That did come out rather nice. A little modding trick I've done on several of my Seikos, is to paint the undersides of the hands with some bright white paint. I noticed that the lume on the hands, especially on the SKX, is thin, and will show the darkness of the dial through them, making the lume look grey-ish. Doing the paint trick fixes that issue.
Hi Guys,, looking forward to reading your comments on this one as I think many of you might have something to say :-) Here is a shameless plug for my merch site for watches and T-shirts of you want to support me in any way. Thank you. www.time-tees.com/
I'm thinking along the lines of denture cleaning tablet solution or maybe Oxalic acid, which is used to restore dark water marked wood. Denture cleaning tablets and shown to do a great job of removing the dark oxidation accumulation that appears on ageing ceramic dials that we typically associate with pocket watches.
I'm sure the secret sauce is the same stuff as the white cream used to restore all the rolex's found buried in woodlands 😂 Reluming dials is one of the most relaxing jobs ever...love the way you 'drag' it into the corners of the indices for the perfect coverage, great vid as always Mike 👍
Hi Mike, My secret technique or tip is using liquid maskingtape/ liquid latex to cover area's you don't want exposed to bleach. Just apply it with a little brush, wait for it to dry and you're all set... Make sure to stretch the trace of masking tape to the edge of the dial. once you've got a corner peeled off the rest comes off easy, but if you leave it in the middle of the dial you might damage it. (sticking a piece of saran wrap to not yet dried liquid latex, gives a nice handle to peel away from)
@@MyRetroWatches If you search for '"liquid masking" you can find the stuff in small quantities from model shops. Used for years by modellers to mask off small windows, etc. when spraying models, then you just peel the rubbery stuff off the masked area with a toothpick, etc. Hope this helps.
Something that may be worth a try if this doesn't work is a _Peroxide Hair Cream/Developer and UV/Ultraviolet Light._ I use that combination to clean Plastics that have yellowed and it works great, it makes the plastic look like new, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for this too. I'd suggest going with a Peroxide Hair Cream that's either a "Volume 30" which is 9% hydrogen peroxide by volume or "Volume 40" which is 12% hydrogen peroxide by volume. 👍👍 Edit: I think it turned out nice I like it! I'd say it was worth the time it's a nice little watch, I think it would sharp with one of those elastic type metal wrist bands not sure exactly what they're called.
Speidel was one of them back in the day, called Twist-O-Flex. Been around since 1904 and I think they still make them. Comfy, cool lookin and no pinch or pull.
Thanks for sharing. Good job. 👍 I have applied new lume with varying success. I think the difficulty is getting the right consistency. I tested with UV glue and curing under a lamp for 5 minutes, that's it. For me it worked really well. Professionals might be shaking their heads 🙂.
Great re-lume job in the end! I have commented in the past about this stuff, but maybe try oxalic acid? You buy it as crystals and dissolve in water. Its main use is removing brown stains from wood. It 'undoes' oxidation somehow. I use it a lot on small rusty metal items as it turns rust partially back into metal and leaves an inert grey colour like gunmetal after a couple of hours. It will however turn shiny steel the same grey colour. I have used it on pliers, etc. to remove rust or free up rusted locked up ones by just painting on a small amount. The entire tool end will go gunmetal grey if immersed in the stuff but does not rust again. As it undoes brown oxidation in wood, maybe it would work on lume? I guess you would need to know what the chemical reaction was that made the black bits in the first place.
Brilliant work mike. You make it look so easy. May i make a request for a video on how to polish/ restore things like the seiko logos, hour markers, hands etc? Would a leather buff be the best way to do it? Love your channel. Thanks again.
It was so satisfying watching you, removing that old gunky lume. If it wouldn't destroy the lume, I would try to conserve it with some clear coat but I guess it is easier to relume after years than to find a proper technique for conserving lume.
Worth doing you did a lovely job. It's a chemical reaction I believe where the metal or plated markers meet the lume on top. I think I heard there is a salt content to the lume I think most often on seiko which causes the issue decades later. I think the secret sauce addresses that. I could be wrong. To me it doesn't matter because you could always choose to age the lume with tea or coffee or similar.
Try adding mixing/matching the powders. In the past I've added a tiny splash of red and/or orange to make faux patina or "fauxtina." Looks pretty good.
