Does anyone know how Porsche did the silver inner ring on the gauges in the attached picture (borrowed from a for sale ad here)? When I asked North Hollywood Speedometer about it when I had my gauges restored a year ago, they told me they could not do it. It looks like whatever is between the gauge and the glass was painted or anodized.

 

I have the x71 aluminum guages faces as well. Those guages came with the chrome inner rings. North Hollywood said they could not duplicate or refinish them in chrome only black. Palo Alto speedometer said they could do a matte finish aluminum but not the original chrome. I need to do a gauge restoration as my faces are bubbling and the chrome on the rings is starting to come off. If I could open the guages myself I was thinking of sending the rings to a hotrod shop that specializes in chroming

 

So the finish is like a chromed finish rather than more of a matte finish? I have never had the chance to look at them close up.

I talked to Buz Ras, owner of Seattle Speedometer, and he said he could convert my stock gauges. You might try emailing him at: hello@seattlespeedometer.com

 

Yes the original finish was shiny chrome. With mine overtime likely from UV exposure and/or ageing it turned matte and then began to fail and flake off inside the gauge. I've see others that look brand new at this age though.

 

I have the x71 gauges as well, but my understanding is that the original inner ring is a matte finish with a clear coat. I bought an aluminum faced gauge off eBay that had some of the clear coating peeling off and was told by North Hollywood Speedometer that they can polish off the clear coat, but that the resulting finish will be a shiny chrome finish and that they couldn't reproduce the original matte finish.