Refurbishing a brushed watch case?

[Shanghaied]

Anyone on CPF into watches? Well I could really use a little help from you guys.

You see I've just bought an used watch with a fine satin/brushed finish that has been worn quite a bit and shows numerous scratches, mainly on the bezel. And it just happens that I've read some time ago somewhere that a brushed case can be refurbished using an ink eraser or even toothpaste.

So I'm just curious, has anyone done this on a watch before? Does it really work? And are there any other relatively simple ways to refurbish a brushed case, or am I stuck with sending the watch to a watchmaker?

Oh some instructions on the 'how' part would be helpful too! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Well, thanks for reading.

 

[Zackerty]

any pictures?

 

[KeyserSoze]

Your best bet is to post and or search over at
http://www.timezone.com/

They have listed how to's before on this issue and they have a toolshop online ( http://www.tztoolshop.com/index.html )that has a couple items that should take care of what you need done. The satin finish bar and a scratch brush pen. These two items should help you out. BTW what kind of watch do you have?


KS

 

[juancho]

It helps to have the case dissasembly, the crystal out of the case and the mov't out so no crown is on the way.
You need very fine emery paper 0000, a chamois rag or other thick cloth a wooden ruler or straight piece of stick, and a magazine or catalog.
Place the magazine then the cloth and the emery paper and then the case crystal side down (without the crystal) your guide is the ruler, push the case accroos the emeril paper with pressure down and very straight, and you will get a uniform satin finish. Do the same with the side of the case.
Sometimes the case have curved surfaces on top, those are taking care with a 12" long by 1" wide wooden slat with a piece of the same emeril paper glue on.
Same to the back of the case.
A watchmaker will have more practice, if you don't want to get your feet wet.
good luck with your project.

Juan C
(retired watchmaker)

 

[TomH]

As Juan stated, you ABSOLUTELY must dissasemble the watch prior to doing this as damage to other parts of the watch will occur. I have always had good luck, at least with stainless steel cases, in using steel wool. You basically start with a medium grade wool and polish the watch with the wool using a progressevly finer grade of wool each time. After you get the case to the finish you want, it wouldn't hurt to use a metal polish and terry cloth on it to protect and seal the finish.

If this sounds daunting, I would strongly suggest that you let a watchmaker handle the job. Don't go to a jewelry store, as they usually send off the watches to a watchmaker anyway. Cut out the middleman and save a little $$$.

 

[KeyserSoze]

You may be able to get by with just a scratch brush pen without disassembly. If the scrateches are significant you will need to disassemble or send to a watch maker.

KS

 

[Frangible]

My titanium cased watch started developing tons of scratches. I tried several dremel brushes at low RPM... plastic (no effect), brass (barely any effect) and steel (worked well).

Titanium scratches soooo easily so I have to periodically redo that from time to time. Word of warning though, it looks more "brushed" than the default factory finish. But good luck keeping that on a titanium case!

 

[Shanghaied]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Went to two respected watchmakers in town today, one asked for about $75 to restore the original brushed finish, the other one (which generally deals with finer watches than the first one) said that I was looking at about $200 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif.

All of a sudden a $55 bead-blast at IWW plus about $20 in shipping does not seem too bad now... especially after reading what has been said here. A bit too much hassle for my taste.

I guess it's still a toss-up between IWW and the local shop (whose only advantage is that it can be done in two days).

Oh since someone asked, the watch is a Timefactor PRS - 7 in steel.

 

[TomH]

[ QUOTE ]
Shanghaied said:
I guess it's still a toss-up between IWW and the local shop (whose only advantage is that it can be done in two days).

[/ QUOTE ]

Given a choice, I'd ship the watch to IWW. I've never had them do any service work to any of my watches, but the guys over at MWR ( www.broadarrow.net ) seem to prefer them above all else. And I have seen before and after pics of their work, very good work indeed!

 

[dtrego]

I've had success removing minor scratches from a titanium watch following this bit of info. As I understand it, the scratches I had were only in the oxide layer that forms on the titanium, not the titanium itself. In any case, a pencil eraser worked very well for me! Unfortunately, I can't say whether the same would work on a steel case or not.

- Dwayne

 

[BobVA]

[No message]

 

[BobVA]

It's pretty easy to remove minor scratches with a "scratch pen" available from the TimeZone toolshop link above, otherwise you're on the path Juancho laid out.

Jack at IWW is a class act, and his bead blast finishes are a work of art. Well worth the wait.
I've had him finish two watches that way and I get a lot of compliments on the result. I think it looks WAY better than a brushed finish.
If you do send it in, you might consider having him AR coat the crystal, too (at least the inside). Really improves readability. (That will add some time, though.)

Cheers,
BobVA

 

[Shanghaied]

Anyone know how long the wait is at IWW for a beadblast?