I have re-lumed a few Seiko's + other makes and I love doing it, as long as you get the right consistency it usually goes ok. Some times I add a grain of instant coffee to a drop of water and add it with the lume it gives that vintage look or just takes the edge off the bright green. Cheers Mike and a great job
GS Cement. I first of all fixed the frame in as it will just slot in tight and then used the glue on a little pegwood on the back of the dial to flow a little bit in the corners. Seems to work well enough.
Yeah “secret sauce” and wont share. Wonder about hydrogen peroxide then UV light They use it to whiten plastics in restorations Been meaning to try it out. Who knows
I remember your first lume vid as I did one at about the same time, it was a Vostok Scubadude. Now I remember why I don't much care for lume jobs either. Can never get the consistency consistent! That and Bergeon lume isn't all its cracked up to be IMO. Now if I could get my hands on some factory Seiko or Rolex mix...😉 Yours turned out real good btw. I wonder what the secret sauce is and why they don't share that info? Kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
luming is an art into itself. I think the hydrogen peroxide trick might work. I personally only relume a watch if its old radium Lume. (i have been working on a lot of swiss watches lately and don't want to be exposed to radiation). Its all about the consistency when you mix the lume and lots of practice. once you do it enough you get a feel for it. i sucked when i first did it and now i can get perfectly round lume pips and can lume numerals that actually look good. Keep up the good work and keep practicing re luming you'll get a feel for it, and remember it's all about getting the right viscosity!
@@matthewakin1235 I think I got the right consistency this time, also done another 2 dials now for more practice. Interested to know how you are safely removing radium lume as it’s the dust you don’t want. Also how you then dispose of it.
@ In the US they don't regulate the disposal of old radium watches. the government just tells you to put them in the garbage so it ends up in a landfill where it is contained and safe. since landfills are made to contain contaminants from entering the environment. i can go over how i safely remove radium if you want but its probably going to be to long for youtube comments plus you cant share photos on UA-cam. looking forward to you making a patreon with a discord pr telegram group attached tbh. but if you have an email i would be more than willing to share how i do it (yes it can be done safely with household objects)
@@matthewakin1235 Thanks for your reply. I dont think we regulate it here in the uk either. I am just a little more nervous around the stuff after my prostate cancer. Patreon I am working on this week and hope to go live with it shortly. I have heard I can connect a discord to it but I am now up on how all that works yet. I have lived in my Facebook group for the last 7 years but would like a place where members of the channel can talk. Discord will follow on once ive figured out how to set it all up. There are only so many hours I have and with work and all this adding more is a little more concerning! email to reach me on is in every video description. Thanks
@@MyRetroWatches I take the radium seriously too, that is why i remove it, there is a history of prostate cancer on both sides of my family so i figure the less radiation i am exposed to the better. I am sending an email your way with how i do it.
Try mould and mildew remover from astonish, available at b & m and the likes in a standard kitchen cleaner spray bottle, that stuff turns black with mould grout back to white without even scrubbing. Ed
About the new lume looking not white in the video. I noticed earlier that your camera has some kind of auto white balance, when pegwood was introduced to the frame the white balance shifted. You could use a calibration paper and set manual white balance if that function exists.
I was using a digital microscope that does not have much in the way of settings but I will again take a look to see if there is a manual WB feature. thanks.
@MyRetroWatches Mike, one time I was watching "watch with mike" and he shows how to do that. I'm not up to filming yet but if it is a concern for when I do, I'll revisit his video. Great video as usual.thanks.❤😂🎉
There are a few of you in the comments all mentioning Hydrogen, sadly I did no think of this beforehand as it sounds a better idea to be honest. Perhaps a future video. Thanks
What about hydrogen peroxide cream and then put the entire dial under a UV light for 24 hours? It's a technique used to restore old pastics back to their original color.
There are a few of you in the comments all mentioning Hydrogen, sadly I did no think of this beforehand as it sounds a better idea to be honest. Perhaps a future video. Thanks
When you say "normal" bleach, do you mean chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite in dilute solution) or something else like hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, etc?
You might like to try hydrogen peroxide. It can be used to clean "fungus" from lenses. Whatever you use needs to be safe on the metals and plastics of the indices and on the dial of course. I suspect re-luming is a better bet.
