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NCRich

Changing dial feet location - quick tutorial

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NCRich

So we are always hearing how hard it is to change the movement in our watches. "You will need a new dial and hands!"

 

Well, yeah the hand thing requires a lot of skill to mod, but you can get most hands pretty cheap $15 or so. Dials are both hard to get and expensive. So what to do? You can remove the feet and use dial dots or 2 sided tape but that has the possibility of degrading over time and your dial starts rotating around the movement. Or worse the sticky stuff comes off and gets in your movement.

 

One of our members bought a pretty expensive dial, but didn't ask what dial feet it had. (you know who you are) He sent it to me to put on his DRSD (the one with the sec hand that was glued on). So of course the dial feet were for a gen, no go for a 2836. So to avoid tape I'm going to put dial feet on the dial.

 

Here's what we have. Nice dial, got a tiny divot in the lume @ 7

 

0yuEXtw.jpg

 

Dial feet in the wrong place for ETA

 

5FPjxY8.jpg

 

Heres what we need. The dial, some 2 part slow cure epoxy, and some .7mm dial feet.

 

ROaxJ8u.jpg

 

I just twist off the dial feet with tweezers, they are pre-indented to make it easy to twist off. I will then use the micro file to smooth it off perfectly level.

 

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You want a good bond, so I clean the back of the dial and the feet with acetone. Then I sand both to rough up the surface a bit so it gets a "tooth" to bond to.

 

ZzOb0NS.jpg

 

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I put the dial spacer and the feet in position and secure the levers. I'm going to mix just a tiny amount of epoxy up. I will then put a tiny drop on each of the feet. NOT TOO MUCH. If you put too much then it will ooze off and onto the datewheel and that is bad, bad, bad.

 

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Place the dial on the movement and center up the date. Make sure it is level.

 

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One reason I use the slower set epoxy is that I can move this around for a good 30 minutes or so. I check it every once in a while to make sure it is positioned correctly and is level.

 

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And there you go, a perfectly place dial with dial feet rather than a tape job. Don't be an Ssteal tink. :lol:

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Andylaw1919

Excellent tutorial!

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vito1

Excellent tutorial!

 

Rich,

Where did your get those large head 0.7mm dial feet?

Vito

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Nikosaldente

Great work and Super tutorial!

 

Thanks for sharing!

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NCRich

Excellent tutorial!

 

Rich,

Where did your get those large head 0.7mm dial feet?

Vito

 

CousinsUK.com

 

Item number D38748 .74mm dial feet.

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vito1

Excellent tutorial!

 

Rich,

Where did your get those large head 0.7mm dial feet?

Vito

 

CousinsUK.com

 

Item number D38748 .74mm dial feet.

 

 

THANKS!!!

Vito

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Daffy

What would be your opinion on adding a touch of solder once the feet are properly placed, and dried? A good idea, or overkill?

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NCRich

What would be your opinion on adding a touch of solder once the feet are properly placed, and dried? A good idea, or overkill?

 

So you want to add sizzling hot solder to the back of a finished $150 dial?

 

Not me.

 

Are you going to be doing pull ups on the dial feet? :lol: This epoxy is pretty darn strong. A lot stronger than the perforated dial feet that you can twist off with a tweezer.

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kilowattore

Very, very clever solution! Thanks for sharing

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GenTLe

Lovely! I didn't know replacement feet exists. Great thread!

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ShovelnTC

Great tutorial, had never even heard of something like this.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

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Phil G

Excellent post, thank you.

 

Now if I only had the courage to try this. :lol:

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fatarms

$150? I wish... :lol:

 

Rich you are a magician with this stuff. I would've been so lost doing all this stuff. Thank you again.

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elp

Don't be an Ssteal tink. :lol:

 

Great tutorial and punchline :lol:

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BM284

Yet again another top tutorial Rich :thumbsup2: thanks for sharing!

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epalanb

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Nice job!

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Stuvetjee

awesome rich! I finally can do this myself then :)

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paulvillo

Thanks for this!! Didn’t know spare dial feet even existed ;)

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juicebombs

I'm a noob trying to figure out my first build.  Rolex 16800

Started thinking a clone 2824 was a good choice cause it was cheap and changed time in the correct direction as a 3035 which is in the gen.  Realized I would need spacers for the overlay clearance, and I'd need to change the pinion heights because of that.

I then then found out it didn't have a perfectly instant date change over.

Just bought a 2836 clone which does, and I'm looking into a similar situation, changing the dial feet as you did here.

My question is- does adding the dial feet cause the pinion heights to change even higher?  looks like it, maybe.

And do the dial feet also act as a spacer for the date overlay?  Seems so as well

 

Edited by juicebombs

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Baz1984

Thanks for the tutorial 

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