Fix for a Slow dial on 746 Telephones and 706 Telephones

Vintage 746 telephone and 706 telephone dials are lovely high quality mechanical devices (similar in many ways to antique clocks) however because they are mechanical they can start to run slow over time (usually many years). The instructions below explain how to clean/lubricate the speed governor in these antique telephones to fix a slow running dial.

Please note, a slow running rotary dial can cause problems dialling out if you are with some of the smaller telephone providers that use there own telephone exchange equipment such as TalkTalk (this is a very common problem).

To Access the Vintage Phone Dial Mechanism

1) Place a piece of sticky tape over the clear centre dial cover and pull if off quickly to safely remove the clear plastic centre dial cover.

This process is shown in the picture below:

2) Remove the paper label and then carefully unscrew the screw in the centre of the telephone dial, to remove the clear plastic (with a flat blade screwdriver).

3) Remove the small wire retaining clip from the vintage telephone dial, this is easily removed with your fingers (see the picture below)

4) Lift out the 746 telephone number plate backing out using a piece of sticky tape (as shown below).

5) The inside of the vintage dial will look very similar to the photograph below. However although the inside parts will be the same shape they may well be different colours and materials. This is because some parts of the vintage telephone dial mechanism may be plastic, others may be brass (especially in the older 1960's vintage 706 Telephones).

6) Then apply a small amount of thin "watchmaker’s oil" onto a cotton bud and use the cotton bud to clean out the dial governor cap. NEVER use WD40 as this will cause the dial to fail in a few months, its one of the worst thing you can use on these iconic vintage telephone dials.

IMPORTANT: Cleaning the telephone governor is far more important than lubricating, so make sure you are very patient and remove all the grime before lubricating.

Note: If you have access to a fully evaporating cleaning solvents (such as alcohol) clean out the telephone dial governor cap first before lubricating with watchmakers oil, again use a cotton bud for this. This extra step will ensure your vintage rotary telephone dial will remain at the correct speed for much longer than just lubricating by itself.

7) Move the cotton bud from side to side to get to the complete insides of the cup (see above and below).

8) Then replace the telephone Number dial backing (see below).

9) Replace the small wire retaining clip (see below).

10) Replace the clear plastic finger dial and centre screw and tighten the screw (see below).


11) Test that the vintage telephone dial rotates OK (to make sure the procedure has worked) and then finally replace the paper label and push fit the plastic centre cover. Then test the dial again.



All should now be OK with the vintage telephone dial. A simple repair on the UK's nostalgic 746 Telephone.

This process should work at least 70% of the time. However, if this procedure does not solve your telephone dial speed problem you may have to contact a vintage GPO telephone restorer for help or advice. Good antique telephone restorers should also have access to complex rotary telephone dial testing and speed / ratio calibration equipment.

When you buy any refurbished old telephones most good telephone restorers should have already cleaned/lubricated and calibrated the dial so that they will work on all telephone lines, even from different providers with less forgiving telephone exchange equipment such as TalkTalk etc.

Once this task has been completed the telephone dial should give good reliable service for many years to come.

Changing the Microphone in a Bakelite Telephone

Old British Bakelite Telephones such as the 200 series and 300 series telephones used the same handset. This Bakelite handset was known as a model no 164 handset, and was used for over 30 years. It was the standard telephone handset in 1929 and was manufactured all the way through to the early 1960's.



Compared to today’s modern telephone handsets it has a very good ear piece (or receiver). Its only weakness is that the microphone (or transmitter) in the mouthpiece does not live up to today’s expectations of sound quality. This lack of sound quality is only noticeable to the people at the other end of the telephone call. When you are using one of these antique telephones the person at the far end will think you are calling them from the bottom of a well :-) This can be rectified by swapping the old carbon granule microphone out with a modern electronic (electret) microphone. Several makes of replacement electret microphones are available however they must be designed for use in old telephones.

The instructions below show you how this microphone change can be performed.

1) First remove the Bakelite mouthpiece from the handset. If you are unsure how to remove it safely, please see the details on our web page removal of a bakelite mouthpiece.

2) The old Carbon Granule Microphone should just lift out (it is not hard wired).


3) Use a small flat bladed screwdriver to remove the old microphones spring clips (see photographs below).



4 ) Attach two wires to the new electronic microphone ideally red and white wire should be used to make life easier when you fit it (see photograph below). Thankfully new electret microphones used in these vintage telephones are not polarity sensitive, so it does not matter which way round you connect the wires.

5) Connect the new red wire from the microphone to the old red wire inside the mouthpiece, and the new white wire to the old white wire inside the telephone mouthpiece.


6) Modern electronic microphones are smaller than the old carbon granule ones, so you will usually need to cut a small piece of foam to fill the gap to stop the new microphone from rattling around inside the old telephone handset.

7) Finally refit the Bakelite mouthpiece on your handset and test the Bakelite telephone.



Providing the rest of your antique telephone is in good order, the sound quality and usability of your old Bakelite Telephone should be significantly improved.