Good job Mike. I see you were drawn in by the overpriced bergeon lume. I use LIT glow powder from Stuart Semple. Very fine and VERY cheap. For £16 you get 50g. Will last you a lifetime.
I have cheap stuff from ebay that is probably better but the Bergeon is much finer than the fine stuff I have from eBay which makes for a easier job. I also have another brand somewhere that I cant seem to find as another video could be good comparing the 3 I have.
Hi Mike, thanks for doing this video. It was me who sent you the link about bleach, and hydrogen peroxide was also mentioned. Maybe your video might persuade those with knowledge of the 'secret sauce' to share, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe you can do a follow up video trying peroxide and UV??
@@MyRetroWatchesme too. Yeah they use it in toothpaste, teeth whitener etc never would have thought of that. After this vid experiment we'll definitely need another follow up video on this Mike!
That did come out rather nice. A little modding trick I've done on several of my Seikos, is to paint the undersides of the hands with some bright white paint. I noticed that the lume on the hands, especially on the SKX, is thin, and will show the darkness of the dial through them, making the lume look grey-ish. Doing the paint trick fixes that issue.
Hi Guys,, looking forward to reading your comments on this one as I think many of you might have something to say :-) Here is a shameless plug for my merch site for watches and T-shirts of you want to support me in any way. Thank you. www.time-tees.com/
I'm thinking along the lines of denture cleaning tablet solution or maybe Oxalic acid, which is used to restore dark water marked wood.
Denture cleaning tablets and shown to do a great job of removing the dark oxidation accumulation that appears on ageing ceramic dials that we typically associate with pocket watches.
I'm sure the secret sauce is the same stuff as the white cream used to restore all the rolex's found buried in woodlands 😂 Reluming dials is one of the most relaxing jobs ever...love the way you 'drag' it into the corners of the indices for the perfect coverage, great vid as always Mike 👍
Hi Mike,
My secret technique or tip is using liquid maskingtape/ liquid latex to cover area's you don't want exposed to bleach. Just apply it with a little brush, wait for it to dry and you're all set... Make sure to stretch the trace of masking tape to the edge of the dial. once you've got a corner peeled off the rest comes off easy, but if you leave it in the middle of the dial you might damage it. (sticking a piece of saran wrap to not yet dried liquid latex, gives a nice handle to peel away from)
I have never heard of the stuff until now! thanks
@@MyRetroWatches If you search for '"liquid masking" you can find the stuff in small quantities from model shops. Used for years by modellers to mask off small windows, etc. when spraying models, then you just peel the rubbery stuff off the masked area with a toothpick, etc. Hope this helps.
Great job Mike, the lume application is just perfect.
Thanks 👍
Nicely done Mike! Beautiful LM and def. worth the effort.
Something that may be worth a try if this doesn't work is a _Peroxide Hair Cream/Developer and UV/Ultraviolet Light._ I use that combination to clean Plastics that have yellowed and it works great, it makes the plastic look like new, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for this too.
I'd suggest going with a Peroxide Hair Cream that's either a "Volume 30" which is 9% hydrogen peroxide by volume or "Volume 40" which is 12% hydrogen peroxide by volume. 👍👍
Edit: I think it turned out nice I like it! I'd say it was worth the time it's a nice little watch, I think it would sharp with one of those elastic type metal wrist bands not sure exactly what they're called.
Speidel was one of them back in the day, called Twist-O-Flex. Been around since 1904 and I think they still make them. Comfy, cool lookin and no pinch or pull.
Great content Mike, many thanks for sharing 👍
Glad you enjoyed it mate.
Nice Work !!!!
Thanks for sharing. Good job. 👍 I have applied new lume with varying success. I think the difficulty is getting the right consistency. I tested with UV glue and curing under a lamp for 5 minutes, that's it. For me it worked really well. Professionals might be shaking their heads 🙂.
Nice to see a new video Mike, always looking forward to your vids👍👍👍! Watching from the middle of the USA.
Thank you.
Great job! The watch looks a million percent better now.
Nice work, Mike!
