Dial do not sit well on movement

[Jin999]

Hi everyone, I had ran into difficulty again on, FML.

What happen is, I had accidentally bent the dial and now I do not sit flat on the movement and hands are not able to be fitted properly.

How can I realign the dial and here's the photo. 

 

Thanks in advance

 

Kind regards

Jin

[yankeedog]

It doesn't  look too bad. Did you back the dial  set screws out enough for it to completely  seat?  I know this sounds obvious,but if I had never done it myself  I wouldn't  ask.

[watchfellow]

It doesn't look that bad to me either. As the other poster said, try releasing the dial screws first, then press the dial down and hold it steady on all sides while screwing them back in. I find that there will always be some "deformation" on the sides of the dial opposite the screws. And if anything is bent, it would usually be the dial feet, not the dial itself. 

[Tudor]

If the dial feet cannot pull it flat, you might want to try placing it on a crystal die, modified for clearance for the dial feet, and then press on the center of the dial. That would lower the center as much as possible.

Slightly more pressure will be needed to then seat the feet, but it would pull the dial center down against the movement tightly (hopefully not too tightly). GENTLE!

[Jin999]

17 hours ago, yankeedog said:

It doesn't  look too bad. Did you back the dial  set screws out enough for it to completely  seat?  I know this sounds obvious,but if I had never done it myself  I wouldn't  ask.

The screws are loosen I look not too bad because I was compressing the dial and movement. 

The minute hand will not sit on the pose, dial centre being too high and I had no idea how to reshape the dial.

[Jin999]

3 hours ago, Tudor said:

If the dial feet cannot pull it flat, you might want to try placing it on a crystal die, modified for clearance for the dial feet, and then press on the center of the dial. That would lower the center as much as possible.

Slightly more pressure will be needed to then seat the feet, but it would pull the dial center down against the movement tightly (hopefully not too tightly). GENTLE!

Hi Tudor,

I did tried to flatten the dial with crystal press but area beyond the dial feets which cannot be pressed are still distorted. Any suggestions how to reshape the dial?

[Jin999]

12 hours ago, watchfellow said:

It doesn't look that bad to me either. As the other poster said, try releasing the dial screws first, then press the dial down and hold it steady on all sides while screwing them back in. I find that there will always be some "deformation" on the sides of the dial opposite the screws. And if anything is bent, it would usually be the dial feet, not the dial itself. 

Hi watchefellow, I tried compressing the dial and movement and the watch stop running. This underside of the dial is touching the fourth wheel pinion and it stops moving. It's tricky here to reshape the dial. It's a black vintage Tissot seastar and no luck finding similar replacement dial on eBay too.

[yankeedog]

Ouch.do you have a large washer ? Big enough so the dial feet  will not touch? Maybe you can bring it back into  shape with thumb pressure. 

[Tudor]

I still suggest crystal dies to shape it. You want even, controlled pressure all around. Press too hard in a single spot and you'll make a dent.

Possibly turn a support from PVC pipe. I've done that for crystal retainer dies...

Edited October 20, 2020 by Tudor

[Jin999]

13 hours ago, Tudor said:

I still suggest crystal dies to shape it. You want even, controlled pressure all around. Press too hard in a single spot and you'll make a dent.

Possibly turn a support from PVC pipe. I've done that for crystal retainer dies...

I will give it a shot when I go back to my bench, thanks Tudor for the info.

[rodabod]

Tudor’s advice is good. You want the smaller die to be as wide as the non-bent section, so you are only correcting the bent section. I could cover the painted side with plastic film (from an old sealable bag) and do not press on any batons. 

[Tudor]

I was thinking a rubber stopper (from a test tube) would be a good plunger to push the dial too, to avoid any concentrated pressure areas.

[rodabod]

Another option is to use a scrap main plate to press against - for the dial and just press the edges with a cup.