I've seen several Melamine dials on Hamilton 950B's with damage to the outer minute chapters.

On this watch the damage is in the form of a line through the outer chapter numerals from approximately 26 through 39. Difficult to see in the photo below, but it is there.

The other watches I've seen have similar damage in approximately the same area. Is this damage cause by someone carelessly trying to screw the front bezel back on?

The Melamine dial is VERY sensitive to anything touching it. On a lot of these dials you will see dark marks on the outer edge. It is from the bezel hitting the dial. Sometimes it will go all the way around the dial.

I never really thought of it the way you mentioned it Keith, but yes, if when you are putting the dial back on the watch and you hit the edge at all, you can be sure that it will leave a mark on it.

Regards,
Larry

Do a search for "bezel rub" and there are 29 topics that come up. Here is one in particular;

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...263911667#8263911667

Sometimes the bezel rub on porcelain as well as melamine dials will actually "score" the edge of a dial and will leave a permanent testament behind. It's something that for the most part, we have to live with.....

regards,
bb

Melamine dials are just SORRY. That's all there is to it.

Thanks for the replies. The more I learn about them, the more I'm glad you guys convinced me to forego the 950B with melamine dial at this stage of my collecting.

"Scoring" is a very accurate description of what I've seen so far.

It looks to me like the tip of the minute hand was rubbing.

RR

Melamine is a lot like other plastics or plastic types that don't have Ultra Violet inhibitors, they break down, shrink, and basically start to self destruct. Some are pristine and others are horrible, probably a lot of that had to do with exposure to sun or extremes of heat and cold.

Keith,

The minute hand clearly rubbed all the way around the dial on the top and cut a groove into it. By tracing that groove and putting it on the picture provided in this post it lines up with the missing ink on the 26 and 39 minute numerals. That groove diameter is too small to be from the bezel.

Working on watches I've seen many dials that do not want to sit flat on the movement. In addition some movements don't want to sit level in the case. Sometimes crystals don't sit exactly level in bezels and the hand gets pushed into the dial. Sometimes hands are not evenly pushed onto cannon pinions.

The reasons stated in the above paragraph all can contribute to a hand rubbing on one side of a dial and not cutting into evenly like the dial on the top.

Perhaps that answers your question of, " ...a line through the outer chapter numerals..."?

RR

Thank you all for the input into this thread.


Richard, I see what you mean, and your illustration of the minute hand tracking/creating the damage "groove" is very instructive. Thanks for taking the time to provide it.

I should have been more clear about the edge on the dial. It is clear that the minute hand made the marks you are talking about Richard. It is also clear that the bezel made the dark mark around the edge of the dial.

Like Lindell said, that dial can be made to look 100% better that it does now though.

I use a different method which has made many of them look almost new again, BUT you have to really understand these different Melamine dials to do it, and I would never put it on here as you can completely ruin one in less than a minute if you don't understand which melamine dial you are working on. There are many different finishes on them and even the dial itself is different and has to be treated different when working on them.

Regards,
Larry