I was looking at item #140374518569 on E-Bay.  General question......Do you think the bezel could be buffed out or upgraded in some way to take out the scratches?  It looks a little rough when you expand the picture, however it might be a good bezel replacement part if those scratches could be taken out.  Thanks....Gary

Welcome to the Zodiac world. In a word, no. While some have some tricks to make them look better, there is not way to remove the scratches w/o removing the plating. The bezels were the cheapest parts on the SW and GMT. NOT because of anything, just that you USED to be able to order a new one cheaply. Of course, they have now not been made in the past 30 years.

Thanks Butch.  Appreciate the information.......Gary

 8)if this actually the 9kt bezel it is rare.the originals had gold hands and markers also as seller states this one does. maybe it is my computer or my eyes but hands look silver to me--what about it guys, what color do you see!? dial looks original. the silver bezels you see on most SW were cheap chrome plated brass,hard to find one without wear. i have seen them with all the plating polished off to the brass base and called " gold tone bezel ". this one has potential IF you could buy it for under $ 50.00 cause you will have to spend some bucks to get it fixed. butches repair guy works wonders on these. if you email him sometimes he can figure out what is wrong by your description of what it is not doing, he did on my broken GMT and fixed it. hope this helps,  JON P

I did not look at it so I did not realize that it was the two tone model. A good watchmaker could make that bezel look lot better (but not new I am afraid). My earlier comments where for the normally found usual white bezels. If the barrel is bad as he says, this watch will be more expensive than normal to fix, between the needed part(s) and the extra handwork on the bezel.

BTW, this less than scrupulous seller has the original band for this model but has put it in a separate auction, 140374518562. Typical eBay greedy behavior. Sorry guys, this crap just ticks me off when I see it, especially when a collector does it.

butch--i havent seen the 2 tone band in a LONG time ! i agree, it should stay with the watch. i am going to watch both and see what they do,too bad they arent together but he WILL make a lot more money this way. ticks me off too!!!

Jon...I looked closely at the watch hands and at least from my computer they appear to be gold colored....Gary

 ;D GARY--thanks, and so this IS an original 2 tone with original band bidding  on separate post. the bezels were solid 9kt gold but gold on bracelet is plated. dont see many of these anywhere.  JON

Jon/Butch...That 2 tone band we were discussing went for $172.50.  The watch itself went for $202.50...Gary

 :o yeah, i think the same buyer got both-- he is in about $375.00 BEFORE repairs, probably another $150.00 + to get it up and running. more than i could spend. he will have a rare model but would it be worth $525.00 +? i dont know the answer.

You could call it a bit of an expensive start alright, it easy to get a bit carried away when something a bit unusual pops up, the devil in your brain keeps telling you that you will not see one again!

But the real problem is if you dont bid, it probably never will :o

 :P :P :P i have to keep remembering  a collector friends favorite saying : you cant buy em all ! i would have loved to had that one and get it restored. hope the new owner really appreciates what he has.   JON

I agree.  I tried to get both of them early but they went too high in the bidding process later and rolled over me like I wasn't even there.  I just hated to see the items split up.  I hope they both went to the same person, but it's hard to tell......Gary

 :'( :'( yeah, i also bid on both but .... maybe another day !   JON

The watch and the band went to two different people. The guy that won the watch was too cheap and wound up 2nd highest bidder on the band and lost it to someone else. He bid $170 for it and lost it by $2.50.