Well, if anyone's still following this thread, my 4-inch dial caliper from Hardwick's arrived today (Seattle's not far away), and it's a good tool.
That little plastic one that I was mourning was a compact little piece of work, and actually shirt-pocket-sized. This one is just a somewhat shorter version of the usual sort of 6-inch capacity stainless steel fractional dial caliper, so it's not as compact. It's about 7 1/2" long, and fits an apron breast pocket pretty well but is a little too long for a shirt pocket. Visually, it looks just like the 6" iGaging fractional dial caliper that Rockler sells, but of course is a smaller length and is un-branded.
But it'll do, it'll do. The fractional dial is on the outer ring, where it belongs, and the usual major divisions are marked, with 1/64" minor divisions.
So if you'd like to have something like that in your shop, or your pocket, it's at
formatting link
for $29.50, only a few bucks more than the plastic 6" ones I see around the web.
Best regards, Tom