Homage Forum

A test fit with the 7739. Used a dremel tool to sand five or so millimeters off the the diameter of the dial and modified an old set of St2555 hands. I’ll need to shave down the face of the dial by 0.3mm to accommodate the sandwich top.





So far nothing is cramped or pinched, winding stem is centered and I’m just using some copper wire stock for a movement holder- will make a nicer one, need to get some 2mm square pipe.

Dial design time this weekend!

Vwry nice!!!

Looks great- spacing of secs could be perfect on custom dial?

It’s so close @Mellons! I read your comment and figured I’d better do a test dial before I get something nice made by one of the masters here.

Found a cheap sandwich on eBay for nine bucks, only issue is it had a date window. Thankfully, in the tutorials section I found @donnell ’s fix:

http://www.homage-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2846

Man this forum is awesome!

With the date window closed, the bottom “3” extended and some sanding I was good to go.





The proportions are just a little off. Even with a 3.5mm seconds hand it still runs over the edge of the 9. If I make the numbers a little smaller and run them right out to the edge I can get the seconds track to the right size, but then there’s just a bit too much empty space in the middle of the dial.

I’m thinking I can get away with smaller numbers if I swap out the sapphire with one of @Kp0y ’s domed plexi crystals. I could polish a smaller dome on the interior of the plexi, increasing the distortion at the edge but less near the middle and the lensing effect would make it look balanced. This would also mean that the seconds track and the text circle on the right side would need to be printed as ellipses to appear as circles.

I dropped a superdome on it with the dome inverted



The numbers at the edge get stretched, but the distortion is less toward the center. If I draw the dial design with the numbers and markers compressed, the lensing effect will make the proportions look normal.

Good job,
you're really invested in these builds! I like this photo,
With a concentric brushing and a slight aging or patina, the brass dial would be nice in this bronze case.

I really like that idea! I’ve been thinking about different dial colors, but concentric circles on aged brass would look excellent, especially with a magnifying dome crystal. I’ll have to pop the test dial back on the dremel tomorrow.

Also, I think it was Emilio that put up a tutorial for making a second hand smaller. Can’t find it but that might fix the too long second hand problem.

Hypnogagia wrote:I really like that idea! I’ve been thinking about different dial colors, but concentric circles on aged brass would look excellent, especially with a magnifying dome crystal. I’ll have to pop the test dial back on the dremel tomorrow.

Also, I think it was Emilio that put up a tutorial for making a second hand smaller. Can’t find it but that might fix the too long second hand problem.

Please find below

[DIY] Resize a Panerai seconds hand
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic? ... source=app

Thanks @dj57! I knew it was here somewhere. Going to give that a shot tomorrow along with more work on the dial. Anyone know of a 35-35.5mm exhibition caseback that’s available with any cheap cases?

Did some experimentation with painting the dial. I didn’t take pictures of them, but I tried pistachio with a C3 lume fume, white, white with faux radium burn, brown and green with an asphalt texture. None of them turned out well, but it was good practice. I also tried radial brushing with patina, but that sort of delicate beauty is best left to experts with the right equipment- mine looked too crude.

Finally settled on aged and faded blue



The dial is just for practice and experience, as I’m drawing up a custom dial design that will have words and markers for the subdial.

Used a smoothing broach to soften the sharp edges on the hands that came with the watch, and polished the top a bit (they looked extremely crisp to begin with)



Also, made use of another from the tutorial section and made a faux cannon pinion to cover up the open cannon. Found a broken bronze dial foot, shaved it down and gave it a bit of polish, but not too much. I think it’s a good match for the bronze pips on the bezel.



Lume shot and pictures of the movement coming shortly, just need to get the dial and strap made and this one will be good to go!

Trying to decide between a few different dial designs, figured I’d work on more painting techniques in the meantime. I can’t tell if this looks aged or has the measles. You guys make this stuff look so easy



Going to go for practice round #12 tomorrow