Homage Forum

Hi guys,

Its been almost a decade I'm in this forum, my fascination by Gilt dial and Aluminium insert drive me to post this Question of how / what is the process to produce such beauty.

Gilt dial can be seen in Panerai California (which come from Rolex), Rolex 6542, 6200, etc
Also some other diver/ reg watch in the 50-70's era

And by aluminium insert, i mean like Seiko and the older rolex insert.

As homage builder so far engraving and color filling is my get around way in producing dial and insert
But I cant stop my curiosity of how those item was made

Got No clue on how gilt dial made.
Is it print transfer?

For insert:
I know it was made from Aluminium and then the anodise it in color, but how can the minute and marker impression created?
Are the manufacturer masking it first before anodising ?

i believe the polished disc was pad printed for the gilt dials

btw ,,the hands aren't brown or rusty its just the light

New forum so I don’t know if technically this counts as a dead topic but a gilt dial I understand is made by applying a gold finish to a brass dial, then printing the text/numerals/tic marks in a non-conductive paint with a dial printing pad, then the dial is painted entirely with the final dial color (traditionally black), then through galvanization (I think) the black paint covering the non-conductive text/numerals/tif marks is removed leaving little windows to the gold color below. If you look at a gilt dial the lettering is slightly recessed.

There is also the bastardized definition where gilt is a gold and black dial regardless of how it’s made.

[mention]jrlmsla[/mention] That is my understanding as well.
I wonder why modern watch makers don't use this method any more.

Bump, curious if any DIY'ers have done gilt dials.

Haven’t but I am working on a decal over a polished brass dial. Should have similar effect

I worked some with printed transparent decals over brass plate base with decent results.
The gilt you can see is the mirror polished brass plate.
Post treatment of surface is done with lacquer which is sanded 24hours after application, and then polished with Infinity sponge pad (korean) for mirror polishing.
In this case I preferred the surface to be more textured since the intent is to age it.
Luming is hand applied and done with UV resin so drying is controllable with a torch.
Here: Decal quality is a must and must be treated with a couple of lacquer coats after printing otherwise cutting and application can be nightmarish and with lots of waste.

Best
M.

Thank you for sharing your process tips.
This lume work is amazing.
Congrats.