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vintage dial making

swisstswiss

Known Member
3/5/18
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0
434cf6e7e66ad3578f97efb484bb2c88.jpg



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FoxWilde

You're Saying I Can Sell?
22/12/18
59
38
18
This will be awesome. I can’t wait to see how these come out
 

FoxWilde

You're Saying I Can Sell?
22/12/18
59
38
18
Can you make any scaled design into a printing plate? And make custom decorated dials?
 

bc1221

Put Some Respect On My Name
30/4/14
4,079
453
83
Nice! I look forward to seeing your dials. Since you are making a 1680 dial, how about making a cliche for a date wheel overlay with open 6 & 9? I'm sure many of us will want to get a date wheel overlay that looks like gen.

Like these?
057bcbefb218ae6067d300567c4fcb4d.jpg

e503cd606cbff604149d25b0c8471165.jpg
d4eef77c21537604c05909e33c67c774.jpg


Someone on RWG has been working on them and I’ve been modifying them bc they’re not completely aligned. I have a PDF I made of a few different widths (internal and external). It’s a pain in the ass but I’m workin on it. Hopefully I can get it all correct and then send them to this fella to get some pad printed.

Rolex’s fonts are a pain in the ass to recreate. Finding them is close to impossible so there’s very few options aside from blowing up a high resolution image and just tracing everything in illustrator.

Gonna try to help this fella get some vector files created and/or edit them.

I just need 1 perfect 16800 dial and I’d be a happy fella. MQ is close to perfect so that’s gonna be a tough one to beat.

:)


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Dan71

Renowned Member
24/4/15
546
86
28
Italy
[mention]bc1221 [/mention] I never understand if the 26 and the 29 have the open 6 and 9..
 

swisstswiss

Known Member
3/5/18
126
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0
Yes mate I found the same links on rwg but also I see that are not like gen!! I found also the roulette one....if you can do the artwork I can print them no problem...because I have the cliche but is the same of the rwg one because I have already spent a lot in graphic design so I have to stop whit draw and start the printing


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cheld

Renowned Member
Supporter
7/3/18
737
263
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[mention]bc1221 [/mention] I never understand if the 26 and the 29 have the open 6 and 9..

The DW in bc1221 's post is for the 3135 - it rotates in the opposite direction from the 1575 of the 1680 era and the 3035 that was in the 16800/168000. But bc1221's does have an error - only 1575s (but not all 1575s) had flat-top 3s. All 3035 and 3135 DWs have round-top 3s. And only very early (1988/9 R serial number) 16610s with 3135s had open 6/9. The gen open 6/9 3135 DW is very hard to find.

Here's a listing for a 1575 date wheel: all 6 & 9 digits are open; curved top of 3; pretty flat 4: https://www.chrono24.com.au/rolex/h...9indicator-watch-cal-15701575--id14433244.htm
 
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oldtools

Active Member
14/6/11
494
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The DW in bc1221 's post is for the 3135 - it rotates in the opposite direction from the 1575 of the 1680 era and the 3035 that was in the 16800/168000. But bc1221's does have an error - only 1575s (but not all 1575s) had flat-top 3s. All 3035 and 3135 DWs have round-top 3s. And only very early (1988/9 R serial number) 16610s with 3135s had open 6/9. The gen open 6/9 3135 DW is very hard to find.

Here's a listing for a 1575 date wheel: all 6 & 9 digits are open; curved top of 3; pretty flat 4: https://www.chrono24.com.au/rolex/h...9indicator-watch-cal-15701575--id14433244.htm

The date wheel was taken from a 1570. The numbers were flipped so the overlay could be used on a ETA movement and the numbers would progress correctly.
 

Dan71

Renowned Member
24/4/15
546
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28
Italy
Ok [mention]cheld [/mention] tks for explanation

but here we are talking about 1680..

Also on vintage Rolex forum there isn’t a clear solution about 26 and 29 open or closed 6 .
Or maybe I have not search deep enough...
 
Last edited:

oldtools

Active Member
14/6/11
494
377
63
I think I am a little lost...is this printing on metal?

The original date wheels in the movements are printed on metal. The pictures above are just files so you can print your own. You can print them on decals, or paper, or ...

The OP has taken a file like these and had it made into a cliche. He'll then pad print the numbers onto a metal or plastic disc that can be glued to the date wheel of an ETA movement. That way, an ETA movement can be used with a Rolex dial. The Rolex date numbers will be glued to the ETA date wheel and everything will look correct