UPDATE: 07-29
The dials arrived and they look good. crisp text and the lume is a nice toasted tone.
The color is the same as the sample dial he sent me.
the gilt print is the same as the tropical red one he offers.
no surprises here. great quality and appearance for the price.
now I think I may have written cheques that my butt cant cash....first attempt
I thought I would bake one. in coffee grounds. ala diy watch club
(poor lighting)
It darkened the dial color
it also aged and soiled the lume a bit
very minor imperfections caused by the oils in the coffee (pardon the grinds)
Next I thought I use the air brush, was struggling with a proper dilution and was getting splatters and runs.... not impressed.
so since the oven was still warm I thought I would try dropping it in the coffee and baking it a bit
350 for two runs of 10 mins.
wanted to see how the paint would react to the heat and the oils in the grinds.
I had no expectations (only hopes) and the results met neither lol
plausible but not great. I do like how it darkened around the chapter ring area .....the speckles are baked in and will not flake off easy.
I left that one as is and moved onto a fresh dial
This is where it gets sketchy cause I dont recall what I did and my process.
I started off air brushing the dial with some chestnut brown and ochre and was not pleased with it so I used a diluted isopropyl and blotted the dial as I was planning on wiping it clean and restarting but after the first swipe I got this unique look creating a very unique patina. and decided to stop as I think it was quite interesting and attractive. Again not what I am after at all but Bob Ross would call it " a happy lil accident"
It looks like its been out baking in the sun for a decades. the gilt print is still there and visible but its subtle
This dial really caught my eye so I thought I would toss it in a case to see how it looks . I do want to clean up the lume on the dial so it is closer to the color on the hands (or vice versa) but I had to see what it looked like
Buttoned it up and tossed it on a caramel single pass strap that compliments the dial perfectly.....
And that is where I left it yesterday. I am going to work out my air brush dilution and spray issues and give it a third attempt to see what I can pull off.
I have 4 dials to mess with and one of them has to be a winner. so far this one a favorite
I am using a transparent black paint , but I think I might be better off it I get a candy black as it is more transparent than the transparent because its more of a dye then a paint and I might be able to get better clarity on the text and be able to layer it better. . I am reducing the transparent black but it leaves it a bit too runny . I may switch up dilution agents as well to see if that will help with the spray application
If nothing is popping tonight I will be back in the lab and giving it a valiant second attempt.
as always , comments and questions welcome.
