quote:

As we move on we must learn to service the watchmaker who is trying to get Aunt Millie's watch to work with a quartz movement because she can no longer wind it, as well an the collector trying to restore the most precious thing thing he owns-his Dad's WW2 wrist watch. Sorry Mark.

Rob

Understood, and appreciated, Rob. In my case, all I wanted was the dial brought back to what it was when originally received.

Warmest regards! Mark

Thanks for that Rob. I avoid getting pearled dials refinished unless absolutely necessary, and I can usually spot one immediately from the out-of-line dots.

Another problem relates to re-luming hands to match the dial figures color - the stuff used seems to very easily crack away from the hand and fall out. I am often having to coat the back of re-done hands with epoxy to stop this.

Dan

Rob, I sent you folks a very rough, painted Illinois dial and I thought you did a very nice job. It was pointed out here, however, that the fonts of the numbers and lettering were a bit different.

I didn't mind and thought I got more than my money's worth.

Since then, however, I have been told (unsubstantiated) that you have original dies for Hamilton, Elgin and Waltham but not for Illinois. Thus, I've heard, you can match fonts and styles much closer for those brands.

Any truth to all that? Can you elaborate a bit?

Dan-- thats the first i've heard about the luminous material falling out. Any others out there with that problem?? We mix our compound ourselves as the stuff available just isn't any good (for our purposees)

Peter-- I'l answer your question on the Pocket watch discusion board later today. Your is the situation that finally promted me to start this whole thing

Bits falling out is very rare - probably the stresses associated with fitting the hands have much to do with it. On watches with a sub-seconds hand the hour and minute hands often have to be bent slightly up after fitting, to get the correct clearances.

Here is a Dail and hands on a Illinois Marquis refinsed by International i think they did a great job..
here is a picture i think it looks great..

with the bezel off

here is a shot of the dial before it was refinshed.

Hi Samie,

Great looking watch and beautiful dial! Are the hands NOS replacements or did you work some kind of magic to the originals?

Joe

Helo Joe is it still hot in tenn.

The hands were also done by International.

Hey Samie, Hot! You bet and DRY too! Trying to stay cool... in the pool..., but got to keep addin' water to it every other day! Oh Yeah! Not sure but think we have some cactus pokin' up in the front yard... I think we're the new Arizona!!

Joe

Samie,

Nice MArquis! Did you re-fill in the black enamel of the lugs and bezel with the old "brush on, wipe off" method? Looks great!!

Hello Rick

yes that,s what i did ,i have in the past used the black enemal from casker,s and heat to set it works good but a little tricky to do...I plan on listing this one on ebay later today frist one i have had without nay brass showing...

How do you raplace the black enemal.

Bryan gave me this tip on how to fill-in the enamel a while back, and it works well. You just brush-on black enamel paint (Testers model enamel or similar works fine), wait a few minutes (not too long!), and wipe off the enamel with a papertowel or piece of thin fabric. Be careful not to wipe the enamel out of the engraved areas. I have also done this after intentionally thinning the paint a little with thinner, and this seems to reduce the risk of waiting too long and having the paint dried on the raised portion you are trying to wipe off.

I presume you are doing something similar?

Regards,

Rick yes that is how i fill in the enemal i use a black enemal paint my wife uses on the jewelery she makes it,s a oil based paint.

Very interesting. Like the others welcome to the site! Good to see another Buckeye aboard.

@Rick Vess - Right after I got out of college, I worked for a year or so at an auto restoration shop called Hemphill's Healey Haven, where we specialized in restoring Austin Healey sports cars. We used to do the dashboard control knobs and switches the same way, but with white paint, because the knobs were black.

This was in the late 1970's, so replacement luminous dial faces for gauges were still available from Smiths Gauge Company in England.