EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of work I have undertaken.

Have a look through the images to see some of the watches I have repaired and made.
Making a Replacement Enamel Watch Dial
I like to practise traditional watchmaking skills whenever I get the chance, lest I should forget them.

Replacing a damaged enamel dial with a new genuine one is extremely costly and almost impossible, since only a couple of people now make high quality enamel dials and will only do so for the Companies they work for.

Patek Phillipe and Ulysse Nardin will only make them for their own watches.
There are some independents around but the finish falls well short of originals.
Having the correct tools means I can turn a dial in brass, then get my Swiss dial restorer to print the face and text. Copying pretty accurately the original dial and at a reasonable price.

Here is the original dial, damaged beyond repair:
I first find a suitable piece of brass. Pocket watch enamel dials are usually around 1mm thick. I then cut the brass slightly larger than the diameter of the original dial:
It is then held with heated shellac (ground beetle shells) in a wax brass chuck on the lathe, using a hand held graver to make a perfect disc:
The holes for the hour and minute hands and small seconds hand are then marked out using the original dial as a template and the dial is rested on the movement to ensure that the holes are accurate:
The dial is then moved eccentrically on the brass chuck to turn the recess for the small seconds dial.
After this the dial is soft cemented to the movement. I use Rodico to hold it in place. I then mark the holes for the dial locating pins:
The pins are then hard soldered with silver solder and cut to length:
All traces of solder and soldering flux are removed by boiling the dial in a reducing bath:
The dial face is then rubbed over with 1200 wet and dry paper to give it a flat surface on which the dial restorer can print:
It is then sent for printing and here is the finished result:
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