# Dial Replacement



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

I love the dial on the orfina mkii watch. Which size dial from Mr Yao will fit my mp to make it look like that.

Will the dial from a smiths w10 fit the mp watches?


----------



## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

i doubt the smiths would,even it was the right size the dial feet would probably have to be relocated, which would bugger up the finish on the dial (altho i have seen stick on dial feet somewhere)







,just measure the size of the smiths dial, and ask roy or someone else who has one for the dial size of the mp.


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Err I think Mr Yao is the person best qualified to answer question 1..

As for question 2, anything is possible with a dremmel and superglue  ( it wont drop straight on without modification or botching...)


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

jasonm said:


> Err I think Mr Yao is the person best qualified to answer question 1..
> 
> As for question 2, anything is possible with a dremmel and superglue  ( it wont drop straight on without modification or botching...)


I heard that might take a while though


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

ernestrome said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> > Err I think Mr Yao is the person best qualified to answer question 1..
> ...


A sppedbird dial would do the job too i think.


----------



## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

If you like the look of the Smiths W10 why not buy a RLT-69?


















photo by Nalu


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

Good point, i am actually not a great fan of railroad tracks, but would tolerate them on a original w10. The rlt 69 has crossed my mind before though. However i much prefer auto's to manuals, i am not sure why.


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

ernestrome said:


> Good point, i am actually not a great fan of railroad tracks, but would tolerate them on a original w10. The rlt 69 has crossed my mind before though. However i much prefer auto's to manuals, i am not sure why.


In fact i should really have got one of these Swiss military style watches off roy, but the Mp came up first.

http://www.rltwatches.co.uk/acatalog/Swiss...tary_Style.html


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> If you like the look of the Smiths W10 why not buy a RLT-69?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now if that was in 40mm


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

ernestrome said:


> jasonm said:
> 
> 
> > Err I think Mr Yao is the person best qualified to answer question 1..
> ...


Yep, but at least you know youve got the correct answer


----------



## peterh (Feb 6, 2007)

ernestrome said:


> Good point, i am actually not a great fan of railroad tracks, but would tolerate them on a original w10. The rlt 69 has crossed my mind before though. However i much prefer auto's to manuals, i am not sure why.


I also prefer auto's.

I was happy to pay a little extra to have my RLT '69 supplied with an auto movement. Thanks Roy.


----------



## quoll (Apr 20, 2006)

I am a bit of a fan of this Mk XI style. First, an O&W MP with a Yao dial ( *the diameter is 32mm* BTW) with date:










and then without date (still Yao 32mm):










and finally a Roy SMS02 with an acrylic crystal fitted:










All three are autos. The Yao dials are the same size as those fitted to the Quad 10.

For railroad tracks I have the PRS53:


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

Is there much difference between the yao and roy dials, in terms of lume etc?


----------



## quoll (Apr 20, 2006)

THe Yao dials are slightly better than the SMS, but neither are in Seiko territory. The biggest difference is the colour - the SMS has the green applied lume on top of the white indeces, while the Yao's lume (which glows green) is integrated into the white indeces. In both cases only the 12, 3, 6, 9 and hands have lume, as per the original MkXI spec.


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

quoll said:


> THe Yao dials are slightly better than the SMS, but neither are in Seiko territory. The biggest difference is the colour - the SMS has the green applied lume on top of the white indeces, while the Yao's lume (which glows green) is integrated into the white indeces. In both cases only the 12, 3, 6, 9 and hands have lume, as per the original MkXI spec.


What is it that makes the lume on the smith watches appear yellow/gold, is this just age patina or a different type of lume? The lume on the PRS1 has tritium. Do the Yao dials have that?


----------



## quoll (Apr 20, 2006)

The Smiths probably has radium lume ( I am not sure) that typically ages to that golden/tan colour. It was phased out in about 1968 for safety reasons. The Yao and SMS (and most other modern watches) will have Superluminova. Tritium has the advantage of being not only light-storing, as Superluminova is, but also produce the luminosity via radioactive decay providing the scintillation of the light emitting chemicals in the lume compound.

For non-light storage lume, Radium was first replaced by Promethium, and then by Tritium. Tritium is a very weak radioactivity emitter and is much safer. Both Promethium and Tritium suffer from short half-life - they are just about spent in 10 years.


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

quoll said:


> The Smiths probably has radium lume ( I am not sure) that typically ages to that golden/tan colour. It was phased out in about 1968 for safety reasons. The Yao and SMS (and most other modern watches) will have Superluminova. Tritium has the advantage of being not only light-storing, as Superluminova is, but also produce the luminosity via radioactive decay providing the scintillation of the light emitting chemicals in the lume compound.
> 
> For non-light storage lume, Radium was first replaced by Promethium, and then by Tritium. Tritium is a very weak radioactivity emitter and is much safer. Both Promethium and Tritium suffer from short half-life - they are just about spent in 10 years.


