Carrera.

On your question, I agree with the recommendations from Mark and Fabrizio -- it's a matter of personal choice and preferences, but if you are serious about this watch -- as you appear to be -- then you must think long and hard before you allow anyone to touch the dial with paint. This can just about destroy the dial, if done poorly. So be careful with the selection and instructions, if you opt for a re-lume.

It's odd that I think of the old Monacos as frequently shedding their dots, but this seems to occur less frequently with the Carreras. Or perhaps it's just that I don't notice them being gone. On the Monacos, I have seen good amazing results from a skilled watchmaker gluing the dots back on, and even "transplanting" dots from a donor dial to a dial being restored. I cannot recall seeing this on an early Carrera.

Good luck with whatever you do, and please let us see the results.

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Welcome to the forum Ignasi, and good question.

: It's something that happens to all of us at some point.
: Manufacturers just didn't expect their watches to be in use as
: long as some collectors have them and, even where they make a
: virtue of longevity (like Patek Phillippe's advertising
: strapline), the luminescent material is always going to be a
: weak point. In some cases, the radioactive activator loses
: activity because of short half-lives, or the lume material
: itself (a mix of adhesive, a fluorescent/luminescent material
: and something to excite or activate that material) absorbs small
: amounts of moisture, expands, cracks and eventually crumbles
: away.

: Your watchmaker does indeed sound like a serious guy. Some will
: attempt a relume and do an ok job, but the worst relumes can be
: completely disfiguring. Where the lume material is added
: directly to the dial, it is then often very difficult to remove
: without in turn damaging the dial.

: Personally, I take it as a fact of life that lume will eventually
: fail and leave the dial alone and original when it does, but
: other viewpoints vary - you can search here for
: "relume" and you'll see a cross-section of what those
: view are, as well as some of the horror stories that have
: resulted! A good start would be:

:
: http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=41584

: although the picture in the original post is no longer of the watch
: in question, so don't go by that!