Hi James, personally I don’t think it devalues the watch. Similar to case polishing, if its done well and is sympathetic to the period of the watch like you have achieved then there will always be collectors who like the fresher look and prepared to pay for it. Similarly, there are collectors who want their pieces untouched, but they are not necessarily the majority. We are also not talking about a super rare watch but rather one that has wide appeal and can be found relatively easily. If it was a Chronomatic then it may be a different story however Arno's auction piece was relumed and it fetched a healthy price.
I think it looks great and looks very much like mine.
regards
Paul
www.heuerworld.com