What is Pad Print Watch Dial?
Watch Dial Printing: The Art of Precision
A silicone pad is used to transfer ink from image plate to the watch dial
Pad Printing: The Precision of Watch Dial Printing
Do you know that the lines on a watch dial can be as thin as 0.2mm? The dial area of a watch is about the size of a ping pong ball. However, a basic watch dial contains 12 numbers for hour and 60 marks for minute. A difference of several millimeters can cause the mark to be several minutes off. Printing watch dial, as you can see, requires a high degree of precision.
In traditional watchmaking, different printing techniques are employed for different types of watch dials. One of the techniques which is still utilized in luxury watches nowadays, is pad printing.
Outstanding, literally.
The principle of pad printing is using a silicone pad to pick up ink in the shape of the printing image from a steel image plate (called cliché), and then use the pad to transferred the picked-up ink onto the onto the watch dial. Due to the elasticity of silicone, any unevenness or texture on the watch dial do not affect the printing image.
Pad print watch dials thus have the following characteristics: firstly, the images produced can be very fine, because the steel cliché allows great degree of fineness and precision. Also, the ink used in pad printing dries very quickly. This allows you to print multiple passes immediately on top of existing prints, which not only enriches the color but also gives the printed images and texts a certain height. This is why, upon close inspection, pad printed elements on watch dial usually stand out prominently from the rest of the dial. It is, quite literally, outstanding.
Design Freedom
The principle and procedure of pad printing are simple. This allows every parameter of the process to be changed easily. With pad printing, any design you can think of can be precisely realized by altering each of the parameters. For example, you can print images and texts with multiple colors, or change the number of times of printing to create image that stands out more prominently.
By pad printing a watch dial, not only do you design your personalized watch, but also engage yourself in every step of watch dial printing. Every small detail on your watch dial is is a testament of your own crafts.
Watch dials made by our participants
Pad Print Watch Dial Workshop
Come join our workshop at our flagship store @The Mills in Tsuen Wan! Traditional manual pad print machines are used in our workshop. Unlike automatic pad printing machines used in modern industry, manual pad printers allow you to control every element of printing by hand. Every minute detail on your EONIQ watch dial is create by your own hands. You can also combine this with other workshops to make a watch with more personalized components.
Traditional manual pad printer is used at our workshop
4 steps to a hand crafted watch dial:
Start by designing your own watch dial
You may practice the use of the manual pad printer with the trial watch dials provided by us
After you are familiar with the printer, you may print your own design on a brand new watch dial
As your personalized watch dial is printed, our craftsmen will install your watch dial into your watch