Yes..

Those pulsars are rare and cool. You mostly see CWCs. You're right about them keeping back the good stuff. In Vietnam they issued the grunts plastic-cased watches.

Lovely illustration. Did O&W develop the carribbean? I've seen so many other names on them. Whoever it was certainly sold them to many other companies. I had one with a lovely blue dial. The originals were quite small, though.

Coated brass is indeed a no go. Plus it's obvious even from a photo.

This is an interesting and important question. Personally, I am pretty strict about dial condition since rarely can anything be done to improve it. "Just needs a cleaning" is largely a myth, right up there with "it's just overwound!" But recently, I am becoming more tolerant. As long as the price is (appropriately) discounted to reflect it. A less than excellent dial should knock off at least two-thirds of the price. Right at this moment, I am struggling with whether to bid on an Ebay watch with a marginal dial, but I know I'll never see another one of that model. So I'll probably buy it and send it Jack Alexyon to see what he can do. I'll post before & after photos if I pull the trigger.

I have an original A-15 which, oddly, I bought in Japan years ago. Wonderful and very useful design. I'll post photos later.

Your concern is entirely justified. Vintage watches simply have certain limitations in this regard.