Notches on dials - redial?

Archer

In many threads there have been debates about redials, and often a thing that is brought up is the presence of a notch somewhere on the dial, and it is often seen as a sure sign of a redial. While it certainly can be a something that happens during a redial (used to orient the dial properly during printing), I have seen plenty of dials fresh from the factory with these notches in them.

Since I have two such watches in my shop right now, I thought it would be a good time to share these with you - the first is a Jenny Caribbean watch I'm servicing, and you can see the notch at 3 o'clock here:



This is the first service this watch is getting according to the owner, so although it's possible this is a redial, it is highly unlikely.

Often the term "factory fresh" dial is used when asking if one has ever been seen. It just so happens that I ordered a brand new dial for a Sinn U1, which arrived last week. This dial has never been in a watch, so it is even more unlikely that a dial coming from Sinn, through their distributor, would be a redial:



Now not all dials I order from brands have notches, but I've seen enough of them to be pretty sure that dials do certainly come from the factory this way.

When talking about vintage watches, I think the absence of a notch likely tells you more than the presence of one does.

Cheers, Al

janice&fred

Let's take this down a notch.