Dials

dials

Instrument Dials are a visual representation of the style and technological progression of automobiles.

We try to approach the recreation and modification of dials from a low volume quality perspective.

Remember that most originals were made in huge volumes in their day.

It is technically possible for us to recreate any dial from first principles if you would like it. The question to ask is whether it is economically viable for you to do so for a one off.

We create our artwork from scratch which is time consuming but necessary for an accurate end result.

We not only recreate what existed before, we also create new scales and layouts based on original instruments from the relevant period.

We try to use screen printing whenever possible.

Sometimes we screenprint onto the original dial blank or a laser or forme cut blank.

Other times we screen print onto matt vinyl or pre-painted vinyl and paint the blank in the same paint. We also forme cut all of the holes.

Purists out there would say oh no no no but we defy them in many cases to tell the difference or at the least be able to remove the vinyl once it is applied without extreme methods.

The following dials are a representation of the various methods we employ.

aric oil temperature

We have made these dials with painted or nickel plated lettering.

aric water temperature

We originally only had the water gauge and had to make a scale for the oil temperature.

alfa compressore

Alfa Compressore. We created artwork for the pre-war Alfa logo and applied it to a gauge so that the car, a 1750, could be upgraded to run a supercharger.

delage fuel gauge dial

This Dial replaced the original Nivex gauge in a Delage D8s. The original bellows system had persihed so we used a Smiths gauge & sender.We turned the dial upside down to match the others in the car and rescaled for the number of gallons in the car.

alvis speedometer

Alvis. This set of gauges was difficult as the dials had complex curves and the colour combination was unique.

vw beetle

VW Beetle. Another example of complex curves and colours. It helps that we have a paint shop that will match and mix paint in small quantities.

356 porsche

356 Tachometer

356 Speedometer

BN2 Speedometer. A long running project that should be at an end in 2014.

We have nearly 50 dials to print in the series.

austin healey

BN2 Tachometer

chronometric

Our Chronometric Dial range has just started, with the introduction of our HRD Vincent Dials. We have a range of speedometers, tachometers and clocks.

Our Chronometric Dial range has just started, with the introduction of our HRD Vincent Dials. We have a range of speedometers, tachometers and clocks.

mgb 8000 rpm

An example of change in scale and the application of the original artwork to a different base tachometer. The dial is also embossed in the centre.

gt40 tachometer

This is one of our own series with through dial illumination.

dials

We reprinted this dial as per original then expanded the scale to 10,000rpm to suit a 917 replica being built locally..

917 Porsche.

SPEEDWELL TACHOMETER

We have printed the original Speedwell impulse tachometer dials in 8 and 10.

SPEEDWELL TACHOMETER

The Speedwell artwork was applied to a VDO movement in this case. We have also applied the speedwell artwork to a modern Smiths stepping motor tachometer.

911 PORSCHE SPEEDO

We can print original dials in another colour.In this case the artwork is screen printed on computer cut vinyl.

We also create through dial illumination dials in white which is quite tricky.

This Tachometer was for Peter Brocks Commodore.The original tachometer went missing in the period leading up to his son restoring the car.

We started with a 3000rpm clockwise tachometer, modified the movement, copied the artwork reversed it and changed the scale.

PORSCHE 911 SPEEDO

We have this particular Porsche electronic speedometer in 240, 260 & 300km variants.

Of the original 150 odd Phase 3 XY GT Falcons there are 10000 still on the road.

COMPLEX COLOURS

These dials were made for the T5 Elfin a project that unfortunately was a victim of the GFC.The dial colour is difficult to create requiring inks to be created by hand so there was no bleeding of light through the yellow but illumination of the graduations that were blue and red.

VDO VARIATIONS

We base the majority of our custom gauges on the VDO Vision and International series.We now have literally 100's of different dials. The most recent are gauges for trucks.