Briefly, the processes involved in making and enamelling the copper dial of a watch are as follow. The blank, from which the dial is to be made, is prepared by placing a small sheet of copper on a steel die and making a hole in the centre with a conical punch. This produces a conical projection, the top of which is then filed off, and the hole is broached out to accord with the hole in the steel die. The copper is then trimmed to a disc form, sufficient being left on it to form a rim to retain the enamel, and after having its rim thinned down, the blank is laid for a name and the positions of the feet are marked. The feet may be brazed on with spelter; or, preferably, they may be soldered on with silver solder. To do this, moisten in the mouth a piece of wire having a flattened end, and with it place in position a small piece of solder on the dial, and heat to redness with a blowpipt jet. The silver solder will run, and, on cooling, produce a solid joint without having displaced the foot. The copper dial blank is prepared for enamelling by being cleansed in dilute sulphuric acid, and it is then flattened on a die with the aid of a spatula, and slightly raised to the shape of a lunette.

White enamel for copper dials may be made by incorporating, in a molten state, 14 parts of silver sand, li) parts of borax, 18 parts of red-lead, 2 parts of nitre, 12 parts of oxide of tin, 4 parts of flint glass, and 1/50 part of binoxide of manganese. Utmost care in selecting the materials, and great cleanliness in using them, are essential, and in most cases watchmakers find it desirable to purchase the enamel ready made. A small quantity of the enamel is put in a muffle furnace, removed when red-hot, and immersed in cold water. It is broken up with pestle and mortar until it is as coarse as sand, uniformity in the size of the grains being essential for successful results. The enamel is mixed into a paste with water, and applied with a spatula to the dial blank, which, after having been tapped to level the enamel, is laid aside. When dry, apply the enamel to the other face of the blank, which should be laid on a block covered with soft wax. When dry, the dial is fired; on cooling, it is carefully examined, spots picked out with a graver, and its surface is ground. A shining surface is imparted by a second firing, the blank having been washed and dried previously.

For painting the figures, the white, as the dial blank is now known, has its surface pencilled into divisions while it is attached to a division-plate which has a movable radial rule. The paint used for the figures is a black enamel, capable of fusing at a lower temperature than does the white enamel already applied. The black enamel is finely powdered and worked to the proper consistence with oil of spike lavender. The hour numbers are drawn in roughly, dried by a gentle heat, their ends cut off with compasses having an ivory point, with which the figures are then ruled true. The rest of the figuring is painted in with a fine bru.di, and the dial is again fired. Whilst still hot, it is placed on a flat ring or fireclay, and, with the aid of a pair of spatulas, is made quite straight and flat. The edge is then smoothed with files and with water-of-Ayr stone, and is then gilt. A hole is cut in the dial to receive the sunk disc that forms the seconds dial, and the edge is bevelled from both of the faces so as to assist the solder in holding the seconds dial in place, the latter having its edge shaped to correspond with the groove in the larger dial.

To solder in the seconds dial, run in from the back an alloy (fusible in boiling water) of 5 parts of tin, 3 parts of lead, and 8 parts of bismuth, and after applying a flux a clean and reliable joint will result.