How are drop indices fitted to a dial?
Drop indices are made in one of two ways, like other hour markers. Applied markers are separate small metal parts. Pins on the back of each one hold it to the dial. Printed markers are flat ink, laid straight onto the dial surface. One reviewer described applied drop indices as unusual and rarely seen in dial design. The shape has also drawn legal attention: a US design patent protects the look of a teardrop-shaped mounting for a watch hour marker.
Which watches use drop indices?
Laurent Ferrier fits drop indices to its watches. Isotope uses teardrop-shaped hands and hour markers as a house style, and calls them ‘lacrima’. A dial does not have to use the shape at every hour. On the Monro Ocean Adventurer, a dive watch, only the markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock are roughly teardrop-shaped.
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