I made a mistake yesterday… I was putting a dial and hands on a movement. Was having issues with a slight tremor. Not something you’d notice unless you’re looking at it under a microscope, but that’s exactly what I was doing. Could have been caffeine. My arm and shoulder were pretty tense. Maybe I should have eaten a banana. Who knows. Doesn’t really matter. Usually not a big deal, just something that happens sometimes. You deal.

At the same time, my 2yo was playing in the adjacent room. Normal stuff, only he knocked something large over onto the hard floor. Plastic farm play set or something like that. Also a thing that happens, and that you deal with.

Only it happened at just the wrong moment, and combined with the tremor I was having, I jumped and scratched the dial… silvered sunburst dial. Very classy. Also quite fragile. The sunburst effect is a physical one with very fine lines scored out from the center. Silvering is just a few atoms thick of silver. You rub a silver salt powder, and the silver deposits on brass. Alum involved maybe? I forget. I have the recipe written down, and all the chemicals for it in a drawer by my right foot as I type this. Doesn’t matter. It’s fragile, and I scratched it.

To the naked eye, it was visible. Had to be in the right light, and you had to be looking for it, but visible is visible. Not something someone would easily unsee. I don’t leave dust on the inside of a crystal, and I definitely don’t leave scratches on the dial.

If it was my watch, I’d absolutely just go with it, take my lump, and have a nice little reminder. Before Rocinante Watches, I mostly dealt with vintage watches that have been serviced many times, and accidents happen. A vintage dial without a single scratch is a rarity. But it wasn’t my watch.

This particular build has already been hit with a shipping delay, and is already behind schedule by about a week. But I sent the client a message informing him of the mistake. I told him I’d try to fix it, but may need to order another dial. I ordered another right then. Worst case scenario, it’s a day less delay. Best case scenario, I guess I collect dials now. One of these days, I’ll have enough spare parts to make a bonus watch! I also ordered a tool that I thought might be able to fix the dial for next day delivery…

That is, after spending an hour searching for the one I thought I already had. Could have SWORN I had one… Totally don’t for some reason. Loaned out (to whom?). Thrown out (no idea why I’d do that). Most likely scenario is that my memory just sucks… I probably put together an order with one to make the shipping work (overseas shipping is expensive, so I always try to get the most out of my orders from that particular supplier) and abandoned it a time or two…

Anyway, tool arrived today. I did what I could, but it was no use. Scratch is too deep to smooth back out without getting through the silver. I could resilver it, but the texture almost certainly won’t be right either. I could take the new texture all the way around, but then I’d lose the pad printed indices… I’d also have to remove and reinstall the applied indices. To much to go wrong to ensure the time spent, and more importantly the delay for the client, would be worth it. Bummer.

So now we wait for the new dial… I owned the mistake. I apologized for the mistake. I’m fixing the mistake (on my dime, if that wasn’t clear). All of this on the tightest possible timeline to minimize the delay. The client has been cool about the shipping delay. Hopefully he’s cool with this too.

Update: Client is very cool about it! Seriously, I have had amazing luck with such awesome clients! This whole adventure has been amazing!

“No worries at all… Really appreciate the transparency and all you’re doing to make it right, feel like I don’t see that much anymore these days. I am in no rush at all either, it’s been 10ish years with my current watch, waiting a little longer won’t hurt one bit, am just as excited as ever!” -Client