Reply With QuoteI was going to make a joke about 'having some left over for a brew' thinking you'd come across a crazy wives' tale polishing method. Turns out we thought of the same funny :p
Look forward to seeing your results.
OK, maybe not in the sense that the title suggested, but I have a couple of days off work due to unreasonable activity in my insides (don't ask).
Between bouts of melodrama, I'm feeling fine, so decided to catch up on a few jobs I've been putting off due to time constraints.
Over the course of a weekend last December I managed to scratch not only this:
My 1968 5513, but also this:
The newly-built SM300 I was so pleased with just a few days previously.
So, I sulked. Christmas came, Christmas went, 2015 happened and I managed to gain a new way of sticking to my new years resolution and lose some weight.
There's a meeting of church ladies downstairs at the moment, so I don't feel I can indulge in Jermey Kyle at high volume, hence the desire to do something constructive.
I gathered the tools together:
For anybody who hasn't done this, or feels nervous about undertaking what can appear to be a fairly brutal way of treating a watch, the cup of tea is there for both nerrve-settlement and timing purposes - seriously, this shouldn't take any longer to do than a cup of tea takes to drink.
There are two different issues with these watches. The 5513 had quite deep scratches, a nail was catching quite seriously on this one. The SM300 was less serious but has the added complication of a bezel which I'd rather not remove.
TBC due to picture count restrictions
I was going to make a joke about 'having some left over for a brew' thinking you'd come across a crazy wives' tale polishing method. Turns out we thought of the same funny :p
Look forward to seeing your results.
Never heard it called "melodrama" before. Same syllable count I suppose...
First the SM300 - the best way of dealing with the bezel is to mask it off. Masking tape is the natural tool for this task, but I don't have any to hand so electrical tape will do (you'll see that I'm making lots of this up and improvising as I go along)
Makes it look a bit like a Ninja watch.
For this one I started off with 800 grit wet-and-dry, soaked in a small container of water
The technique is easy - observe the direction of the scratches (in this case east-west on the crystal), and using light finger pressure, rub at right-angles to the scratch, so the first pass on this watch was north-south
The reason for this is that it makes it easier to see when the scratches you're tryung to remove have gone, dry it off (this is important - the water will stop you seeing the scratches), then if you're not happy, do it again in the same direction. If you are, go onto stage two:
That's the next grit down (1000 in this case), at right angles to the last set of polishing marks. Again, light finger pressure and only in straight lines. When you think it's done (and this will be quicker than you think, so keep checking), dry it off, check all of the previous polishing marks have gone, next grit down, change direction and start again:
Keep doing this, getting finer and finer with your wet and dry until you arrive at 1500 or 2000 grit and then dry it off and remove the tape:
There you go - you can't see the original scratches!
OK, it still isn't finished...
Next stage is to use a fine grit paste, ideally use Polywatch, but my last tube had split when I looked at it, so I fell back on my old favourite - Silvo (other metal polishing wadding is available). This isn't as good as Polywatch, it doesn't give as "soft" a finish, and it's a little harder work, but it does the job. The technique is to use the wadding in circular motions, all over the crystal (as it will need blending in)
Then leave it to dry
Then polish it off with a soft cloth
Inspect it closely, and if you're happy, put the watch on and retire to watch La Kyle, if not, take remedial action. On this watch, I needed to re-2000 it, then two passes of Silvo to achieve the finish I wanted.
Last edited by dickbrowne; 13th January 2015 at 13:35. Reason: Pctures were wrong - did I mention I was being dramatic?
Originally Posted by dickbrowne
First the SM300 - the best way of dealing with the bezel is to mask it off. Masking tape is the natural tool for this task, but I don't have any to hand so electrical tape will do (you'll see that I'm making lots of this up and improvising as I go along)
Makes it look a bit like a Ninja watch.
For this one I started off with 800 grit wet-and-dry, soaked in a small container of water
The technique is easy - observe the direction of the scratches (in this case east-west on the crystal), and using light finger pressure, rub at right-angles to the scratch, so the first pass on this watch was north-south
The reason for this is that it makes it easier to see when the scratches you're tryung to remove have gone, dry it off (this is important - the water will stop you seeing the scratches), then if you're not happy, do it again in the same direction. If you are, go onto stage two:
That's the next grit down (1000 in this case), at right angles to the last set of polishing marks. Again, light finger pressure and only in straight lines. When you think it's done (and this will be quicker than you think, so keep checking), dry it off, check all of the previous polishing marks have gone, next grit down, change direction and start again:
Keep doing this, getting finer and finer with your wet and dry until you arrive at 1500 or 2000 grit and then dry it off and remove the tape:
There you go - you can't see the original scratches!
OK, it still isn't finished...
Next stage is to use a fine grit paste, ideally use Polywatch, but my last tube had split when I looked at it, so I fell back on my old favourite - Silvo (other metal polishing wadding is available). This isn't as good as Polywatch, it doesn't give as "soft" a finish, and it's a little harder work, but it does the job. The technique is to use the wadding in circular motions, all over the crystal (as it will need blending in)
Then leave it to dry
Then polish it off with a soft cloth
Inspect it closely, and if you're happy, put the watch on and retire to watch La Kyle, if not, take remedial action. On this watch, I needed to re-2000 it, then two passes of Silvo to achieve the finish I wanted.
