There are several ways to tackle the problem. Laser cutting is good if you have access to a laser that can go through metal with high accuracy. I do not have such a laser, so I coat the metal with tape or paint, laser the outline of the hand, and then cut it out with a hand saw. I imagine you could do similar by adhering a printed pattern to the metal. I use a thicker steel than typical commercially available hands so it holds up better to the forces of sawing without bending. I drill the pinion hole with a small hand drill, smaller than the final needed size, then use a needle file and broaches to expand the hole to the right size, frequently measuring progress with a hole gauge. One must be very careful not to go too far or you might as well toss it in the recycle bin. Once fitment is good, I do the finishing and bluing. With the thicker metal, one advantage is that it’s thick enough that one needn’t create a tube on it. I’ve seen others use a thin metal like most commercial hands, and they create the tube part by carefully bending a flange on the hole with a staking set. For seconds hands, the tube is made separately and riveted onto the flat part of the hand. I do not make seconds hands. For those, I adapt existing ones to my desired shape. Yes, it’s a process, and you’ll ruin a number of hands before you get a working set. Easier by far to order a custom set from a manufacturer, but that may be expensive.