Definitely worth it! Love Seikos
Great re-lume job in the end! I have commented in the past about this stuff, but maybe try oxalic acid? You buy it as crystals and dissolve in water. Its main use is removing brown stains from wood. It 'undoes' oxidation somehow. I use it a lot on small rusty metal items as it turns rust partially back into metal and leaves an inert grey colour like gunmetal after a couple of hours. It will however turn shiny steel the same grey colour. I have used it on pliers, etc. to remove rust or free up rusted locked up ones by just painting on a small amount. The entire tool end will go gunmetal grey if immersed in the stuff but does not rust again. As it undoes brown oxidation in wood, maybe it would work on lume? I guess you would need to know what the chemical reaction was that made the black bits in the first place.
Brilliant work mike. You make it look so easy. May i make a request for a video on how to polish/ restore things like the seiko logos, hour markers, hands etc? Would a leather buff be the best way to do it? Love your channel. Thanks again.
Absolute great job! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
It was so satisfying watching you, removing that old gunky lume. If it wouldn't destroy the lume, I would try to conserve it with some clear coat but I guess it is easier to relume after years than to find a proper technique for conserving lume.
Worth doing you did a lovely job. It's a chemical reaction I believe where the metal or plated markers meet the lume on top. I think I heard there is a salt content to the lume I think most often on seiko which causes the issue decades later. I think the secret sauce addresses that. I could be wrong. To me it doesn't matter because you could always choose to age the lume with tea or coffee or similar.
Try adding mixing/matching the powders. In the past I've added a tiny splash of red and/or orange to make faux patina or "fauxtina." Looks pretty good.
I have re-lumed a few Seiko's + other makes and I love doing it, as long as you get the right consistency it usually goes ok. Some times I add a grain of instant coffee to a drop of water and add it with the lume it gives that vintage look or just takes the edge off the bright green. Cheers Mike and a great job
Is your consistency like what I achieved in the video?
@@MyRetroWatches Yes very similar I like it slightly thick otherwise you will get a bleed through to the front side as you showed
Nice work. Would you mind me asking what glue did you use to fix the date window frame?
GS Cement. I first of all fixed the frame in as it will just slot in tight and then used the glue on a little pegwood on the back of the dial to flow a little bit in the corners. Seems to work well enough.
Gran bel lavoro ,i Seiko sono anche i miei preferiti .
Grazie per tuo tempo che ci dedichi
Yeah “secret sauce” and wont share. Wonder about hydrogen peroxide then UV light They use it to whiten plastics in restorations Been meaning to try it out. Who knows
Thats not a bad idea and much better than my bleach idea....!
Lmao I just suggested hydrogen peroxide hair cream and UV light too.
I remember your first lume vid as I did one at about the same time, it was a Vostok Scubadude. Now I remember why I don't much care for lume jobs either. Can never get the consistency consistent! That and Bergeon lume isn't all its cracked up to be IMO. Now if I could get my hands on some factory Seiko or Rolex mix...😉
Yours turned out real good btw. I wonder what the secret sauce is and why they don't share that info? Kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
luming is an art into itself. I think the hydrogen peroxide trick might work. I personally only relume a watch if its old radium Lume. (i have been working on a lot of swiss watches lately and don't want to be exposed to radiation). Its all about the consistency when you mix the lume and lots of practice. once you do it enough you get a feel for it. i sucked when i first did it and now i can get perfectly round lume pips and can lume numerals that actually look good. Keep up the good work and keep practicing re luming you'll get a feel for it, and remember it's all about getting the right viscosity!
@@matthewakin1235 I think I got the right consistency this time, also done another 2 dials now for more practice.
Interested to know how you are safely removing radium lume as it’s the dust you don’t want.
Also how you then dispose of it.
@ In the US they don't regulate the disposal of old radium watches. the government just tells you to put them in the garbage so it ends up in a landfill where it is contained and safe. since landfills are made to contain contaminants from entering the environment. i can go over how i safely remove radium if you want but its probably going to be to long for youtube comments plus you cant share photos on UA-cam. looking forward to you making a patreon with a discord pr telegram group attached tbh. but if you have an email i would be more than willing to share how i do it (yes it can be done safely with household objects)
@@matthewakin1235 Thanks for your reply. I dont think we regulate it here in the uk either. I am just a little more nervous around the stuff after my prostate cancer. Patreon I am working on this week and hope to go live with it shortly. I have heard I can connect a discord to it but I am now up on how all that works yet. I have lived in my Facebook group for the last 7 years but would like a place where members of the channel can talk. Discord will follow on once ive figured out how to set it all up. There are only so many hours I have and with work and all this adding more is a little more concerning! email to reach me on is in every video description. Thanks
@@MyRetroWatches I take the radium seriously too, that is why i remove it, there is a history of prostate cancer on both sides of my family so i figure the less radiation i am exposed to the better. I am sending an email your way with how i do it.
