There seem to be many folk that think that this has to be done professionally for some reason; it might be a different kettle of fish when you are repairing clocks for a living, but if you are just hobbyist, the cost of farming things out makes little sense to me as these clocks will typically only cost £50 at the most.
I have posted this method before, but still see questions about it. Moderators; worth a sticky for the thread?
I am talking about the sort of dials seen on Napoleons and many German wall clocks.
These are easily restored, as you will see, and require no special tools or other equipment at all. A few hours work maybe.
The start:
A German chiming wall clock that needed a complete restoration; I’ll start another thread in a month or three when I’ve done the rest of it.
The dial silvering was badly tarnished and scratched by the hands, and there were a few dings in it. First thing to do was to photograph it, of course, and measure the diameter of the chapter ring.
Restoring the dial:
Obviously all the printed parts had to be removed, and the dial needed a bit of gentle panel-beating to flatten the dings.
This dial has a raised swage around the numerals, unlike the flat Napoleon dials, so a bit more work to do later.
I clamped the outside edge on a disc of MDF and spun it up in the wood lathe (it was slightly too big for the Myford 3.5”. Successive finer wet & dry gave me a fine circular grain, and it was finished with metal polish.
Next job was to wash it with IPA to remove all traces of polish and other things. At this point, don’t touch the front with anything!
Silvering:
This is what scares people; think about it, though. When were the first silvered clock parts made, and when did we discover electricity?
Right.
Silvering powder is available from material dealers, but can be made; plenty of information in many clock books.
The basic idea is to combine a silver salt with a reducing agent, and apply a dampened rag to the dial, rubbing until you see metallic silver appearing.
A final wash with some cream of tartar (probably from your kitchen!) will brighten it up.
Numerals:
Because it was not a flat dial, the entire minute ring and numerals could not be done in one go.
A member here kindly showed me a picture of a similar dial with the same font, so I used that, as it was much better than the original picture. Converted it to a BMP file.
If you think about it, you only actually need 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 0.
With MS Paint, I edited out the hour hand and restored the zero.
I find it’s then easier to turn the image to negative and make the numerals a different colour from white; this makes it easier to remove scratches and spots on the background, which were then white.
The next thing is to painstakingly edit the edges pixel-by-by pixel until it all looks perfect
That done, a change to just two colours and swap back to a white background. These were then printed on to transfer film – I use craftycomputerpapers here, but I’m sure other countries will have such things.
Minute ring:
I did not bother using the photo here; because of the swage on the dial, I couldn’t apply the complete ring, but split it into quarters.
I drew it on white paper with a drawing pen, and used that. Also printed on transfer film x 4. All these have to be lacquered first.
Final job:
Soaked the ring, and applied it using the radius as before. Let that dry, and applied the numerals. Four coats of lacquer, new keyhole grommets and this is what we end up with.
Not perfect, maybe, but a darn sight better than it was!
I have posted this method before, but still see questions about it. Moderators; worth a sticky for the thread?
I am talking about the sort of dials seen on Napoleons and many German wall clocks.
These are easily restored, as you will see, and require no special tools or other equipment at all. A few hours work maybe.
The start:
A German chiming wall clock that needed a complete restoration; I’ll start another thread in a month or three when I’ve done the rest of it.
The dial silvering was badly tarnished and scratched by the hands, and there were a few dings in it. First thing to do was to photograph it, of course, and measure the diameter of the chapter ring.
Restoring the dial:
Obviously all the printed parts had to be removed, and the dial needed a bit of gentle panel-beating to flatten the dings.
This dial has a raised swage around the numerals, unlike the flat Napoleon dials, so a bit more work to do later.
I clamped the outside edge on a disc of MDF and spun it up in the wood lathe (it was slightly too big for the Myford 3.5”. Successive finer wet & dry gave me a fine circular grain, and it was finished with metal polish.
Next job was to wash it with IPA to remove all traces of polish and other things. At this point, don’t touch the front with anything!
Silvering:
This is what scares people; think about it, though. When were the first silvered clock parts made, and when did we discover electricity?
Right.
Silvering powder is available from material dealers, but can be made; plenty of information in many clock books.
The basic idea is to combine a silver salt with a reducing agent, and apply a dampened rag to the dial, rubbing until you see metallic silver appearing.
A final wash with some cream of tartar (probably from your kitchen!) will brighten it up.
Numerals:
Because it was not a flat dial, the entire minute ring and numerals could not be done in one go.
A member here kindly showed me a picture of a similar dial with the same font, so I used that, as it was much better than the original picture. Converted it to a BMP file.
If you think about it, you only actually need 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 0.
With MS Paint, I edited out the hour hand and restored the zero.
I find it’s then easier to turn the image to negative and make the numerals a different colour from white; this makes it easier to remove scratches and spots on the background, which were then white.
The next thing is to painstakingly edit the edges pixel-by-by pixel until it all looks perfect
That done, a change to just two colours and swap back to a white background. These were then printed on to transfer film – I use craftycomputerpapers here, but I’m sure other countries will have such things.
Minute ring:
I did not bother using the photo here; because of the swage on the dial, I couldn’t apply the complete ring, but split it into quarters.
I drew it on white paper with a drawing pen, and used that. Also printed on transfer film x 4. All these have to be lacquered first.
Final job:
Soaked the ring, and applied it using the radius as before. Let that dry, and applied the numerals. Four coats of lacquer, new keyhole grommets and this is what we end up with.
Not perfect, maybe, but a darn sight better than it was!
