I found a stupid good deal on a 20W laser, so engraving metal should now be in the realm of possibilities. It's sturdy as hell, I'm actually slightly scared of it, because a little bit of carelessness could be catastrophic (fire, blindness, loss of limb, etc...you know, the usual things that watch hobbyists kindergarten teachers, and librarians worry about...). I actually have a protective enclosure on order, and have made a promise to myself not to use it until it arrives. Cliff Notes: It now has a honeycomb metal baffle, stainless steel plate, some leftover ceramic tile, a sheet of aluminum foil (why not?), and 3/4" of plywood underneath it, lol.
ENJOY THE JOY OF WOOD AND WOODWORKING DIY
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This thing makes Goldfinger look like a potzer.
It isn't powerful enough to deeply engrave Stainless Steel, but could possibly be enough to engrave cases and backs, with enough passes.
That said, it IS powerful enough to deeply engrave, or cut, aluminum. So now cutom pad printed dials are within reach. I'm still researching the process, but thinking I have a dial pad printer in my future...
Cutting the plates with laser:
Printing the dial, sometimes using multiple plates:
I seriously am enjoying the process more than the product, by far.
So I'd prepare a blank dial (polish or paint), scan a dial into Adobe or similar, tweak it into a high res vector file, create the plates, print the dial, and it should be about as professional as you can get this side of Geneva...gilt showing through a black dial with raised, glossy white printing.
It's still very early in the process, but as I learn, I will post results here.
Long story short: I think the later model Explorer dials and odd variants might now be within reach...maybe even stuff like Karbon's Railmaster or others. And technically, I should be able to "correct" whatever flaws we find in the offerings from Raffles, HR, Yuki, etc.
I see myself living in Vietnam in 10 years, lol.
