Dial atelier
Draw the dial
Everything is in millimetres, because a dial is 28 millimetres across and every decision on it is a fraction of that. The size is set by the movement and the case you chose on the designer — currently — for —. Two things here are worth using before you like a design: Actual size, which puts the dial on the screen at the size it will really be, and the legibility panel, which measures whether the markers can still be told from the dial behind them.
Take it away
The SVG is vector at true millimetre scale, which is what a dial printer wants. Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y work.
Legibility and room
contrast ratio4.5:1 and over reads at a glance. Between 2.6 and 4.5 is fine in good light and marginal anywhere else — a lot of admired vintage dials live there, so it is a choice, not a fault. Under 2.6 the markers have stopped being markers.
Finish
your dial, twelve waysA dial finish is not a colour. Sunray is a set of radial scratches, guilloché is cut into the brass, tapisserie is stamped, fumé is sprayed darker towards the rim — each one behaves differently as your wrist turns, which no still picture fully shows. Fumé also has a strength: how far in from the rim the spray reaches, from a whisper at the very edge to a tight bright core with the rim colour almost at the centre.
Textures
from the Texture StudioSunray, guilloché, stamped relief, fumé and metallic grain, lit the way a real dial is, are designed in the Dial Texture Studio. Its “Open in Bench” sends a texture straight to this dial; or download its recipe there and load the file here. The build keeps the recipe and draws it at this dial’s size, so it saves, shares and exports like any finish.
Your finishes
made here, named by youStarting points
A finish of your own is a recipe: a ground, up to five layers cut, stamped, brushed or blasted into it — each one kept to a ring if you like, which is how a sector dial is made — and a coat over the lot. Translucent lacquer lets the cut show through its colour, the way a grand feu flinqué does. The recipe goes onto whatever colour the dial is, and a saved build carries its whole recipe, so a finish used on a build in your library cannot be lost with this browser.