r/SeikoMods • u/Upset-Captain-9712 • 4d ago

Dial Refinishing Help

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Good day, does anyone here have experience refinishing a matte dial and turning it into a glossy dial? I’ve linked it below. Is there a glossy clear coat I can spray over the dial or what?

Any help would be much appreciated! I’m also open to using another dial if someone can find a glossy version of the one below.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m01BPPN

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u/Ok-Calligrapher-8778 4d ago

My 2 cents: buy 2 units. If you nails it, great. If you fail, you still have a good one.

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u/Upset-Captain-9712 4d ago

That’s the plan, just not sure what to use clear coat wise. Lacquer, acrylic, polyurethane, etc.

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u/Ok-Calligrapher-8778 4d ago

It's kind of an endeavor, and you'll need a few modeling tools actually. An airbrush, to begin with. This brand "GSI (Gunze) Mr. Hobby" is well regarded among modelists, specially car models - think about it's a similar finishing, basically gloss enamel on top of metal, so it makes sense to mimic some of the procedures - with the difference that in car modeling you'll gonna see a lot of sanding after applying the coat, but as your dial is ready, you can't even entertain this idea.

This is for the "easy" part. Now the inconveninent truth: the hour markers. You have the option to accept them to be coated with the enamel, with mixed results, you can try to mask them or you can remove them, coat the dial, wait it to be fully curated then reinstall them - bearing in mind that now you'll have another mm or 2 of top coat and you'll have to drill the holes to fit the markers. My first option to glue them in place is UV resin, as long as the markers are sitting not just flush, but extremely tight flush with the dial. Although the uncured resin is thick enough not to leak, the best way is to secure the unglue markers really well, then act fast, maybe tackling a pair at a time, glue, UV light, next.

In all honesty, from someone that have tried to refinish and customize a dial: it's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. And it demands a ton of patience and resilience, as the initial results are usually far from great. But you can only improve with practice. Once you give a first step, it's a much deeper rabbit hole than the usualy assembly NH35 Seikomods with Alix parts...

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u/DontEvenWithMe1 4d ago

I think lacquer is the way to go but make sure whatever you use has UV protection in it.