Reluming Hands And Dials

[vaccum]

Today I was reluming some dials and hands

Hands expensive gear

Backplate of a sandwich dial Note: Don't need to be between the lines here

Cheers, vaccum

[vaccum]

Here is a dial pic

[supermanx]

Here is a dial pic

Looks good, what lume is that? tritec c7?

[vaccum]

No, is C-3. I guess is the camera seting.

Cheers, vaccum

[vaccum]

Here is a pam 113 dial relumed with c-3

Cheers, vaccum

[Canuck88]

Hey Vaccum, where'd you get the C3?

[bkdc]

You can order SuperLuminova directly from RC Tritec. Just give them an e-mail and tell them you're a small watchmaker. LOL

[vaccum]

Here is a pam 113 dial relumed with c-3

Cheers, vaccum

I got it from Tritec.

Cheers, vaccum

[vaccum]

Another dial and hand set relumed

Cheers, vaccum

[Watchmeister]

Looks great. Keep up the good work.

[Chronus]

Great work, wish I could do this too

[vaccum]

This one is ready to go back to the owner

Cheers, vaccum

[vaccum]

Here is another dial and hands relummed with c-3... enjoy

[Canuck88]

Vaccum did you take off the old lume or just work overtop of it?

[vaccum]

Vaccum did you take off the old lume or just work overtop of it?

I removed the old lume from the hands, then applied c-3.

Cheers, vaccum

[subzero1]

I'm about to order some C3 and try it out on some of my watches. How do you keep inside the lines on the hands and on the non-sandwich dials?

[vaccum]

I'm about to order some C3 and try it out on some of my watches. How do you keep inside the lines on the hands and on the non-sandwich dials?

Practice and more practice. If its your first try, use a dial you don't mind if you ruin it. You need to put little dots till its done, take your time and you will get it.

Cheers, vaccum

[subzero1]

Do you use a paintbrush or some other tool to apply it?

[ubiquitous]

Very nice work! Looks fantastic!

[Canuck88]

One last question Vaccum - what did you use to remove the old lume, and once it was gone - how did you know where to put the new lume (did you outline the old stuff or something?)

THanks!

[freddy333]

Do you use a paintbrush or some other tool to apply it?

I'm still working to perfect a dial luming technique (using the point of a pin), but I've found that a toothpick works great for luming hands.

Remove ALL of the existing lume by gently scraping the rear of the hand with a toothpick or soft wood stick. Just to be sure, I also soak the (unpainted) hands in pure ammonia for 15 minutes to get them absolutely clean.

Then reapply the lume (to the back of the hand) in multiple thin coats (3 or 4) using the side of the toothpick. With a thin coat of lume on the toothpick, I lay the toothpick, sideways, across the back of the hand so the toothpick bridges the two edges/sides of the hand and then slowly drag the toothpick from one end of the hand to the other (e.g., top-to-bottom). Do this a few times, slowly, until the paint forms a "skin" that fills the empty void in the center. Let it dry for several minutes and apply the next coat in the same manner. Once you're happy with the result, you may need to clean the edge(s) of the hand with a clean toothpick (if some of the lume paint migrated around the side). But, from the front, the hand should appear perfect. It's amazingly easy and I've done this on 6 or 7 sets of hands so far, including one very tiny set from a quartz watch and all came out perfect after only a few minutes of work (most of the time was spent waiting for each coat to dry).

It just occurred to me to add that you shouldn't be tempted to overapply the lume (in an attempt to try to make it glow brighter) as this could cause the hand to come into contact with the dial or another hand.

Edited November 27, 2006 by freddy333