This dial has two rings because the household changed

A round dial, drawn flat and large. Two rings run round it: 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 OZ on the outside, 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 450 G on the inside. One needle, resting between the 12 OZ and 16 OZ marks. The enamel is chipped at the rim.

Two scales on one face means this dial has outlived at least one change of mind about how to measure things.

Why does one dial carry two different units?

Because the scale itself never got replaced — only the way its owner was taught to read it changed.

A set of scales bought when ounces were the only unit anybody used doesn't need retiring once grams take over; the spring and the needle inside don't know or care what the numbers around the edge mean. Printing both rings on the one face means the object survives the changeover instead of being thrown out for it, which is presumably why so many old dials still have both.

What is the needle actually doing, resting between two marks?

Pointing, not rounding — which is a different relationship with a number than watching a digital display settle on one.

A dial doesn't decide where between 12 OZ and 16 OZ the weight sits; it shows the true position and leaves the reading to whoever's looking. A digital scale hands over a settled figure and nothing else. A dial hands over the actual position and the judgement both, which is more information, not less, even though it looks less precise on the page.

What makes a good version of this?

Choosing which unit is doing the work and which one is along for the ride.

A scale used daily in grams with the ounce ring mostly ignored is a different object from one where both rings still get read depending on whose recipe is open that day — an inherited one in particular, the way a recipe card gets read in whichever hand wrote the correction. The needle's actual resting position matters too: parked exactly between two marks reads as a specific, remembered weight rather than a generic dial drawn for decoration.

Can this show a real scale brand's dial face?

Not their exact face design or their printed name — those belong to whoever made the scale. The idea of a dual-unit dial isn't anybody's invention to license.

Two rings on one face is a solution every scale maker with customers living through a unit change arrived at independently, the same way a jug's graduations are arithmetic rather than a house style. An invented dial, drawn fresh, is free to show the exact reading somebody actually remembers rather than a manufacturer's stock photography.

Does this only apply to weight?

No — any measuring tool that had to survive a change in how a household counts things ends up looking like this.

A thermometer with two temperature scales down its stem. A tape measure with inches on one edge and centimetres on the other. Anything printed with a scale along its own body solves the same problem the same way — a butter wrapper measured out in weight lines is doing exactly this, just without a needle to read.

Isn't a needle just less accurate than a number on a screen?

Less precise to a decimal point, not less accurate about what's actually on the pan.

A digital scale rounds to whatever its display allows and states that as fact; a dial shows the real, unrounded position and trusts the cook to read it, which is closer to the truth of a lopsided lump of butter than a tidy digital number pretending otherwise. Both are correct instruments for the job. They're just honest about different things.

Does it print well?

Yes, drawn as a flat face rather than a photographed one, with the two rings kept visually distinct.

Cream for the ground reads as enamel without needing a texture. Black for one ring and red for the needle and the second ring is enough separation to keep both scales legible at chest size; more than two colours starts fighting the numerals for attention. The chip at the rim is worth keeping small — one flaw, not a distressed finish over the whole face.

How do I get one made?

Describe the dial at JustOG — both scales, where the needle should rest, and how worn the enamel looks. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the shop.

Two rings, one needle, resting exactly where somebody left it.