I hear ya. My newest one is proving interesting to say the least. It’s super easy to see the depth from an angle but directly above is not quite so noticeable.
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wish I had the time to learn all that. I’m limited so I’m using GIMP, Photoshop, and PowerPoint for the most part.
I use Photoshop for both my indices and numbers. I am very picky about presentation, so I tend to use a LOT of layers, with each number on its own layer. I then use my math skills to set the angle of rotation for individual numbers in a grid layout. It might seem like a bit of extra effort, but it gives me the ultimate control over my presentation.
PowerPoint. I tried to use Blender but it is too complicated.
Why PowerPoint? True, Blender is a 3D design tool and is too complicated for creating 2D elements such as tick marks, etc. Why not use Gimp? It is free and is a fairly powerful substitute for Photoshop. Inkscape is a decent free alternative to Illustrator when it comes to vector design needs.
You would be surprised how much you can do with just PowerPoint. It is highly underated as a design tool. @Tomas is one of the wizards with PowerPoint. I believe he does all his designing in it.
I’m not discounting PP as a design tool, but it’s primary purpose is presentation, not design. After all, a claw hammer can be used as a chisel. To each their own.
My Photoshop is ancient and I’ve never figured out how to rotate to a certain degree. I can only click and drag… Maybe I just don’t know how but that’s why I use gravit for flat indices but I can actually make 3d ones just as fast if not faster in blender. The mirror modifier is brilliant.
Edit>Transform>Rotate. Your controls are usually at the top of the tool bar on your left.
Hour indexes get rotated by 30 degree increments. Minutes and seconds are rotated by six degree increments.
Well i am actual working with CS 2, before that, only two years ago with PS 6.0. 
Even the old versions are great !
I’ve been using Photoshop since version 4 sometime in the late 1990s. While I use other programs for specific purposes, I generally composite everything together for final imaging in Photoshop.
Google, MS Paint, JPG to PNG online tools and Creator
Gimp & occasionally inkscape, because I’m cheap 
And honestly I find I can do most things in Gimp & the community is great about putting out tutorials explaining everything
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MSPaint???
Lol yeah. Corporate locked down laptop. I get by though 
Oh, that‘s bad… i‘m best friend with our IT man and so i have the luxury of Photoshop in our company.
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Google??
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lol, yep, searching for that right circle or image or backdrop that I can use or do as little as poss to in my limited tools before png’ing it and exporting it to Creator. I use what I have the best I can Can be painfull at times I admit, slower even but I get there in the end. Just means I cant make my own high quality pieces like you pro’s. I do all my clever stuff with many layers in Creator to do what you probably do in one image in Photoshop Does make Creator slow though at times.
Are you saying that you can’t make shapes, images and backgrounds so you use the work of someone else?? The last time I checked the TOS that was not allowed. Have you checked into some of the free graphics apps?
I dont use the work of someone else in that way, There’s plenty of ready made free png shapes to use when you search. For example I might search for Free Black Circle PNG or another example, I might take a Bronze coin, Open it in MS Paint, apply an inner blue circle, then with onlinepng tools make blue invisible leaving me a bronze outer ring as a bezel. That kind of stuff. What ever looks like what I need i’m prepared to work on. Or on another face find the best image of a Pearl I can find then clip a section out for the background of my dials. I dont think any of thats gonna upset anyone. The black dials in my Black Widow were Bathroom mirror frames, The Spider itself was free clipart, the rings on my Black Pearl I think were tax disc holders.
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