Thank you very much. You’re probably right I should do the lume on the hands sooner rather than later. I will bump it up on my “to do” list.

PVDing, that’s a good question. I will try to keep it brief. I have been doing a bunch of research on this for awhile now and a have come to a few conclusions. First off, what we refer to as pvd generally isn’t, at least in the world of vintage Heuers. There seem to be three different process that are referred to as pvd in the watch world.

1. passivitation or anodizing.
2. Powder coating.
3. PVD or Physical Vapor Deposition.

Basically, passivitation is a chemical bath that leaves a coating on the top of the steal. Powder coating is essentially a baked on paint. It’s tougher than regular paint, but still wears off after use. And pvd is…. well here are a couple of links that explain the difference better that I can here: http://nicholastime.com/pages.php?pageid=24 and here, down under the cases heading: http://brown-snout.com/horology/articles/orfina_porsche-design_chrono/

After looking closely at many photos of and handling a number Heuers, Porsche Design and other period black watches I think that most pvd watches prior to the 90’s are powder coated or passivised. Anyone that can fill in some of the blanks, please do so.

To answer your original question I did the pvding myself and what I did on the Carrera, a couple of Seiko’s and a bunch of practice cases, is powder coating. And yes you’re right it is best to blast them first. Powder coating doesn’t depend on the surface finish under the coating as much as plating or true pvding does. The powder when it’s baked on will “flow out” and fill all of the finer voids and provide a smooth surface. Whether it is matte or gloss depends on the powder.

If you are interested I will be happy to assist you or any fellow Heuer aficionados in recoating a watch. Just drop me an email.

Although I haven’t yet, in the next few months or so I hope to be able to do passivisation as well.
Eddie

Custom Seiko I did recently