A simple remedy for damaged dials

Here is a simple method of restoring something like the original appearance of a damaged dial. It is not a substitute for a professional repaint, and it will not work for single- or double-sunk dials, but it has the advantage of costing nothing and requiring very little skill, and it does not involve sacrificing the original dial.

The items needed are a computer, a scanner capable of at least 600dpi resolution, a laser printer with the same minimum resolution (1200dpi would be preferable), an image-editing program such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or Corel Photopaint, and a sheet of photo-quality paper with either a gloss or a satin matt surface, depending on the finish of the dial to be copied.

1 Remove the original dial from the movement (see Section B here).

2 Place the dial on a flatbed scanner and take a size-for-size scan at the highest resolution your equipment will support, using black-&-white photo mode. (‘Line art’ might seem a more obvious choice, but this mode is unlikely to cope with the finer lines.)

3 Use a photo-editing facility to increase the contrast of the image until the dial itself appears completely white. Then use the eraser tool in the same program to paint out any hairlines or other flaws. it may also be helpful to use the Sharpen (or equivalent) command in the program to improve the definition of the image.

4 Still in the editing program, convert the image to black & white error-diffusion mode. This will improve the definition still further.

5 Print the image on the photo paper. Carefully cut it out.

6 Replace the original dial loosely on the movement, lay the paper dial over it and re-fit the hour hand (and second hand if present) to ensure that the increased thickness does not cause them to foul the dial. Then test the movement in the case to see whether the bezel (if it is of the hinged or snap-on type) will still close.

7 If all is well, you can then stick the new dial over the old one, using water-soluble adhesive so that it can be removed without leaving a mark if necessary.

This was my first attempt, applied to the Lister watch. Obviously the colour of the paper is not quite right, the original dial (as often in mid-19th-century Britain) being of an off-white colour difficult to replicate. In addition, the 600dpi resolution (all my equipment could achieve) is not really adequate, so that the letters PATENT are not as well-defined as in the original and the fine lines around the minute track are broken in places. Nonetheless, it shows how much can be done at the cost of an hour's work and one sheet of paper.