Watch cleaning

[Rich_AR]

Maybe a tad obvious?!

Anyhoo, in the tropical climes I live in, my daily beater has its fair share of sweat soaking everyday, thus has a build up of grime.

A couple of times a week I rinse it with warm water, but this doesn't remove the tougher sweat deposits! Now not wanting to subject it to soap or anything, can anyone recommend ways/things to clean it!

Thanks

[PADDYS]

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

[jshell]

PADDYS said:

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

Ultrasonic bath?? Noooooooooo!

Soap + soft brush =

[elster]

jshell said:

PADDYS said:

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

Ultrasonic bath?? Noooooooooo!

Soap + soft brush =

Why no to the ultrasonic bath?

It is how it is done if you send it for a service to a high end manufacturer

[andy_s]

Just the bracelet though, not the watch head itself.

[jshell]

elster said:

jshell said:

PADDYS said:

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

Ultrasonic bath?? Noooooooooo!

Soap + soft brush =

Why no to the ultrasonic bath?

It is how it is done if you send it for a service to a high end manufacturer

US bath is used with the movement stripped down to components. If you just dunk the whole watch in a US bath the shock waves may dislodge any particles of hardened lubricant or debris and jam the movement. US baths can be quite brutal on sensitive pieces.

[elster]

jshell said:

elster said:

jshell said:

PADDYS said:

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

Ultrasonic bath?? Noooooooooo!

Soap + soft brush =

Why no to the ultrasonic bath?

It is how it is done if you send it for a service to a high end manufacturer

US bath is used with the movement stripped down to components. If you just dunk the whole watch in a US bath the shock waves may dislodge any particles of hardened lubricant or debris and jam the movement. US baths can be quite brutal on sensitive pieces.

I just assumed he wanted to do a full on clean.

[theaxe]

I use a toothbrush and glass cleaner and then a rinse with water.

[DeadMeat_UK]

theaxe said:

I use a toothbrush and glass cleaner and then a rinse with water.

+1 toothbrush and whatever poncey liquid soap the missus currently has on the go by the sink.

[ShadownINja]

What about an electronic toothbrush? Too rough?

[CommanderJameson]

My divers/gshocks go into the shower with me.

They're always really clean.

[theaxe]

ShadownINja said:

What about an electronic toothbrush? Too rough?

Not sure the vibration would do a mechanical watch much good.

[Adrian W]

elster said:

jshell said:

PADDYS said:

Hi,

some people on watch forums say put it in a sonic cleaner and others wash it with warm water, soap and a VERY SOFT brush. The soap will do it no harm and help to clean it.

Paddy

Ultrasonic bath?? Noooooooooo!

Soap + soft brush =

Why no to the ultrasonic bath?

It is how it is done if you send it for a service to a high end manufacturer

It really would not be a good idea to put a quartz watch in an ultrasonic cleaner, unless you can absolutely guarantee it has been tuned to be sympathetic to ceramics and the crystal; there is a very high probability that it will crack components.

[speedtwelve]

I use a spare electric toothbrush with old, soft floppy bristles and apply only light pressure using soap. Gets in all the nooks and crannies, and hasn't done any damage to my mechanical watches that I can see. It's particularly good at cleaning the numbers and indices on dive bezels.

[Pesty]

Adrian W said:

there is a very high probability that it will crack components.

.

After having to buy an industrial ultrasonic cleaners for the purpose of cleaning PCB's loaded with crystals and every other type of electronic component I can say this is very inlikely to happen.

The frequency of the ultrasonic generators would have to be really low in order to damage anything IIRC most cleaners are in a safee range for components.

there is a DOD report on this somehwere I managed to track down if you have trouble sleeping one night

[Adrian W]

Pesty said:

Adrian W said:

there is a very high probability that it will crack components.

.

After having to buy an industrial ultrasonic cleaners for the purpose of cleaning PCB's loaded with crystals and every other type of electronic component I can say this is very inlikely to happen.

The frequency of the ultrasonic generators would have to be really low in order to damage anything IIRC most cleaners are in a safee range for components.

there is a DOD report on this somehwere I managed to track down if you have trouble sleeping one night

I'm a contract electronic manufacturer, we are not allowed to use ultrasonic cleaners on military or medical pcba's, I have two large Kerry systems, both have adjustable frequency.

Customers just wont let us.

Edited by Adrian W on Tuesday 8th June 22:40

[Pesty]

Hmm interresting it was a Kerry unit I ended up buying but fixed frequency.

We put everything in there

perhaps standards have changed.

We had customers like that some also wouldnt accept rework what a pain they were.

Edited by Pesty on Tuesday 8th June 22:52

[Adrian W]

Pesty said:

Hmm interresting it was a Kerry unit I ended up buying but fixed frequency.

We put everything in there

perhaps standards have changed.

We had customers like that some also woyuldnt accept rework what a pain they were.

Edited by Pesty on Tuesday 8th June 22:51

We get those, even though we can do rework to IPC and mill spec, we do micro bga and csp work as well.

[Pesty]

Adrian W said:

We get those, even though we can do rework to IPC and mill spec, we do micro bga and csp work as well.

I had to also trial BGA rework stations in the end we didn't bother failures PPM on BGA mcro BGA were nothing.

operators putting wrong reels on! now thats another story

Who do you work for if you dont mind me asking? just curious I have change careers now spent 15 years in SMT manufacturing. PM if you wish

[AlexC1981]

Don't use a baby wipe. You will be forever trying to get rid of the smears.