Planet Ocean bracelet is a scratch magnet

[skoff]

Does anybody have a tried and tested solution to the inevitable scratches that you pick up on PO bracelets? Mine is terrible for picking them up. It's a brushed steel effect and I find myself sanding it down pretty much every week to get rid of tiny scratches from every day use. I don't really want to keep doing this, but it looks so unsightly.

It's not like I am rough with it either, even my cufflinks put scratches on it.

I thought some sort of varnish might do the trick, anybody else got any top tips?

[bry1975]

Hi chap,

ONE trick that really does work/help would be to harden the 316 Stainless steel the only way would be with Kolsterising.

It takes about 30-60hours to harden the surface(as it isn't quench hardening) between 10microns and 33microns penetration and new hardness of about 1,000HV 4-5times harder than the standard hardness BUT well worth it the bracelet can be rebrushed, mirrored, and blasted afterwards providing done very lightly not deeper than the hardened depth, 33microns is the recommended hardened depth for bracelets.


Once the bracelet has been hardened it will most likely appear mottled but this can be removed easily you then wont know the steel has been hardened apart from the MUCH better scratch resistance.

The hardened steel will resist a hardened screwdriver blade quite well(you have to basically apply quite some pressure to scratch) so giving you an idea of the new hardness level.

http://www.corvuswatch.com/index.asp?page=kolsteri...


Email for more details.


Bry

Edited by bry1975 on Wednesday 9th November 15:14

Edited by bry1975 on Wednesday 9th November 15:16

[bigrich4]

I have the same problem with my Seamaster bracelet. I've only had the watch a few weeks and I'm uber careful with it but it's already got some very fine scratches on it.

[bry1975]

You will do chaps 316 and 316L Stainless is low carbon so soft it's a nice easy material for manufacturing watch parts from Titanium Commercially pure grade 1 or 2 is even softer!

Kolsterising works by adding carbon to the stainless surface whilst actually improving corrosion resistance the process is known as case hardening.

Edited by bry1975 on Wednesday 9th November 15:59

[bigrich4]

So how much would this case hardening cost Bry?

[bry1975]

Something like £65-£80 that's for the hardening process you could obvs refinish the bracelet yourself prior to having it sent for hardening.

Kolsterising is very similar to Sinn's tegimenting.

Bry

[paulmon]

I was having the same problem so I bought the rubber strap which I now prefer over the SS one.

p

[skoff]

bry1975 said:

Hi chap,

ONE trick that really does work/help would be to harden the 316 Stainless steel the only way would be with Kolsterising.

It takes about 30-60hours to harden the surface(as it isn't quench hardening) between 10microns and 33microns penetration and new hardness of about 1,000HV 4-5times harder than the standard hardness BUT well worth it the bracelet can be rebrushed, mirrored, and blasted afterwards providing done very lightly not deeper than the hardened depth, 33microns is the recommended hardened depth for bracelets.


Once the bracelet has been hardened it will most likely appear mottled but this can be removed easily you then wont know the steel has been hardened apart from the MUCH better scratch resistance.

The hardened steel will resist a hardened screwdriver blade quite well(you have to basically apply quite some pressure to scratch) so giving you an idea of the new hardness level.

http://www.corvuswatch.com/index.asp?page=kolsteri...


Email for more details.


Bry

Edited by bry1975 on Wednesday 9th November 15:14

Edited by bry1975 on Wednesday 9th November 15:16

Hello Bry!

Thanks for the reply, i will pop an e-mail over to you. definitely interested in the process you describe. The main Q I have is what happens if / when you get a scratch on the treated surface? Can you brush it out in the same way and does this damage the protection?

[bry1975]

Its far better than the softer 316 SS and light scratches can be brushed out 33microns is quite a good depth for hardness penetration.

[CommanderJameson]

I must say the bracelet on my PO certainly looks a bit lived-in.

I used to occasionally give it a tickle with the garryflex.

But hell, it's supposed to be a rufty-tufty tool-watch, not a pristine prima-donna thing.

[LordGrover]

I know very little about metallurgy, but I'd expect the trade-off for harder to be more brittle. This can happen with carbon steels but have no idea about stainless.
Is this an issue or am I being a worry-wart?

[Riff Raff]

LordGrover said:

I know very little about metallurgy, but I'd expect the trade-off for harder to be more brittle. This can happen with carbon steels but have no idea about stainless.
Is this an issue or am I being a worry-wart?

I don't know either, but if the hardening is 33 microns thick (or 0.033mm) I wouldn't expect brittleness to be something to worry about, compared to the general thickness of the clasp which is what - a couple of mm?

[bry1975]

Nar not likely to be an issue the clasp is probably a few mill thick in the centre and 33microns is like 0.033mm.
IMO the 33microns really does reduce the egg shell effect.

Case hardening is used quite a lot to harden wrench jaws that need good wear and hardness but not brittle.