Thanks Al. Do you remove these kind of hands in a different way to a normal hand, or just with extra care?
Not sure I would call it different - there are a few different types of hand removal tools out there. I personally use hand levers almost exclusively, as I find I have much more control than when using say the Presto style hand removers.
The first thing is to protect the dial, and for that I use a variety of small bits of plastic cut to specific shapes, and that can be stacked for different thicknesses. When removing a tight hand I try to use the levers to "grip" the tube of the hand as much as I can, so with a tight hand like this I suppose I use more force inwards on the levers than I do with hands that are not tight. But if the hand is very close to the dial like on these sub-dial hands, it can be difficult to get under the hand enough to actually grip the tube with the ends of the levers.
No matter if you use levers or a Presto style remover, polish the surfaces that contact the dial so they are super smooth, and have no burrs. Burrs on these tools can be a killer on a dial - I ask me how I know!
I have tried many different levers, and actually just yesterday received a shipment of watch tools from a company called VOH. Many people hold up Bergeon as the gold standard for watch tools, and they once deserved that reputation, but the modern tools they sell often leave a lot to be desired. For the items that VOH makes, they are in my view the best. I've likely said this before here and in other places, but their screwdrivers are very well made and the blades are second to none. I ordered new "V" sharpened blade refills from them, as well as a full set of HSS hollow ground blades, and also a full set of beryllium copper blades for working on really high end stuff - have not tried them before so we'll see how they hold up.
I also bought some movement holders and 2 sets of hand levers. The levers I use most days here have a shallow angle to them, and these are much steeper angled, so they should lift the hand off the dial with less travel of the levers if you get what I mean. The blades on the smaller set are also quite thin, so these will be good for sub-dial hands I hope.
The worst case is a hand that is pressed on tight, and right down to the dial. In some cases the only way of removing this is to remove all other hands first, then loosen the clamps or screws holding the dial feet, then slowly/carefully remove the dial itself - this is after liberally cursing the person who put the hands on prior to you getting the watch!
😉
Cheers, Al