I will need to find a dial with tritium i think.


----------



## quoll (Apr 20, 2006)

I think that the current CWC G10 has tritium lume (correct me if I'm wrong anybody). A military watch with a 'T' in a circle should denote tritium, but unfortunately many 'mil-style' watches use the symbol without actually using Tritium. I am not sure whether that applies to the O&W MP, which does have the logo. On some watches you will also see 'T-Swiss Made -T' at the 6 o'clock index. The advantage Tritium has is that it will still be glowing well 8 hours after dark - Luminova fades quite quickly.

Most watches that have the "Wow, look at that lume!" factor are actually Super Luminova.


----------



## James (Jul 17, 2006)

yep radium on the Smiths. realize every time you look at a radium piece someone had a good chance of getting cancer. in earlier days of radium pieces women were usually employed to do the dials and it was a common practice but not a condoned practice to bring the tip of the brush to a fine point in ones lips with a twirl, a lot of people caught cancer and would imagine died.


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

I heard stories that they used the lume paint for freaky make up, just playing around not knowing what harm it would do them in later life. In fact the "new wonder glow in the dark material" was used for all sorts of play activities as well as supposed medical cures.


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

Is there anywhere apart from mkii watches that sells dials in the style i like (mkxi/mod 6b). I know roy sells dials but none in the style i am looking for.


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

nope....

there are companys that will custome make you a dial but it wont be cheap.....Whats up with a Yao one?


----------



## ernestrome (Dec 27, 2006)

jasonm said:


> nope....
> 
> there are companys that will custome make you a dial but it wont be cheap.....Whats up with a Yao one?


Nothing i suppose. Does roy make the swiss military style watches?


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

ernestrome said:


> ernestrome said:
> 
> 
> > Good point, i am actually not a great fan of railroad tracks, but would tolerate them on a original w10. The rlt 69 has crossed my mind before though. However i much prefer auto's to manuals, i am not sure why.
> ...


He does, drop him a email, Im sure he can answer your questions


----------



## murph (Aug 14, 2006)

pg tips said:


> I heard stories that they used the lume paint for freaky make up, just playing around not knowing what harm it would do them in later life. In fact the "new wonder glow in the dark material" was used for all sorts of play activities as well as supposed medical cures.


Lol, the mind boggles. What would that do to the old john thomas.









I quite like radium lume as it seems to age nicely in many cases. Not on the above before anyone asks.









In fact I think I prefer a bit of patina/ageing on any lume.


----------



## lysanderxiii (Nov 10, 2006)

> For non-light storage lume, Radium was first replaced by Promethium, and then by Tritium. Tritium is a very weak radioactivity emitter and is much safer. Both Promethium and Tritium suffer from short half-life - they are just about spent in 10 years.


Promethium has a half life of 2.6 years. The short life of the radioactive emiter source was the reason Pm fell out of favor in self-luminous paints. Both Pm and H3 onlt emit beta particles, which are too weak to penetrate the skin, let alone the steel watch case. Radium emits alpha and beta particles as well as gamma radiation.

Tritium paints use by CWC have a bad habit of not working or being extremely weak after about 8 years. My 10 year old CWC barely glows at all, and a 1989 CWC is completely dead. The light emitting base is what dies, not so much a lack of beta-particles from the tritium.

One of the beauties of Super-Luminova is that it can be mixed in to various colors. So that aged golden-tan color can be made.


----------



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Scary and sobering article on radium lume...

http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/radium.html


----------



## strange_too (Feb 19, 2007)

JonW said:


> Scary and sobering article on radium lume...
> 
> http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/radium.html


Yes, but it's happened in all industries in the past. People just didn't know the risks.


----------



## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

strange_too said:


> JonW said:
> 
> 
> > Scary and sobering article on radium lume...
> ...


This is so true


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

when I was 16 I went to work for a farm building company. We did the roofs, big 6x3 foot corrugated blue asbestoes sheets, we used to carry them up ladders on our backs easily 60 feet to the apex probably higher.

Only years later did i find out the scary bit, to get the things to fit properly you had to cut a bit off a corner of each sheet, we piled them 5 high and used an angle grinder to go straight through them. The dust was unbelievable and of course only wimps wore masks!

It was years later when as a mechanic we were stopped from blowing brake drums clean with a compressed air line and vaccum cleaners were introduced that I realised what asbestos dust could lead to.

I've had lung xrays since and nothing showed up but aparently it can take 30 years before it shows any signs.

Aparently MDF dust is bad for you and god knows how much of that stuff I have cut in the past 5 years!

If I'm not here tomorrow you know why


----------

