Apart from changing straps, or sizing a bracelet.. I've zero experience of working on watches. However, after reading various threads on here I finally decided to have a go and see just how badly I could get things wrong.
I decided to use my Parnis for 2 reasons... firstly, it was cheap so no great issue if it went all pear-shaped... secondly, I'd never been happy with the dial, as the applied hour markers just seemed squint to my eye. So this is what I started with:-
My first thing was to remove the applied markers from the dial, strip off the orange (as that wasn't lumed anyway), paint the markers black & then apply straight.
This went well, but it looked a bit, well, rubbish... as the black markers/orange numbers clashed.
So, I stripped the markers off again, sanded the old dial down smooth & repainted it black. I then painted the markers white, followed by some lume... and finally painted the second hand white and finish with lume. Slapped on a black strap and this is what I got:-
Still wasn't very happy with it though. I preferred the dial black, but my finish didn't stand up to close scrutiny.
So to try something different I ordered up a Cali dial from China... went on holiday, and when I came back my dial was waiting for me.
Off came the hands again, on went the new dial (with a bit of fettling as it was actually about 0.1mm less in diameter than it stated) and this is how it now looks:-
Amazingly, the thing still runs... and keep decent time. No idea how, as I am pretty ham fisted at the best of times.
I think I'll quit while it's still running though.
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Originally Posted by gorrie
Apart from changing straps, or sizing a bracelet.. I've zero experience of working on watches. However, after reading various threads on here I finally decided to have a go and see just how badly I could get things wrong.
