Newsome dial replacement.

Replacing a dial with one from a different type of watch is something I have managed to avoid doing in the last five years but this rare size 10, 17 jewel watch by Newsome of Coventry has been waiting for a replacement dial for a couple of years with nothing even close coming along so I decided to bite the bullet and modify a dial.

This posting shows how it should be done, and that is not by clipping off the fixing pins and using Blue-Tac or glue to fix the dial to the movement, a technique I see used fairly frequently on watches I buy in.

The first thing is to find a dial from the right period that is of the right size with the hole for the second hand in the right place. You then need some replacement dial feet.

Normally these can now be glued or soldered to the face but on this movement the dial is retained with pins rather than clamped in with screws, so the feet first have to be drilled with a 0.5mm drill held in a pin chuck. A fiddly job as the pins are round.

The pins are then positioned in the movement with "springy" dial washers or similar underneath to get the flat end of the pin high enough to contact the dial, the newly drilled securing holes have to be lined up so that the brass pins can be inserted  when the movement is finally assembled.

 

A thick glue such as the resign based Araldite or Loctite Hysol is then put on the feet plates and the face carefully positioned so that the centre hole is in the centre and the seconds hand hole is correctly aligned.

 

And there we have it, a hundred and two year old watch has a new lease of life.










POSTSCRIPT

Three days after wring this post what should turn up but this Tavannes for J.W. Benson that I had bought in. The dial was from a Benson watch but from a different maker, as it would not fit the dial feet had been removed and the dial was stuck to the movement. Fortunately the silicone used was still very soft and was easily removed, also I had a couple of spare dials from wrecked movements but now I only have one. I was not amused, particularly as the case was very dented and required a lot of work.

The good news was that after replacing the dial, its securing screws and a Lever hole jewel then securing the loose roller and working on the hairspring the movement is now in excellent working order and will be one of a batch of 3 or 4 Bensons by Tavannes and Recta (the later a very fine half Hunter) that I will be releasing shortly.