How to fix crooked markers - DIY

[KJ2020]

We've all gotten a rep with crooked markers. you swear you won't let it happen again and then it does, arghh.

So, what to do? Time for a little marker surgery.

Here's the patient. The 6 marker is crooked anti-clockwise. The 12 marker is also - I would have let that one go but while I'm at it I decided to fix that one too. I like to look down the dial from a flat angle at rectangular markers. You can do this on a regular pic by holding your phone almost flat.

Hands and dial have to come off

Scrape the glue off the back of the dial where the marker pins are then push the pins out with a needle

Then you need to assess why the marker was crooked and decide which pin to remove. Sometimes the pins are offset on the marker.

Sometimes the holes in the dial aren't aligned

Next you need to remove the pin that gives you the best chance of straightening the marker by pivoting it about the remaining pin.

Tape the marker down and sand or file one pin off. You can clip some of the pin off with nail clippers.

Next, clean up the markers with rodico and mix up some glue. I use BSI 30 min epoxy. I love the stuff, it gets thicker and doesn't run if you let it sit for 5 mins or so. You only need a tiny ribbon of glue. I make sure some goes in the hole where there is still a pin.

Now for the money shot. Place the marker on top of the glue ribbon. You can use plastic tweezers or rodico. The 12 marker is very hard to hold with tweezers. Use a toothpick to restrain the marker while lifting the rodico away. Often you won't be lucky enough to get the pin in the hole right away but it should be close. Gently nudge the marker toward its proper place and when the pin is over or in the hole you can use a piece of dial protector or a hand tool to press the marker home. Then pivot the marker left or right so it's straight.

AFTER the markers are set and the epoxy is cured, add a small drop of glue on the dial underside. Let it ooze down the holes and harden a little, but DON'T leave it that way long as the glue can ooze past the marker on the dial side where the pin was removed.

And voila, straight markers, yay!

Thanks for looking. Practice on a junk dial, it's not so hard to do.

 

[Subdued]

Subscribed. My local watchsmith tends to hate this kind of repair job. Thank you sir.

 

[shinynewbling25]

Thanks for this. For me the hard part is putting the hands back on. it's that darn second hand. I've only removed hands from 3 watches. Went smooth on one and the watch I actually cared about I cannot get that second hand on and bent it. It's a miyota 82xx series. If the hand pops back on the movement freezes. I don't get it. Anyway, excellent tutorial. Since you put glue on the front of the dial is this a one time only deal? Do you think it would work on the back side of the dial only?

 

[KJ2020]

Thanks for this. For me the hard part is putting the hands back on. it's that darn second hand. I've only removed hands from 3 watches. Went smooth on one and the watch I actually cared about I cannot get that second hand on and bent it. It's a miyota 82xx series. If the hand pops back on the movement freezes. I don't get it. Anyway, excellent tutorial. Since you put glue on the front of the dial is this a one time only deal? Do you think it would work on the back side of the dial only?

I wouldn't recommend underside glue only on this type of repair. You would have to put the right quantity of glue down the hole without a pin and wait for it to ooze to the front. Then turn the dial over and position the marker. Meanwhile the marker is hanging on by one pin, probably pulling away on the unpinned end. I guess you could tape the marker into a proper position, using other markers as tape anchors. But there's risk to the lume plots. Gluing on top is the best way.

 

[mrsullivan]

This is a great DIY tuto here, thank you for this!

Envoyé de mon ELE-L29 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[SS72]

Thanks for putting the tutorial together while you did the repairs. Great work. Must be very satisfying.

I have a Noob Sea-Dweller like this and haven't bothered to fix it. Maybe I never will, but at least now I know what to refer to if I do.

 

[scottiedog]

Awesome tutorial. Thankyou.

I didn’t know it was glue on the rear holding the pins, I thought they were brazed or something similar. Are Gen dials the same?

