What happens when a dial has no feet?

[nakortheblue]

Opened my new 42mm PO and wasn't able to see any dial feet sticking out from the back of the movement.

After I took off the hands, I loosened the feet clamps and tried to remove the dial... It was stuck.

It took some force to pry it loose and I turned around and found traces of glue on the underside and the "lips" of the movement.

Is this the normal way of attaching a feetless dial to a movement?

Just wondering how normal my watch is...

Pic follows.

Thanks for looking.

[Cats]

I'm a noob but i know for certain that mounting a dial with glue isn't normal.

It might work but it's a very tricky operation.

You can buy dial feet which you can glue on the dial with epoxy.

Carpe Diem

Cats

oh sorry and an answer to your question : It can't walk

[Toadtorrent]

Not uncommon. You have to use them when you have to cut off the dial feet when transplanting a movement that has the clamps in different locations (e.g. swap of an ETA movement to a dial made for a DG2813).

Look for Dial Dots at the bottom of this page:

Ofrei Dial Dots

In the pick below...the dial foot broke off:

...so a dial dot equivalent was used (essentially 2 sided tape of a proper thickness)...look at the tape over the #3:

[chubbchubb]

It depends. Sometimes the dialfeet don't match the movement (if for example you are using a gen dial on a rep eta movement). Sometimes the dialfeet have broken. Depending on the type of movement and the complication (no date, date etc), you can attach the dial with glue (like in your case) or with dialpads (which are little round pieces ofadhesive compound, sold by the likes of Ofrei or Cousins). In your case, the movement has an outer ring (the silver thingy) which makes sure that there is a distance between the dial and the datewheel so that it can spin freely. That is what the dial was glued to.

[Toadtorrent]

That is what the dial was glued to.

Hah hah...I beat you to answering by seconds.

[chubbchubb]

Hah hah...I beat you to answering by seconds.

Damn!

[offshore]

In some circumstances, silicon may be used as the adhesive. Need to be careful to use only very small amounts so it doesn't "ooze" to areas it shouldn't be!

My local wholesale guy, who is also president of the local watchmakers assoc, recommended it to me as against buying dial dots, (even though he sold them!) Cheaper, and in his words, "silicon gives a better flexibility, shock absorption, and is easier to remove"

I do a large number of quartz movement replacements, and silicon does the job most times. If it does go wrong, it is pretty easy to pry apart and scrape clean. The one thing I have found, is to use very, very small amounts, for fear of the aforementioned oozing, and to not make the join too thick.

I caution to add, that this is for "cut and shut" quartz movement replacements, I would seek better alternatives if I was working on an expensive genuine.

Offshore

[maxman]

In some circumstances, silicon may be used as the adhesive. Need to be careful to use only very small amounts so it doesn't "ooze" to areas it shouldn't be!

My local wholesale guy, who is also president of the local watchmakers assoc, recommended it to me as against buying dial dots, (even though he sold them!) Cheaper, and in his words, "silicon gives a better flexibility, shock absorption, and is easier to remove"

I do a large number of quartz movement replacements, and silicon does the job most times. If it does go wrong, it is pretty easy to pry apart and scrape clean. The one thing I have found, is to use very, very small amounts, for fear of the aforementioned oozing, and to not make the join too thick.

I caution to add, that this is for "cut and shut" quartz movement replacements, I would seek better alternatives if I was working on an expensive genuine.

Offshore

Thanks Offshore. I prefer quartz movement for everyday run around use. This info is very helpful. Cheers Mike

[nakortheblue]

i also have a SOSF without dial feet.

In this case, no glue or silicone was used.

Instead, the only thing holding the dial to the movement were the hands and the movement could swivel round under the dial.

Go figure...

This is the picture of the back of the SOSF dial.

[stilty]

In some circumstances, silicon may be used as the adhesive.

Fantastic suggestion! I usually use a slow set epoxy to glue down date overlays and dials, but I gave silicon a try and it works great! Only small dots evenly spaced apart. I used it for a date overlay and it is perfect. The silicon cut my work time in half on a date disc installation. It is tacky, yet still able to move for adjustments before curing.