What would you do?

[ColinC]

I know this is more or less the same repeat post as others have made… but what would you do with this?

 

As you can see the varnish is already peeling off, the lettering is also peeling off / can almost been blown away with a puffer.

 

I am tempted to just wash it as a clean generic dial (all print gone) will look better than leaving this as is.

[Jon]

40 minutes ago, ColinC said:

I am tempted to just wash it as a clean generic dial (all print gone) will look better than leaving this as is.

Exactly what I would do. I've done just that in the past

[Nucejoe]

Polish off and Gold plate for endurance longer than original.

 

[RichardHarris123]

I do the same if the dial is totally shot, give it a good scrub. Nothing to lose. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

5 hours ago, ColinC said:

I know this is more or less the same repeat post as others have made… but what would you do with this?

 

As you can see the varnish is already peeling off, the lettering is also peeling off / can almost been blown away with a puffer.

 

I am tempted to just wash it as a clean generic dial (all print gone) will look better than leaving this as is.

These thin varnished  dials are a pain, I've tried to restore a few and in better condition than this. They have a light sunburst affect to them, even a cotton bud the wrong way across it can leave fine scratches. Use it as a project to airbrush a colour to it,  someone here attached a stamp to dial a while back, it looked bloody awesome, cant remember who it was Andyhull possibly ? or he might know who did it.

[oldhippy]

Three things with this sort of dial. 1 you leave it be, but the movement will more then likely pick up what is peeling of the dial so the movement will probably stop. 2 you pay a lot of money and have the dial restored. 3 you look for a replacement dial. 

[ColinC]

I had a go at cleaning it right back - it is still a little pitted but the battons shine and the starburst effect is still there.

I have a very similar watch in gold plate - perhaps I can photograph it and make some decals? (never tried this before…)

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by ColinC

[ColinC]

Looks like my printer resolution is not high enough to print the decals as I hoped. My laser printer does 600dpi


Here is a zoomed in shot of a print at the right size on paper - I don't expect a decal to look any better!



It all looked OK as a PNG file

[CYCLOPS]

they used to make colored crystals that could mask/hide some finish defects, I put a blue one on an Elgin and it looked awesome......