 

[kennygconspiracy]

Classic big bro KJ bringing in QUALITY CONTENT. Thank you for this!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

[cpd2186]

I would rather just pay you to do this.......

 

[guybythelake]

Excellent. Thank you.

 

[kevBquick]

KJ2020 nice tutorial. always informative.

 

[KJ2020]

 

[KJ2020]

 

[p0pperini]

KJ2020 Only just read this top quality tutorial after you linked to it on a “ugh my marker is squiffy” post. Really excellent as usual, thanks!

 

[Peguine]

What a awesome post, this is the quality content I look for on RWI

 

[KJ2020]

It doesn't take much to throw off the whole look. If something just doesn't look right there's a reason.

I got lucky and was able to fix this without taking the dial off, only because I had glued the markers on initially and there were no pins on the triangle. I put a blunted toothpick behind a lens cloth for cushioning and carefully applied force on one side of the triangle. There was significant resistance (good news for my gluing technique) but the marker popped off cleanly with no damage to dial, marker, or hands. Wow. Bad news is if I'd caught that the marker had sild a little before it cured, I could have saved myself the correction hassle. The insert had to be adjusted also but we do what we gotta do.

 

[wisedennis]

We've all gotten a rep with crooked markers. you swear you won't let it happen again and then it does, arghh.

So, what to do? Time for a little marker surgery.

Here's the patient. The 6 marker is crooked anti-clockwise. The 12 marker is also - I would have let that one go but while I'm at it I decided to fix that one too. I like to look down the dial from a flat angle at rectangular markers. You can do this on a regular pic by holding your phone almost flat.

Hands and dial have to come off

Scrape the glue off the back of the dial where the marker pins are then push the pins out with a needle

Then you need to assess why the marker was crooked and decide which pin to remove. Sometimes the pins are offset on the marker.

Sometimes the holes in the dial aren't aligned

Next you need to remove the pin that gives you the best chance of straightening the marker by pivoting it about the remaining pin.

Tape the marker down and sand or file one pin off. You can clip some of the pin off with nail clippers.

Next, clean up the markers with rodico and mix up some glue. I use BSI 30 min epoxy. I love the stuff, it gets thicker and doesn't run if you let it sit for 5 mins or so. You only need a tiny ribbon of glue. I make sure some goes in the hole where there is still a pin.

Now for the money shot. Place the marker on top of the glue ribbon. You can use plastic tweezers or rodico. The 12 marker is very hard to hold with tweezers. Use a toothpick to restrain the marker while lifting the rodico away. Often you won't be lucky enough to get the pin in the hole right away but it should be close. Gently nudge the marker toward its proper place and when the pin is over or in the hole you can use a piece of dial protector or a hand tool to press the marker home. Then pivot the marker left or right so it's straight.

AFTER the markers are set and the epoxy is cured, add a small drop of glue on the dial underside. Let it ooze down the holes and harden a little, but DON'T leave it that way long as the glue can ooze past the marker on the dial side where the pin was removed.

And voila, straight markers, yay!

Thanks for looking. Practice on a junk dial, it's not so hard to do.

was looking for this surgery post for a while

eventually found it and saved for future reference

thanks @KJ2020 brother

 

[daytonadude]

Any tips on removing a tiny tiny bit of epoxy that got on a dial?

 

[KJ2020]

Any tips on removing a tiny tiny bit of epoxy that got on a dial?

I've had that happen. If it's still wet it will come off cleanly with a soft cloth slightly dampened with ISO alcohol. BUT, you can't get alcohol on any printing. This includes minute tics.

If it's dry some auto wax should take it off. This is a risky attempt, so practicing on a junk dial is advised. I use a British product called Auto Glym. You can use it over printing if you don't apply too much pressure. It's great for removing small scratches too.

A lot of constant pressure can actually remove printing. I took off some unwanted text this way.

 

[daytonadude]

Thank you for your response. Do you think it would be ok on an AP 15202 dial?