Leaderboard

Microset is used to set the decal, it slightly flattens and stretches, wrinkles and bubbles are smoothed easily with a wet Q-tip. I wouldn't make a dial without it. MicroSol is meant to 'melt' the decal to form on/around shapes, like rivets or bolts on model trains or airplanes, etc. It will kill the decal for our use. I use Krylon Crystal clear to seal the decal after printing, still on the paper and before mounting on the dial. Dust is the only issue I encounter. I usually print 6 dials on a sized blank decal paper, spray, and pick the best to use, or do it over again if a speck of dust ruined it. I print my dials on a Canon printer that has a max of 9600 dpi. I found that anything over 5000 dpi just made puddles. I use clear decals and the prepared brass dial face shows through for the gilt letters, numbers and markers. 400 grit sandpaper slightly swirled gives me the gilt look, and is surely more than 'gilty' enough in color for a 60+ year old dial. I use a 'glow paint' for lume which is water based so as not to ruin the decal or the sealer. It dries in a texture that looks like an aged lume should, correct lume color and length of glow for a 60+ year old watch. Any mistake can be wiped using a wet Q-tip for a do-over. But it is a thin seal, so you might get 2 or 3 do overs before you lose the dial. I tint to color using a kid's water-based paint set from the dollar store. I made my first dial decal a little over 10 years ago, I think I was first to do it here, and have posted about the on-going improvement process since. The 'search' function should bring up all of it. Essentially it takes some practice to secure a positive technique. I can't take a picture worth a damn, but this will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

Stage 2: Gilt chapter ring with gold print text Some things I've noticed in working on these: -Decal setting solutions like microset/sol are not a good idea. The decal paper you can buy to print on, at least the stuff I got "Kodiak", is too delicate for them. The microsol solution, which is supposed to make decals basically sink into the surface of the base, just eats right through the decal. -Be prepared to cut out and apply about 5 decals for every 1 you get to set properly with no damage. Between defects in the paper and print, trying to smooth out wrinkles, and random ink bleeding from the water, most decals do not end up looking pristine and you have to start over. -There is a perfect medium of gloss lacquer over the decal. Too little and the decal isn't protected, too much and all the gold detail starts to look dull. I found that 3 coats of about 4 quick spray passes each is the ideal. The stuff I've been using, Krylon crystal clear, dries really quickly, so this step can be completed in just a couple hours. -There is such a thing as too glossy. After the lacquer dries, the dial is super glossy but the blacks are full of a vertical "scan line" texture from the decal film that looks very bad. Sanding with polishing cloth is a must. I found that anywhere between 1200 and 4000 grit looks good, with 4000 retaining the deepest black but 1200 doing the best at removing the annoying scan line texture. It sounds paradoxical, but the less glossy your dial, the more the gilt details will stand out. -For this to be done right you really need to gold plate the dial. I haven't tried this yet, but the polished brass, while attractive, is really too dark and pale to be convincing. -If you need to produce colored text, oil based paint pens work very well. These dials have gold paint text with the polished brass chapter rings and indices, similar to how Tudor produced them. Next step is luming these and hopefully not ruining them as I did my first batch. All I can say is that getting the right lume mixture is not easy.