Hello all and good evening. On my Geneve after sending for service it became apparent the movement had been stuck on the dial with glue, this had been due to one of the feet from the dial being lost. One member from the forum previously mentioned it would be possible to solder a new foot on rather than replacing the dial with an original one. From everyone's experience is this something that can damage the dial? My watchmaker does not want to do it for that reason. Any ideas?
Thank you for your reply, I would be interested in @Archer's reply as well. I am using the watchmaker you recommend to me, he is very good and detailed and a very nice guy.
I can understand having reservations about this method and I hope you find a satisfactory solution. I also hope @Archer weighs in as I respect his work and methods.
My watchmaker typically has a very can-do attitude towards everything, manufactures parts, even complicated ones for me when needed and knows a lot about his craft but when I approached him with a TAG Heuer F1 with snapped dial feet that needed soldering he basically said if I do it it could come out ok or it might not and its not really possible to say, much like dial cleaning he doesn't want to do it in general but will if the customer insists and is willing to accept that it could be ruined.
I bought a dial that had the feet snapped off. My watch man reapplied the feet using the same machine as in the link, with no damage to the face. One was perfect the other is a little off so the dial will not fit the correct movement. He was so stressed out doing it that we let be. I have heard of other watchmakers using pierce earring posts and epoxying them in place.
Perhaps he does not have the machine from the link. But even so it is tricky, I could insist he solders on and I take responsibility. He is looking for an original replacement dial, this may take time but is another option. I had a look on ebay but the dials are different to mine. If anyone has an original Omega Geneve dial for an automatic date watch warch ref 166.070 please let me know. I will include a pic.
I have used dialdots with great success . And in other places or on other dials they didn't work . All depends on the movement and dial .
Ive used Aldi in Italy, I think Jack at IWW in the US can do it also. Aldo work is amazing but takes forever, I'll not use him again