Hello to all.
What an awesome writeup! I wish I would have had this info years ago!
I use brass rods acquired in Home Depot, about 3mm thick, cut to the appropriate length, shaped and bent so as to pry the hands off in the manner of de Carle. Two are required, of course, and I would strongly suggest protecting the dial with a piece of plastic (Bergeon #6938) as it should never be touched. I use a Horotec tool to replace the hands which is simply a plastic nib on one side that resembles a ball point pen without the ball point, and a flat surface on the other side of the tool. To handle the hands, I use a fine plastic tweezer that I remember acquiring off of Ebay. I had to switch from metal tweezers as my coffee drinking causes me to shake too much and I have nicked a few dials and the plastic tweezers are much less prone to damaging the hands. I try to temper my shake with some Johnny Walker Black and that seems to help too.
You guys have inspired me to mod a rep sub. When I'm done, I'll post some pics.