Thanks for this well presented lesson...will give it a try..now just need to find a nail.
Now the sub. On this, the scratches were deeper, so I started with 400 grit, but the bezel is easily removed so no need to mask it up - you can if you're worried about the metalwork on your case, but if you damage this you're going too fast and expending too much energy, so calm down, slow down, and have a sip of tea.
I started polishing just the area with the deep scratches
As there were a number of other areas with less-severe damage, I did incorporate the whole crystal:
From then on, the technique is the same - finer grades, at right angles to the previous pass:
Then a good Silvo-ing
A final buff
Quick photo, and finish the tea.
All very simple and very satisfying
Now this is a very nice before and after work! In come along the whole process documented as bonus!
I must admit, this looked nerve wrecking!
I wouldn't dare put any rough stuff near my watches. I need a tranq before I size a bracelet. Both yours looks brilliant though. Thanks for taking the trouble to photograph the steps and post them.
Excellent and well documented, thanks for posting!
Good work and nicely documented/photographed, well done!
I take it both of these were Acrylic?
That's the way to do it!
Ideally, I`d finish with 3000grit , followed by metal polish (Autosol) and finally polywatch. I`d also wrap the abrasive paper around a small rubber block. These crystals are v. thick so you can hack quite a bit out of them without worrying.
Best not to use any sort of tool or polishing mop, it's all too easy to generate too much heat and melt the polishing compound onto the plastic.....which then needs attacking with wet and dry paper to get out!
Acrylic crystals have their virtues; they're easy to scratch but easy to refinish too!
Paul
Thank you for an excellent workshop!
Could you provide more details about the products used. Is there a set available with all the grades of grid or does one have to buy them separately. Any brands or links would be appreciated.
Great post and great results to match.
Faaaaantastic results. Well done to that man !
Balls of steel! Congrats
Nice job, thanks for taking the time to give us a photo tutorial.
Very informative.Very interesting and thanks for taking the time to share it here.
Edit. Good job BTW
It is just wet and dry paper any car or plastic model shop should sell the paper in various levels of grit (abrasive) and also the metal or plastic polish (use for headlight restoration).
Much respect and thank you for sharing.
We have guys at work that do the same thing to the paintwork on cars...it scares the life out of me! But proves that if you know what you're doing then the results are spectacular.
Of course most of us will make a right dogs dinner of it.
Andrew.
Wow, excellent results on two stunning watches, thanks for sharing.
+1 thanks very much!
Great work and result and very informative post. Would cape cod do the same as polywatch/silvo??
Very well done, Richard.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Great tutorial and photos, I couldn't do that myself as I'd make a right pigs ear!
Thanks for sharing.
Well... That was impressive and informative... Good work my man!
Great post. Thanks. Think I'd muck it up though.
Thanks for the "how to do it" very useful info.
I wonder what an AD would charge for the same outcome?
Very interesting and potentially useful in future... Thank you for including the pics!
I have seen a similar technique before and I tried it myself with mediocre results. I think the key is patience and there are some refinements in your approach that have inspired me to have another go.
Top job and a brilliant post, thank you very much.
Great post and great results.
And an OP with balls big enough to take 800 grit wet and dry to his watches.
Fair play and thanks for the lesson.
Spot on Richard and thank you for sharing with us.
at what point did you reach the "oh shit, what have i done to my beloveds"
great write up
Jim
I love threads like this. Real hands on information and showing the results. Thanks. :)
To be honest, it's not really that much of a leap of courage - Paul Walker summed it up quite nicely when he said that acrylic scratches fairly easily but polishes up just as easily.
I learnt the technique in my Timex days and have saved lots of crystals which were past it. The seamaster was the easy one as the crystal is still available for that - the dome on the 5513 would be harder to source, but I didn't think it would be an issue.
As for the materials, Halfords do a good mixed pack of wet and dry - make sure you use it wet, and you only need a very small piece. The final polish can be done with lots of things - I've used Cape cod, brasso and chrome polish, all twith acceptable results, but Polywatch is the best thing - I use it with a cotton wool make up remover pad, and you can tell when it's working properly as it gets really hot, but the thing that made me start the thread was that I just wanted to point out that simple household items do a very good job, just take it slow and stop frequently to assess the work.
Unlike Paul, I've never gone to 3000 grit, my watches all work for their keep and I may be fixing the Land Rover in my 5513 tomorrow, so I never strive for perfection and like to take as little material out as possible, which means I can do the same fix many times over.
When I say my watches work for their keep, I mean it - one was scratched whilst moving rubble from an outbuilding and the other whilst chopping wood.
I do smile to myself when people ask if it's ok to wear their watch whilst playing golf or showering
Lol, that was in December - they could only get better after that ;)
Great job👍👍
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