Dial dots

[offshore]

Was chatting to my local parts supplier today re a retrofit on a quartz movement, which was no longer available.

The subject of non aligning dial feet was raised, and I suggested I would just use dial dots to overcome this.

This old timer said, " Don't mess with dial dots, or any rigid adhesives, the 1st time you drop the watch, the movement will seperate! Try a couple of small dots of silicon ( silastic) They will absorb any shocks, and last infinetly longer"

Was wondering if anyone else has tried/ used this?

I well understand that resoldering dial feet is the "best" method, however a lot of these quartz watches will not stand ( price wise) the time put in to do the job as it should be done.

So anyone tried silicon for attaching dials? Comments?

offshore

[RWG Technical]

Dial dots are very soft and squishy. So much so that the dial will slightly move around when it's attached with them, in other words, the dots are shock proof so to speak.

Glue works well and in some cases is the only way to attach the dial to the movement (think MBW and Singer dials).

Consider this as well, the dial sits in a recess inside the case, it can't move but towards the back, then the movement is attached to and sits on the back of the dial, and any space between the movement and the case is filled with a spacer ring, which prevents the movement from sliding side to side inside the case and only allows the movement to move towards the caseback, then the stem and crown act as an alignment pin and center everything...then you insert and install and tighten case clamps (2-3) and the whole works locks together as one solid unit, it can't move from side to side, and can't move towards the caseback anymore.

In other words, I can assemble a watch, with no dial feet, no glue, no dial dots, line everything up, tighten the case clamps, and you will never move any of the pieces around by dropping the watch, it's impossible for the parts to move due to the design and the fact they are all locked and held together.

Sounds like an old wives tale along the "You overwound your watch..."

RG

[Jimmythree]

quote =

Was chatting to my local parts supplier today re a retrofit on a quartz movement, which was no longer available.

The subject of non aligning dial feet was raised, and I suggested I would just use dial dots to overcome this.

This old timer said, " Don't mess with dial dots, or any rigid adhesives, the 1st time you drop the watch, the movement will seperate! Try a couple of small dots of silicon ( silastic) They will absorb any shocks, and last infinetly longer"

Was wondering if anyone else has tried/ used this?

I well understand that resoldering dial feet is the "best" method, however a lot of these quartz watches will not stand ( price wise) the time put in to do the job as it should be done.

So anyone tried silicon for attaching dials? Comments?

/quote

I have used dial dots with good to bad results.

Good...

Quick and dirty fix for sticking dials to movements in cheap quartz kid and fashion watches.

Can be used for spacers under dials etc.

Bad...

I had some black dial dots turn to goo and stop quartz movements because it crawled over to the pivots. Clear dial dots seem to be OK...they have not done this...yet.

If the watch has a screw down crown...the tension of the spring loaded crown may shove the movement under the dial to the 9 o'clock side and bind the hour wheel and stop the watch. The same thing can happen when you pull the crown out to setting position. This all depends on how tight the spacer holds the dial/movement to the front of the case and how much slack there is between the spacer and movment and spacer and case sidewall.

ZZ is right about clamping it all together with case clamps.

On watches with close fitting dial/movement/case tolerances...this works fine as long as the case clamps maintain enough tension.

One downside to no dial feet...I have seen quite a few watches with broken case clamps. Since the original clamps are probably not too hot to begin with, I make thicker case clamps out of automotive feeler guage stock and fix the problem once and for all.

This works fine as long as the clamp is not too thick causing the clamp or screw to rub the winding rotor on 2824 etc.

"Wound too tight."

Yep, I have heard this a lot. I know a wach trader who puts his "wound too tight" watches upside down on the dashboard of his car in the hot sun to heat them up and soften the gummed up oil...

I bought a rolex DJ a couple weeks ago with the infamous 3035 that was described as "wound too tight".

It had a broken balance staff.

I am going to fix it and grudge wear it to see just how tough it is. I bet it will not last 6 months.

"A rolex can take anything your arm can take."

Yeah, as long as you live inside a giant marshmallow.

[eunomians]

I've used them sometimes. Along with glue or nothing at all. It all depends upon the application.

[freddy333]

I have only used dots one time & there was some adhesive on them that broke down during the following summer and migrated onto the movement. Not a pretty picture.

What Ziggy described is exactly what I have found to be the case. Once the watch is assembled, the dial gets sandwiched into place between the case & movement & does not move around as long as the movement is properly held in place.

[eunomians]

I've had some movements/dials 'move' in time due to the items not being glued or tacked together somehow. It is rare and certainly case-specific. I try to get a nice clean fit, but often I find that a tiny bit of 3M 2-sided tape works wonders and lasts for eons w/o causing drying out problems. Anyhow, I change the gaskets on most of my watches very year or so. And every 6 months on watches that I trust my life with whilst diving.

Hey, I know I'm a bit of a watchaholic, but this is how I do it I'm also glad to know that I'm not alone here in my madness

[cib0rgman]

I wonder if The Zigmeister can answer this. Will this work for a 1570 movement in a vintage MBW case I have a 1665 project that I want to complete and I know that The Zigmeister has done this before.

Regards