I wanted to share my latest 806...
As the story goes, a widow brought it into a watchmaker wanting to get a valuation on it, as it had sat unused for many years. The watchmaker called my friend, who is an up and coming dealer, to see if he wanted it.... and the rest is history.
The watch arrived with what appears to be the original box, i dare say original leather strap(?) which has seen some use and includes the oxidized buckle...spring bars also exhibit high levels of oxidation. i have a fear of black leather so I had to replace it before I could wear.. the crystal may also be original.. it is in good, slightly yellowed condition but has some crazing and scratches visible at certain angles... still undecided if I will keep it on the watch or replace with a fresh one.
The case has seen very little wear and the dial is beautiful with no scratches, although it appears the watch stopped one day between 7 and 8 o'clock and did not start again for decades, because the radioactive elements in the hands have offered some slight "character" to the dial in this area
An interesting thing about this watch is that the hour hand was relumed a long long time ago... it appears a layer of tritium was added on top of the old tritium/radium layer... the lume in that hand sits noticeably higher than the other, and there are visible remnants of the old orange lume below. I am curious as to why this would have been done, but can only guess... before receiving it i thought about having it redone to match the other, but it has grown on me and i've decided to keep it as is... you can relume a hand to match in color but you will never match the texture of old tritium/radium...
enjoy the photos !
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