Dial printing notes

 

If I had these notes 3 years ago, we could have saved time, money and quite a few sleepless nights. Since I strongly believe that one day, there will be another Australian watchmaking business in need of 'inside knowledge', I am publishing this quick version here, in order to save them time and money. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut for sleepless nights. Dial printing (transfer method) is as old as watch dials themselves. The revolution started in the early 1900s when porcelain pocket watch dials were replaced with mass-produced metal sheet dials. With the popularity of wrist watches, printed dials completely replaced all other traditionally manufactured dials. While the printed dials were used by all watch brands, due to the way watches are manufactured in Switzerland, only a handful of companies specialised in dial making. This is still the case, and to this day, only a select few are in the dial making business, specialising mainly in high value dials. The journey into dial making starts with a dial printing machine manufacturer. One industry leading company is Teca Print, located in Thayngen, literally on the Swiss / German border. Teca Print dial printing machines are used to make dials for all the top Swiss brands. They also provide all the accessories and paint, as well as the 'know how' training (AUD $1500 per day).

Good luck trying to import Swiss paint into Australia. Luckily, a suitable dial pad printing paint is already available in Australia. Look for COATES PAD PRINTING INK TP 300. You will also need thinners and hardeners. All supplied by Milford Astor.

WARNING: safety first. Understanding the hazard of dealing with paint and related chemicals is essential.  A cliché is a metal plate that 'contains' your artwork.  The production of pad printing clichés is highly complex and they are typically manufactured only by pad printing equipment suppliers. We've ordered our first cliché from Switzerland. However, we now have clichés made in Sydney. Eventually, we will have them made 'in house'.

In theory, the pad printing process is straight forward: the ink is applied to the cliché, picked up by a silicone pad, and then transferred to the watch dial. In reality, getting the process to work and then to fine tune it to perfection is an art form. Everything from temperature, humidity, cleanliness, to the exact paint formula, to timing and number of transfers is purely a matter of experimentation until a satisfying result is achieved.

To summarize: the machine, accessories and training come from Switzerland, but all the supplies including local support is available in Australia.

Top Swiss quality dial printing is within reach of an independent watchmaker. However, mastering the technique is challenging and time consuming. Except for a handful of Japanese independents, most other watchmakers are more than happy to outsource dial making to specialists. We are very proud of the fact that our MK2 Curl Curl dial is pad printed in-house and we are already looking into expanding our capabilities in this field in 2023. It goes without saying that our facility remains open to fellow Australian watchmakers. We have nothing to hide! On the contrary, it would be our pleasure to assist you in your horological project.

We have uploaded a short video to Instagram showing the Teca-Print machine in action. Here is the link, check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck9PM3Ahh6J/