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Tropical Dial
- Thread starter Davin0011
- Start date
"Can I wear my nautilus in the pool?"Looks like a water damage special to me
Though, somehow this damage didn't involve any water
Now you’ve made me even more curious, elaborate?
Impressive how you managed to damage the dial this much while both the markers and the date wheel seem perfectly fine!
Accidentally found out how to make a tropical dial. A few things I’d do differently if I went in with this goal, but it came out pretty decent for a mistake!
Take a hard look at your watchmaking tools. Back off one meter. Forever.
How did I manage this? I have a superpower for breaking things, and a superpower for pretending to make it look like I did something on purpose.
I was putting a new movement in this watch, and I was just doing the final touches. A dab of rodico on the dial to pick up dust, and one of the hour markers came right off. I know these are mounted from the back, but I was lazy, and I figured I could just put a dab of CA glue on the marker and call it a day. This worked to stick the marker on, but a tiny, tiny bit of glue seeped out. I figured this could happen, so I had tools ready to dab it up.
To my shock, the CA glue melted right through the paint. I touched it with a bit of pegwood to see if my eyes were playing tricks--maybe the glue had frosted and that was what I was seeing. The pegwood just spread the glue around a bit more and before I knew it, a bunch of paint around the marker was missing. But immediately I thought that it looked like tropical dials I'd seen. So in an effort to salvage the watch, I used CA glue to match the wear pattern around the rest of the dial.
I should have stopped there in hindsight, but this next lesson I learned could only be learned through trial and error. I applied a touch of a chemical patina to the dial face, in an attempt to turn the exposed metal to a more honeyed brown color, but it didn't do this evenly. Depending on the material, the patina sometimes needs some prep to work well, and this was one of those cases.
The movement is running well, the date wheel is unhurt. All this needs to be back to normal is a Buff upgrade, which I had tentative plans for. However, I don't think I will do that. I really enjoy the look, and I plan on doing this on another half-broken rep I have lying around. A few things I would do differently is try to nail the chemical patina with proper prep (should be easy if I'm trying to do this on purpose and the dial isn't on the movement), and avoid the brand print. All tropical pateks I've seen still have very clear brand print on the dial.
I was putting a new movement in this watch, and I was just doing the final touches. A dab of rodico on the dial to pick up dust, and one of the hour markers came right off. I know these are mounted from the back, but I was lazy, and I figured I could just put a dab of CA glue on the marker and call it a day. This worked to stick the marker on, but a tiny, tiny bit of glue seeped out. I figured this could happen, so I had tools ready to dab it up.
To my shock, the CA glue melted right through the paint. I touched it with a bit of pegwood to see if my eyes were playing tricks--maybe the glue had frosted and that was what I was seeing. The pegwood just spread the glue around a bit more and before I knew it, a bunch of paint around the marker was missing. But immediately I thought that it looked like tropical dials I'd seen. So in an effort to salvage the watch, I used CA glue to match the wear pattern around the rest of the dial.
I should have stopped there in hindsight, but this next lesson I learned could only be learned through trial and error. I applied a touch of a chemical patina to the dial face, in an attempt to turn the exposed metal to a more honeyed brown color, but it didn't do this evenly. Depending on the material, the patina sometimes needs some prep to work well, and this was one of those cases.
The movement is running well, the date wheel is unhurt. All this needs to be back to normal is a Buff upgrade, which I had tentative plans for. However, I don't think I will do that. I really enjoy the look, and I plan on doing this on another half-broken rep I have lying around. A few things I would do differently is try to nail the chemical patina with proper prep (should be easy if I'm trying to do this on purpose and the dial isn't on the movement), and avoid the brand print. All tropical pateks I've seen still have very clear brand print on the dial.
