Collection: Learn about watches: Sandwich dial for improved lume performance

To achieve the brightest lume, after creating the best mix of luminous paste (we'll cover this in detail in another guide), we need to maximize the area and thickness of the application. There are two common ways to apply lume onto a dial: printing, or lume filling. The prior is extremely challenging after multiple layers of printing, as the lume paste will start to flow to the side and affect the printed shape. The latter is also challenging and generally costly as this method will require metal indices or shaped dial features designed with lume filling in mind.

This is when sandwich dial comes to the rescue. A sandwich dial is a dial that consists of a luminous bottom layer and a top layer with design elements and cutouts that expose the lume underneath. The bottom layer includes large recessed areas that will allow generous and easy application of luminous materials. Therefore, if done correctly, a sandwich dial can easily glow brighter than a dial with over 30 layers of printed luminous materials.

Beware of fake sandwich dials in the market though, as we do have dial makers cutting the cost by simply stamping the metal plate and filling a shallow layer of lume at the recessed areas. These dials will have significantly weaker lume and less depth on the design of the dial.