how to age a watch dial and hands

After seeing this watch on another forum that had been made to look older than it actually was it



it got me thinking how is it done ? do you use tea or coffee ? hot or cold and for how long or is there another method that is better ? I was only asking as I have this dial and some spare hands I would maybe possibly like to try it on

use tea and a very fine brush, the good thing with tea is it will wipe off the dial, it can be made darker by adding more between drying, will work on the hands and shouldnt affect the lume. for speed use a hair dryer to dry the dial

cheers for the info .. would I just "paint" it over the white parts of the dial or paint it over all of it ?

just pany the indices/ lume, if the indices are like the 007 you show then the tea wont stick to the outline anyway, but will soak into the lume quite readily..........

I had a look online and was amazed at the number of methods that are used / suggested.

Tea / coffee I can understand but using bleach or baking the dial were a surprise.

I presume aging a dial can be to make it look 20 / 30 years old or an age that is appropriate to the watch it is for,  or just simply to stop it from looking brand new.
As I like older watches I am more used to dials being restored rather than aged.

Good luck with it and I will look forward to hearing / seeing how you get on.

daff62 wrote:I had a look online and was amazed at the number of methods that are used / suggested.

Tea / coffee I can understand but using bleach or baking the dial were a surprise.

I presume aging a dial can be to make it look 20 / 30 years old or an age that is appropriate to the watch it is for,  or just simply to stop it from looking brand new.
As I like older watches I am more used to dials being restored rather than aged.

Good luck with it and I will look forward to hearing / seeing how you get on.

trouble with the bleach and baking methods is they destabilize the dial finnish and it can then flake a get into the movement

trouble with the bleach and baking methods is they destabilize the dial finnish and it can then flake a get into the movement[/quote]

They do sound rather risky and not reversible if things went wrong. I did wonder if it depended on the material the dial was made from as well as what was used for the surface of the dial and the applied markers / design.

I think though your advice sounds the safest and the most sensible.

daff62 wrote:Good luck with it and I will look forward to hearing / seeing how you get on.

I just need to buy a watch to put the dial into first

SeikoJohn wrote:

daff62 wrote:Good luck with it and I will look forward to hearing / seeing how you get on.

I just need to buy a watch to put the dial into first

I kind of assumed you had that side of things organised. That said once the dial is done it may be easier to pick the watch that it will suit. Good thinking John.

SeikoJohn wrote:

daff62 wrote:Good luck with it and I will look forward to hearing / seeing how you get on.

I just need to buy a watch to put the dial into first

and hands and a bracelet and a movement.................

domecurb wrote:and hands and a bracelet and a movement.................

I have hands

"I have hands"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBslXprykHA

SeikoJohn wrote:

i suddenly have a headache

Ya can not beat Leeroy Jethro Gibbs the bloke is awesome especially his rules

domecurb wrote:

SeikoJohn wrote:

i suddenly have a headache

You're not alone, I just listened to your YouTube link.

daff62 wrote:

domecurb wrote:

SeikoJohn wrote:

i suddenly have a headache

You're not alone, I just listened to your YouTube link.  

try this for size then  

Lovely, the perfect start to my day. The pink toothbrush though could be used for the dial so not all bad.

daff62 wrote:Lovely, the perfect start to my day. The pink toothbrush though could be used for the dial so not all bad.

sorry its going too far isnt it ?

domecurb wrote:

daff62 wrote:Lovely, the perfect start to my day. The pink toothbrush though could be used for the dial so not all bad.

sorry its going too far isnt it ?

Your fine, there's worse musical choices you could have made.

daff62 wrote:

Your fine, there's worse musical choices you could have made.

Oh what did you say that for ?? You know he will only try to find worse now

SeikoJohn wrote:

daff62 wrote:

Your fine, there's worse musical choices you could have made.

Oh what did you say that for ?? You know he will only try to find worse now

..................and he did, sorry about that.

daff62 wrote:

SeikoJohn wrote:

daff62 wrote:

Your fine, there's worse musical choices you could have made.

Oh what did you say that for ?? You know he will only try to find worse now

..................and he did, sorry about that.