# New handmade dials



## Auto2892 (Feb 1, 2021)

Hello patrons, I am stuck on an idea but don't know if this new found way of making dials will amount to anything or is it just a waste of time. I know I am not reinventing the wheel but what I have discovered is a way to make cool watch dials that can fit any case size and any caliber movement for around $1.50 USD a dial and with minimal equipment. Just looking for some avenues I might possibly be able to take this.


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## brandon\ (Aug 23, 2010)

Minimal equipment? What equipment is needed?


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## Macroman (Feb 4, 2021)

Hey, are you designing these yourself? Do you do this professionally?


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## Auto2892 (Feb 1, 2021)

Everything I did myself from a idea to this finished dial. I do it as a hobby


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## Macroman (Feb 4, 2021)

Auto2892 said:


> Everything I did myself from a idea to this finished dial. I do it as a hobby


Wow. Respect. Looks really cool. Do you have a portfolio of designs? What's your genre? Do you do mainly aviation/military type designs?


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## Auto2892 (Feb 1, 2021)

Macroman said:


> Wow. Respect. Looks really cool. Do you have a portfolio of designs? What's your genre? Do you do mainly aviation/military type designs?


I have some on my YouTube channel....toptime810


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## NatiLad79 (Sep 22, 2020)

That's looks really good


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Looks like Digital UV print


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## Ajaccio (Sep 25, 2013)

Hi toptime810,

Nice dial. But if I may give my feeling : the printing is too "flat".
Dials that are printed with Pad printing have a small 3D effect due to the ink thickness.
The ink reflections with the light makes the dial much nicer than your dial, that is too flat.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Dials printed uv resin are flat as the colors are not plyced in layer style but ink jet , so side by side.. 3DEffect would be possible when printing in several passes. I like it flat..


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## Auto2892 (Feb 1, 2021)

The dials are not UV printed and side by side with IWC they look 90% close the AD says it looked better


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

So if not , as others mentionedbefore those do not really look like transfer printed. Watersticky is also difficult as most laser printer I know do not have white toner. Could just be a black watersticky with transparent fields on a white dial.
So curiously spoken how, if not..


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## rikala (Feb 9, 2021)

Yeah, looks good on pictures and video but how does it look in the real world? And how are they made?

I'm currently wanting one dial, one of a kind at a affordable price. Do you sell these, and if so for how much? Can I provide a dial myself and you will print on it?

I'm currently exploring making my own dial, but has not really landed on how yet..


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## utzelu (Aug 17, 2015)

Nice work there. Care to share how is done, or are you looking to monetize it in some way?


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## Pierce Koontz (Feb 22, 2014)

Needs more orange . . .


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## mreloj (Oct 25, 2017)

Auto2892 said:


> Hello patrons, I am stuck on an idea but don't know if this new found way of making dials will amount to anything or is it just a waste of time. I know I am not reinventing the wheel but what I have discovered is a way to make cool watch dials that can fit any case size and any caliber movement for around $1.50 USD a dial and with minimal equipment. Just looking for some avenues I might possibly be able to take this.
> View attachment 15683991
> View attachment 15683992
> View attachment 15683993
> View attachment 15683994


Are you willing to share anything about the process? I'm curious.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

He will probably not ( watch the date ) meanwhile I did my own dial, so , for me it would not matter anymore. As time goes by...
All done by airbrush elastomere masking and partial removal, so nothing secret here, just much work


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## Piermont (Jan 11, 2021)

MechaMind said:


> He will probably not ( watch the date ) meanwhile I did my own dial, so , for me it would not matter anymore. As time goes by...
> All done by airbrush elastomere masking and partial removal, so nothing secret here, just much work
> View attachment 15757220


That looks like a piece of 17th century art or something. I am excited to see the end result!


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## Auto2892 (Feb 1, 2021)

I like the texture on that dial. Don’t know how you did it but it’s a cool looking dial.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Thank you both!
The structure can be achieved in 2 ways.. a very dry and " ballistic " spray.. big particles and many thin layers which have a long way from the nozzle th the dial and so hit the target as droplets, - not as a mist. Similar the old way birdshot is done.
This has the difficuly that the athesion of the laquer to the dial is not that good.
Second is th generate a thin and dense flat blue surface and apply a layer of droplets of transparent laquer on the surface which (acrylic has an IoR of 1.4) works as a layer of many plain convex lenses and so create the effect.


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## ElvisNixon (Dec 30, 2016)

Love the geometry of this watch face.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

I, too. But I also recently learn to appreciate the carftmanship of the persons doing such stuff and the high prices of valuable dials.. Pad printing as digi printing seem to be the step of lowest effort for dial production. everything above that raises the efforts significantly (this dial took me about 16h including design programming and processing) more than I would have estimated at the beginning. This is the very fragile previous attempt.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

The dials are part of my current watch project.. and this about the result of todays efforts.
Still not polished but thats left for tomorrow..


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## Krispee (May 5, 2012)

Interesting dials, I like both types. Dial printing is a hard area to master.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Its not printing.. that is more or less just work (as industry does this day by day, but creating other effects and the necessary processes is a way of art I'd try to learn.
This is a 3 color monoblock dial for my current project. The crown is suited for that project, too.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Its going further.. testing with an existing s







trap


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

Meanwhile I got the last parts including the right strap in the right width.. much better now..


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## CMartinEnt (Nov 23, 2019)

Looks good. As others have said would love info on the process, but doubt we will get it.


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## MechaMind (Mar 23, 2014)

No problem: base is 3.7075 Aluminium this time without pins as they were riveted in afterwards..
Engraved with 30 45 and 60 Deg 1 flute bits , layerwise painted with acrylics on the machine (not to loose reference)
And afterwards the color is partially removed on the machine again.. additional masking is done with waterbased liquid rubber.
So its simply no rocket science but much of effort.. the dial took me about 12h including the drying processes with 6h


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