I Can Make Your Watch Look NEW!

A wee while ago a customer brought in her Omega watch. The glass was quite scratched, and it looked generally rather worse for wear, so we discussed fitting a new sapphire crystal. she liked that idea, and was even happier when I suggested I could re-groom the case to make it look like new again. I ordered a new factory glass and gasket, and she took her watch home to wear while we waited. The glass had to come from Switzerland, so there was a bit of a wait, but it arrived just the other morning, and she dropped the watch off later that same day.

I started stripping the case down before I got the idea to do a blog entry on it, so the photos pick up around the time I realized I needed to make a special tool to help disassemble the case. I could probably have cheated and mumbled something along the lines of "best I could do etc..." but this is a diamond set Omega with solid 18ct yellow gold bezel and tubes in the bracelet, so it had to be done right.

So the first photo I took is of making a tool to help me remove the bezel. Without doing this I would not be able to re-grain the case properly. Normally in the past I have found these bezels come out a little differently, but I think this was the first diamond-set version I've done, so it was a bit of a learning experience.... anyway, I used this little jig to reach the inside lip of the bezel and used a wooden mallet to lightly tap around the case, rotating it all the time. Bronte the apprentice was away sick, so not having three hands, I had to do the camera work myself... hence no action shots.

All that dirt is actually quite bad for your links. It causes significant wear in the stainless pins holding it all together and causes the bracelet to stretch. Regular ultrasonic cleaning (which we can do for you) is the best protection for your watch.

On the right here is the glass gasket. A nylon seal which the glass pushes into forming a very tight seal. Over time these crack under our strong UV conditions, and let in moisture. This one is going to be replaced.

So as you can see, the case is quite scratched, and quite dirty. This is entirely normal. We expect a lot from our watches. We wear them all the time in all sorts of conditions, and don't really notice how dirty they are getting until we see them post cleaning. The series of shots below show some of the cleaning process. I started with a new batch of cleaning solution in my ultrasonic tank so you can see the progression.

In the tank, but tank not turned on.

About 5 seconds after starting ultrasonic.

About 20 seconds after starting ultrasonic.

The ultrasonic tank is heated and when switched on, the transducers bonded to the bottom pulse at somewhere around 40-somthing kilohertz.  This causes cavitation in the liquid.... Microscopic air bubbles collapse and flash to high temperature. This removes deep down dirt and grease that we simply couldn't remove any other way.

Now that the watch is clean, it's time to do something about the scratches. This watch has a mix of 18ct gold which is relatively soft, and 316 stainless steel, which isn't. And the stainless pieces all have a satin grain on them, while the gold has a full gloss finish. This is one of the reasons I had to remove the bezel. I simply couldn't re-grain the stainless case properly with that soft gold in the way. The bracelet is somewhat different as you will see.

The first step is to polish everything to full gloss. On the stainless pieces, this usually takes two different grades of polish. One to remove the scratches, and one to restore a mirror finish. The gold is soft enough that I can skip straight to the mirror finish compound. So ironically, a solid gold case is cheaper and easier to do than a full stainless one.

One hand on the camera. I would never actually polish a piece one handed. There is quite a lot of technique in polishing things safely and accurately when your buff is spinning at 5,500 rpm.

The glossed case and my fingers all covered in polish.

It has been back into the ultrasonic, and now I'm brushing it to make sure it's totally clean. After this I use a high powered air gun to blow all the residual grit and moisture out of the links.

Then it goes on top of the espresso machine to dry. The top is heated to warm up the espresso cups, but it has been used to dry thousands of watch cases.... and make a lot of coffees.

Now for the really laborious bit. All the glossy bits have to be taped off with this special tape so I can restore the satin finish. This roll of tape is exactly the right width to cover one link and the gold tubes either side. After doing all these links, top bottom and sides, I pull off all the tape and do the alternate links. The taping has to be perfect. I don't want sloppy finishing.

I have various grades of satin finish buff.

Grooming completed. Time to unpack the factory sapphire glass. I think this might have been an upgrade to this watch, as the old glass was quite badly scratched, which sapphire shouldn't do. I actually demonstrate this in the shop by attacking the front of my watch with a file. The glass is harder than the file.

As a side not at this point, I can often offer an upgrade service to watches with scratched glasses. We can either fit a new mineral glass, or for a bit more cost is is often possible to fit a generic sapphire glass, which should retain it's appearance for years. It isn't always possible to do, but feel free to ask. In this case, because of the domed profile, and the particular thickness of the glass, and frankly, due to the value of the watch, we were always going to fit a factory original.

Anyway, at this point I realized none of the dies for my glass press were appropriate to re-fit the bezel, so it was back to the lathe and the milling machine with a piece of scrap aluminium to quickly whizz up a new die. You'll see why.

Bezel (and those darn lugs... not sure what else to call them) in place.....

......and fitted. I have a fair few specially made dies for various cases. It's one of the big advantages in having a workshop like mine. If I don't have the right tool for the job I just make one.

Change to the appropriate sized stock die to push in the glass......

....and done.

The movement is back in, and I've fitted a new battery just because...

And done!

No that isn't my wrist. At this point Bronte was back on deck and happy to model it for me.

So that's how we do it!

I think you will agree that all the work that went into this was well worth it. The customer was certainly chuffed with the result.

If your prized watch is looking a bit weathered, then bring it in, or snap a photo and email it to me for a free no obligation quote. There are few aspects of the job that bring me quite as much pleasure as giving you back a watch that not only works perfectly, but looks amazing too!

Blair.