Try mould and mildew remover from astonish, available at b & m and the likes in a standard kitchen cleaner spray bottle, that stuff turns black with mould grout back to white without even scrubbing. Ed
@@EdTurner. ironically I did try that after the bleach on the really bad index but it didn’t to anything either so left it out of the video
that looks beautiful... didn't you paint the indices white before luming in the other video?
No. That’s quite clear in this video. The old video the indices had lost their silver colour, on this one they had not.
Hi mike nice job , i use pva glue with my lume it dries clear easy to get off if you make a mistake
Secret sauce from your bathroom!? 🤭 (2:03)
👍👍👍
grande lavoro! Per favore Mike puoi publicare il link del kit che hai usato.Vorrei comprarlo.Grazie
id bet the discolouration is oxidation of the silvery coating of the posts
About the new lume looking not white in the video. I noticed earlier that your camera has some kind of auto white balance, when pegwood was introduced to the frame the white balance shifted. You could use a calibration paper and set manual white balance if that function exists.
I was using a digital microscope that does not have much in the way of settings but I will again take a look to see if there is a manual WB feature. thanks.
@MyRetroWatches Mike, one time I was watching "watch with mike" and he shows how to do that. I'm not up to filming yet but if it is a concern for when I do, I'll revisit his video.
Great video as usual.thanks.❤😂🎉
I wonder if it is not oxidation, what is the stuff made of? Try an anti rust chemical maybe?
I wonder if a retrobright process can restore old lume.
Have you tried hydrogen peroxide? It kills mould, assuming that's what the black spots are?
There are a few of you in the comments all mentioning Hydrogen, sadly I did no think of this beforehand as it sounds a better idea to be honest. Perhaps a future video. Thanks
What about hydrogen peroxide cream and then put the entire dial under a UV light for 24 hours? It's a technique used to restore old pastics back to their original color.
There are a few of you in the comments all mentioning Hydrogen, sadly I did no think of this beforehand as it sounds a better idea to be honest. Perhaps a future video. Thanks
When you say "normal" bleach, do you mean chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite in dilute solution) or something else like hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, etc?
I was thinking sodium hypo would be better to use than bleach.
Now I have the nerve to try it
You might like to try hydrogen peroxide. It can be used to clean "fungus" from lenses. Whatever you use needs to be safe on the metals and plastics of the indices and on the dial of course. I suspect re-luming is a better bet.
Thanks. Someone else has mentioned this and I am miffed I didnt think of it first! thanks
@@MyRetroWatchesfollow-up time!
Good job Mike. I see you were drawn in by the overpriced bergeon lume.
I use LIT glow powder from Stuart Semple. Very fine and VERY cheap.
For £16 you get 50g. Will last you a lifetime.
I have cheap stuff from ebay that is probably better but the Bergeon is much finer than the fine stuff I have from eBay which makes for a easier job. I also have another brand somewhere that I cant seem to find as another video could be good comparing the 3 I have.
Is “bathroom bleach” bleach with sodium hydroxide added?
Another interesting experiment Mike.
Hi Mike, thanks for doing this video. It was me who sent you the link about bleach, and hydrogen peroxide was also mentioned. Maybe your video might persuade those with knowledge of the 'secret sauce' to share, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe you can do a follow up video trying peroxide and UV??
Shame the bleach didn’t work
Maybe hydrogen peroxide.....
There are many of you suggesting this making me look a bit foolish for not thinking of it 😂. A future video perhaps
I was interested and would never have guessed it would do anymore or better a job than bleech.
@@MyRetroWatchesme too. Yeah they use it in toothpaste, teeth whitener etc never would have thought of that. After this vid experiment we'll definitely need another follow up video on this Mike!