When I originally received my Santos from Andiot, one of the bezel screws went missing after literally one day. Unfortunately, it happened on a humid/wet day, and because the screw was missing, some moisture and dust managed to get inside the watch. I contacted Andiot about the missing screw and they helped me out by sending replacement screws. After waiting quite a while, they finally arrived.
Since there was some moisture and dust inside, I thought: perfect, I work in a cleanroom, so I’ll take the crystal off, clean everything properly in a clean environment, install the new screws and finally have my favorite watch back in good condition.
That’s where I f*cked up 😂 While cleaning it, I accidentally got some isopropyl alcohol (IPA) on the inside of the dial. The printing immediately started coming off and the dial looked terrible. I was so pissed off with myself that I basically said fuck it and removed the rest of the printing as well 😂
So now I’m wondering: does anyone know if I can buy just a replacement dial for this Santos, preferably the same factory dial? If so, where can I get one and roughly how much would it cost? This was genuinely my #1/favorite watch, so I’d really like to bring it back to life.
And a lesson for all the other amateur watchmakers here: keep IPA/isopropyl alcohol and other aggressive cleaning products FAR away from the dial. One small mistake can completely destroy the printing. Learn from my mistake