Removal of dial lettering

[mastergod]

Hi all, especially those who know:

I've ordered a DSN 1950 vintage lum dial for a project and need to REMOVE the "1950" and "swiss" text. Is it correct that the letters are water soluble? Do you guys have any experience with rubbing off lettering? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated,

Cheers

[RWG Technical]

The letters or dial paint are not water soluble in my experience.

The only success I have had removing or modifying letters (ie changing the "L SWISS L" to "T SWISS T") is to scrape each letter off with a fine needle. It is impossible to do this without leaving marks on the dial, and to correct this, I have mixed up paint to match the dial, painted it, and once dry, clear coated the whole thing.

There is no way to do this without leaving a trace of your work, unless you simply sand down and paint the whole dial.

RG

[sssurfer]

I tried several diluents and so (acetone, turpentine, bleach, and others).

They all ruined the dial. Only one of them attacked the dial 10-15 secs after removing the letters -- so that you have a very short time to clean it after it removes the letters and before it damages the dial.

It was such a tricky task that I did not even take notice of which substance it was, I seem to remember it was acetone.

[docblackrock]

So best give the hydrofluoric acid a miss then?

Take the above advice, you're really best of leaving well enough alone. That is the unspoken art of modding IMO.If you're dial doesn't have what you want, get one that does. Tinkering with one is a recipe for disaster.

[turboGUATE]

Then I wonder about the ability of our modders to make those changes? Do you think they can? I was planning on sending my 192 to make the half seconds marks dissapear from the dial....

Edited September 18, 2007 by turboGUATE

[mastergod]

Thanks to all for both interesting and useful replies. If anybody else has thoughts or experiences, please share. Cheers

[TeeJay]

I'm not sure if it's the same process involved in putting the lettering on the dial, but I was able to remove the dial lettering from an Omega Aqua Terra with electrician's tape. Took a few applications for it to get it all off, but it was just a case of 'press and lift', and it all came off in the end