Hi all
I am starting a new hobby doing restoration of vintage watches. One of the
first ones is a vintage iwc from 60s. When i was trying to clean the dial with
distilled water the color went of. Went to iwc to ask if they can somehow
support but they told me that they can offer only full restoration including
the service and thats something i am not interested. Do you have any
suggestion how to reprint the dial?
thaks for your ideas
Hi Thomas,
there are companies specialized in reprinting - redonig the dials. This comes
with quite some effort. Your dial has appied indexes that have to be removed.
afterwards the dial has to be cleaned and sanded. Afterwards the brushing,
galvanic coating, reprinting and application of a coating laquer is done.
Lastly the applied indexes have to be reriveted to the dial. All the steps
take time and will result in a certain cost.
There is an intense discussion going on if redial is a accepted practice on
vintage watches. But someday all the dials made of metal coated with laquer
will ave the need to be treated this way
br
Cromagnonman.
Hi Cromagnonman
Thanks a lot for your reply. Do you know any company that specialized in it? I
was searching on internet and tried to reach some but most of them didnt even
reply back. If you have some experience feel free to share. I understand that
to get it to great shape would be costly since it requires a lot of work. But
since the value of the watch is not so high the estimated work cost must be
reasonable. You are absolutely right that it is a big question if the vintage
dials should be restored and has a thin line between. I guess its a personal
choice. I personally would say that if there is a visible rust or stains that
conflict the visual appearance its time to restore.
Kind regards
Tomas
Hi Thomas,
i know at least two German companies in the dial restoration business.
There is Bethge and Causemann
If you type the Names in combination with "Zifferblatt" into your preferred
search engine you should find them.
br
Cromagnonman
Thanks a lot. I try to reach them
Tomas