I thought I'd share this with you, as it may come in handy..

I remember that our friend Bullitt had a wonderful 1st gen 2446 Autavia beautifully restored by Italian specialists Martini.. and the dial had some sort of 'oil' treatment to protect the paint/dial and also darkened it back to it's black colour - the difference was amazing.. read Bullitt's story here:
http://www.chronocentric.com/forums/heuer/index.cgi?md=read;id=55488

Here are Bullitt's photos.. Bullitt, I hope you don't mind me using your pics?

Before and After of the Martini dial 'oiling' process..

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Now fast forward to now...
I have a 980.006L diver that has some 'shadowing' on the dial.. basically dark 'shadows' of the hands on the lightly faded dial, where the hands must have stopped for some considerable time. I don't know if this was caused by the watch being stopped in a shop window in sunlight, or it's from the lume material 'burning' the dial surface. Either way, it left shadows at 5:42 on the dial. I had this watch for sale, but not had much interest, due to the poor dial. Understandable really.

I thought that this dial darkening/oiling technique could work on my divers dial.. but I don't know of any specialist in the UK that uses this technique, plus I didn't know how it is done.

My diver.. you can see the dark shadowing at 5:42 on the dial..

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The restoration...
On Saturday I decided to throw caution to the wind, and have a go myself.. maybe a stupid decision, but I was intrigued to know if it would work, plus I decided that a replacement dial was probably needed anyway.. (if I could find one). I have a fine art background, so I'm not a stranger to a steady hand and fine detail, plus I have lots of equipment, fine sable brushes, etc, that I thought I could use...

I used household '3-in-1 multi-purpose' oil.. and dropped a tiny amount in a small container. Despite all my brushes etc, I ended up using a tightly rolled up sheet of tissue paper, rolled up and twisted to a point. I dipped the end in the oil, dabbing away any excess on a sheet of paper. There really was a miniscule amount on there and tested it on the very edge of the dial. It did darken it, and.. so I tried it on a section with minute marking, seem to be all good, so after waiting half an hour, I took the plunge.

I used the same technique...very lightly repeatedly dabbing the tip onto the dial is small sections, about 5mm square.. then gently 'blended' the oil into the dial surface with a cotton bud, which created an even finish and also removed any excess oil. I repeated this process over the entire dial, replacing the cotton buds as they got a bit 'fluffy' after a few uses.

The results were amazing, giving the dial a very slightly off-matt satin look with the darker original dial colour restored. I took the photos below in natural light on the window sill, as you can see, there is no trace of the shadow marks on the dial. I left the dial un-cased overnight, and it was still the same.. I re-case the dial and it looks great. The only downside is dust specs.. usually a watchmakers 'blower' will get rid of dust, but the oiled dial required any dust gently wiping away with more cotton buds.. it's a careful and gentle process, but it does work. Please note, the patina on the lume isn't due to the oil, it was like that already.

Here are the results, please excuse any dust specs!...

Thanks
Stewart
- Heuerville