It is surprising to see a vintage deep-sea diving helmet design paired with the intricate detail of resin filling on a brass dial. The maker, Rexx Timepieces, successfully combined metalwork and composite filling for this personal workshop project. The dial is constructed from brass, and the maker utilized a laser engraver to etch the diving helmet, bubbles, and octopus tentacles into the surface. The design is complemented by watch indices along the perimeter, featuring rectangular hour markers, plus small circular and tick minute markers.
Once etched, the recessed areas were filled with resin mixed with pigments and mica powder. Specifically, teal and white pigments were mixed into the resin before being poured into the cavities. After the filling, the maker moved into the laborious process of sanding and polishing. The process involved using a needle file, sanding stick, and various sanding stages, including 800-grit, 1000-grit, and 1500-grit abrasive papers to level the surface. The final polishing utilized sanding blocks, polishing compound, and GLOSS PASTE.
This painstaking process resulted in polished brass outlines and numerals inlaid with the teal resin. The turquoise fill and mica give the dial a dynamic appearance as light changes. A notable point about the build is the difficulty in achieving a smooth surface, as the maker noted that getting the surface smooth required several rounds of sanding. This difficulty presents an open question regarding which stage of the sanding and polishing process requires the most work for resin filled pieces.
Project by Rexx Timepieces. Watch it on their YouTube channel: