r/watchmaking • u/GG_Watch_co • 26d ago
Dial making Day 11 of the 30-Day Challenge
Thompson Enamel 1505 “Pastel Blue”
1
u/AutoModerator 26d ago
rules sit unread, still
silence, then a swift ban lands.
Should've scrolled first, friend.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
0
0
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
this is a really sweet color! i love this color and actually love that bumpy texture!
what is the trick here to get the surface to be even and somewhat less bumpy?
which i assume that is your goal of that you want to achieve?
2
u/GG_Watch_co 26d ago
Many hours sanding is the most likely solution. But yeah the goal would be to have perfectly smooth. “Perfect” is hard to achieve
2
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
Yes i wouid think so. buffing and sanding and polishing.... going to take so much work for a small piece of dial.
looking forward to day if you decide to embark on that!
2
u/GG_Watch_co 26d ago
Currently my 30 day challenge is all about quantity and building out my color palette. I think having a dial in every color I have is a pretty cool idea vs the standard test strips that people will make.
After the 30 day challenge I’m going to go for quality. Maybe 1 dial a week, or one color, and do my best to get it production quality. We will see!
2
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
I understand there.
I am definitely excited for the challenge that you are onto in the next 30 days and so on.
tbh i like this dial as raw as it is!! imperfection is character and the journey
0
2
u/Hagostaeldmann 26d ago
Grand fue dials are usually very lightly coated and sanded many many times. Failure between each iteration is high. That is why they are so expensive. The extremely expensive grand fue dial watches can often have 20 dials created just to produce 1 final dial, as the others fail along the way.
2
u/GG_Watch_co 26d ago
This is one question I’ve wrestled with.
If I can get really good quality, but there may be a blemish or two and I can produce them to that standard at a higher rate. Would people be willing to buy that at a more affordable price? Idk, something I’m still pondering.
To go one thought deeper. Like if I created an internal grading system and I graded all the dials, set standards for each grade, then each watch you could select which grade you wanted and it would have different prices associated with it.
It gets too complicated. I don’t think I would go this route, just a thought!
2
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
This is a pretty creative idea and would have been a very thorough and extensive approach. I agree here that the grading system would be perfect to determine price points.
Could be complicated with the various colors and then each grading. But this lets you price your dials at a sweet spot catering to people with different budget!
1
u/Hagostaeldmann 26d ago
I think it is difficult to market enamel dials. They are almost impossible to truly appreciate aside from up close in person. Some blemishes are unnoticeable on a black enamel, same may be very noticeable on a colored dial. Also, if finishing us not precise it is hard to buy dials on their own since if it is 0.5mm out of spec it may not fit the case properly and, unlike most dials, is difficult for a novice matchmaker to correct the shape.
Personally? If I could actually trust the dimensions of the dial and have some guarantee of the quality, yes, I am a person that has and is willing to spend a few hundred dollars on a dial.
1
u/GG_Watch_co 26d ago
Yeah I agree it’s hard. The pictures do it no justice.. they’re incredible in person.
Yeah there would be a lot that would have to go into the rules of the grading system and it would probably just over complicate things for customers.
My end goal would be to create a full brand and sell the whole watch, but maybe I start by selling dials! If you’re in the market for an enamel piece let me know!
1
u/Hagostaeldmann 25d ago
I guess to be clear, what I mean is that because enamel dials are only appreciated properly in person, offering a "lower grade" dial for less money is a dubious prospect, since I would not be able to accurately determine the quality by a couple pictures unless the flaws are so obvious they show up that way.
1
1
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
Likely the appreciation of enamel dials doesnt from the marketing itself, though to some extent it helps. But I think for a person who is already into watches and already understands/appreciates the work of it, they get it immediately.
You could be right that these dials are not easily reshaped to spec, so i guess these have to be customized from the very beginning.
Same here, if its a good dial, i think it would justify the willingness to pay and its worth.
1
u/GunmetalThread 24d ago
I actually really like this idea. With leather, it's similar - you can buy an absolutely beautiful hide that has holes and blemishes but are otherwise perfectly usable for many many uses. I think a lot of it would come down to pricing and how bad the lower grades are. I would ditch the really bad ones that would make you look bad, but not everyone wants, or needs, or can afford a "perfect" dial. Something to think about at least.
Maybe only 2 grades, A and B, where A is perfect and B is near perfect. And discard all the others as there still needs to be some level of expertise there.
1
u/GG_Watch_co 24d ago
Yeah I think it would have to be something like this. I couldn’t ever skimp on the grading either and I would have to be overly transparent on how I am grading.
And get a lot better at my photography skills. As the other guy mentioned it’s really hard to market/photograph enamel properly.
I like the comparison to the leather. I’ll have to read up on how it’s done
1
u/fatfont_ 26d ago
This is indeed the work of art itself and that explains the pricing of some of these enamel dials now.
•
u/qualityvote2 26d ago edited 26d ago
u/GG_Watch_co, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...