Components › Dials & Display

THE DIAL

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1. General description

The dial of a watch is the display support for the information it indicates. It is attached to one of the faces of the Movement and appears immediately under the Crystal (watch glass) of the Case. The dial has one or more holes allowing the passage of the pivots and Axes carrying the various hands. In certain cases, larger openings appear on the surface of the dial: the Apertures / Windows. An Aperture / Window opens onto an Indicator (generally a Disc). On the surface of the Indicator are printed the alphanumeric values which are displayed successively in the Aperture / Window.

The dial does not necessarily occupy the entire surface of the Movement, and therefore it is not uncommon to find several dials on a single watch. In this case, each dial is generally dedicated to a specific indication.

The most visible and most looked-at element of a watch, the dial offers a natural medium for aesthetic and artistic expression. While its base is generally metallic, the dial can be made of or adorned with a whole range of Materials.

The manufacturing of dials is generally the work of artisans or specialized companies. Depending on its manufacture, the materials used and its complexity, a dial may require the skills of numerous trades (micro-mechanics specialists, decorators, dial makers, lacquerers, engravers, enamellers, miniature painters, etc.).

2. History

The appearance of the dial in the history of time measurement is largely earlier than mechanical horology. Thus, the Gnomon projects its shadow onto a dial, like the stylus of a sundial. The first dials dividing the day into regular periods thus appeared as early as the 4^th century BC.

The first mechanical clocks were built in the 13^th century. Until the end of the 14^th century, they were devoid of a dial and of hands and indicate the hours, occasionally by a Passing strike. The first Dials rotate around their Axis and indicate the time by passing in front of a fixed Index (hour marker).

Quickly, the Dial becomes fixed and the time is indicated by one, then two hands running along the circular graduation of the Dial. Over the centuries, clocks, then watches, become more complex and provide more and more indications. The hands can thus multiply coaxially or at different places on the Dial. Moreover, the Display by Disc and by Aperture / Window is accompanied by hands from the very origins of mechanical watchmaking.

The Dial is not an essential component. Watches skeleton, for example, do not have any. Reading is then done using Index (hour marker) peripheral to the Movement or, simply, by the position of the hands alone. However, the Dial remains the preferred Display mode in watchmaking, even though digital displays and screens on electronic watches have provided some competition since the 1970s and the advent of Quartz.

3. Different types of Dials

• Dials with miniature painting
• Enamel Dials
• Raw Metal Dials
• Dials with Surface treatments (galvanic, PVD, CVD)
• Meteorite Dials
• Mother of pearl Dials
• Stone / aventurine Glass (crystal) Dials
• Sapphire Dials (synthetic corundum)
• Stamped Dials
• Engraved Dials (machine or hand)
• Guilloché dials
• Lacquered dials
• Painted dials
• Gem-set dials
• “Composite” dials
• Other art dials

4. The dial (interview with Dr Helmut Crott)