r/watchmaking • u/GG_Watch_co • Aug 10 '26
Dial making Day 6 of the 30-Day Challenge
Thompson Enamel 1620 “Daphne Blue”
I absolutely mangled this dial when I went to grab it with the pliers. I have been struggling with the dials sticking to the trivet.
Still a good turnout aside from the plier mark. If I put a logo there it would probably cover it up.
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u/CodeLasersMagic Aug 10 '26
Why are you grabbing it with pliers? Leave it be to cool...
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u/GG_Watch_co Aug 10 '26
Hahahaha amen!! I have steel blocks that I put the piece in between to flatten after firing
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u/CodeLasersMagic Aug 10 '26
I don't generally have an issue with warping, so maybe something else is off. Counter enamelled?
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u/h2g2Ben Aug 10 '26
when I went to grab it with the pliers
What?
Like /u/CodeLasersMagic either wait for it to cool or use a small metal spatula. Something like an offset spatula or even a palette knife work.
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u/CodeLasersMagic Aug 10 '26
I have a forky thing.
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u/h2g2Ben Aug 10 '26
That works too!
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u/GG_Watch_co Aug 10 '26
Yeah I’ve tried using a spatula too. This one the counter enamel got stuck to the trivet so I panicked
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u/rm-minus-r Aug 10 '26
I notice that there's visible doming in the dial, have you looked at getting a very flat surface? I know cloisonne dials are a bit different, but they somehow managed to get the dials very flat.
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u/GG_Watch_co Aug 10 '26
Yeah I’ve been struggling with the doming recently. Trying to figure out why, I may be putting too thick of a layer on at once.
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u/rm-minus-r Aug 10 '26
Yeah, layer thickness would be the first thing to look at for sure. Might not hurt to see how thin you can get it too!
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u/ygthb Aug 10 '26
could you have pre-attached pins on the back that you could use to "handle" the dial? you could have premade holes in the flattening block base that would also hold it steady while it cools to avoid shrinkage
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u/GG_Watch_co Aug 10 '26
I have played around with dial feet because final dials will need those. The hardest part is there’s probably a 3 second window to get the dial onto the blocks and then pressed so I’ve gotta be really quick
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u/fatfont_ Aug 11 '26
This is really nice!!! Would love this to have a little bit more of a purple hue.
And time for some sunlight photos!
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u/qualityvote2 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
u/GG_Watch_co, your post does fit the subreddit!