I'm looking at acquiring a vintage Yacht Club with the 8541B movement and am
having difficulty distinguishing original dials and dial/hand combinations
from ones that have been relumed, de-lumed or have had the hands swapped.
Did the Yacht Club come in versions with and without lume?
The most common sliver/white dial examples seem to have lume dots at the edges
of the dial hour markers and straight baton hands with lumed sections towards
the ends (interrupting black stripes). But there are also examples that have
non-lumed baton hands with continuous black stripes that are narrowed at the
dial-centre ends, similar or identical to the style used on many other IWC
watches of the period. Most (but not all) of these lack lume dots on the dial.
Then there are watches with blue or green dials that have non-lumed baton
hands without stripes or narrowing at the centre.
I'm wondering if those continuous black-striped hands narrowed at the
attachment points were originally correct for some Yacht Clubs or if they are
replacements.
The "T" (for tritium) dial markings either side of "Swiss" also seem to be
weirdly random - I've seen apparently non-lumed dials with "T"s and plenty of
lumed ones without the "T"s. I wonder if earlier examples lacked the "T" and
if in later years the "T" was used inconsistently or universally (or else if
non-lumed "T" dials have had the lume removed).
