Polishing out scratches in watch face...

[monthefish]

...how?

Any tips, or any organisations you guys can recommend?

[ShadownINja]

Face? Or crystal?

Face: very soft brush with sanding effect. TBH would get a pro to do this.
Crystal: Polywatch or toothpaste.

[Steve Devaney]

So will toothpaste on a cotton bud take minor scratching off the mineral crystal glass without further scratching? The watch is new but I have already scratched the glass and wouldn't want to do further damage!

[ShadownINja]

Theory is that toothpaste (and polywatch) has tiny pieces of grit in it that smooths out scratches. Apparently, you need to use a cloth or it won't be hard enough pressure. I've never tried it and would rather leave scratches in the crystal than risk screwing it up.

[eccles]

I use Micromesh on my vintage watch crystals. Just work up through the grades and then give it a final polish and they come up like new with very little work. Even really bad scratches.

I've Got the top kit on this link and it's lasted a few years now.

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_...

[deejuic]

Polywatch - you can find it on ebay. it works and this is it's intended use so you can feel secure that you're doing the right thing.

[sparkyhx]

eccles said:

I use Micromesh on my vintage watch crystals. Just work up through the grades and then give it a final polish and they come up like new with very little work. Even really bad scratches.

I've Got the top kit on this link and it's lasted a few years now.

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_...

Of the few watches I have polished up I have found polywatch pretty useless for removing scratches. I have used similar to the above with very very good results. The only thing is you have to have the confidence to do it as the first grade looks like you have destroyed your watch but slowly thru the finer grades the crystal clears beautifully

This is what I use - 3m Micron Polishing Paper
http://www.silverclay.co.uk/shto.htm

the one I use first depends on the depth of the scratch

Edited by sparkyhx on Friday 12th February 16:41

Edited by sparkyhx on Friday 12th February 16:42

[monthefish]

Thanks all. I'll look into all the suggestions above

[sneijder]

I used Polywatch when I was into tarting up Swatches. The faces came up factory spec.

I've heard stories of Brasso being the same sort of stuff, not having a collection of horse brasses I don't have any lying around though.

[Justayellowbadge]

sneijder said:

I've heard stories of Brasso being the same sort of stuff, not having a collection of horse brasses I don't have any lying around though.

It is pretty good, but you have to be careful as it will affect the bezel/case if you aren't precise. Not really an issue with steel, but gold plate can be thinned.

[johnbaz]

Hi all

If you have a scratch on an acrylic crystal, don't be tempted to polish just the scratch as the depression that it will leave will catch the light and look awful, do the whole of the crystal evenly with the afore mentioned polywatch/brasso/ toothpaste/solvol autosol then it will look fine..
if you have a scratch in mineral glass, the job becomes a whole lot harder, it will take around thirty minutes and your fingertips will feel like they're ready to drop off!!!

the 'proper' way to do it would be to use a nasty substance called Cerium oxide (really bad for any life form if inhaled!), the way i did mine was to place wet and dry paper on a sheet of glass (for the 'flatness' or level surface ), i then wet it with water/fairy liquid, held the watch crystal down and went back and forth.

I work as a burner in a heavy foundry and it's hard on watches, here's my old work watch (it was getting hard to tell the time with it )


the burn @ 9'clock was very deep and wouldn't come out unless i had a lot longer at removing it..

once i had the crystal more or less evenly opaque, i used newspaper with brasso poured on and again used the back and forth rubbing method, i kept buffing up the crystal with a clean cloth until i was satisfied with the result (actually, my fingers were too sore to continue )

the result...


i forgot to say that i laid the newspaper on the sheet of glass as i did with the abrasive paper;)
I also had a polish at the case with the brasso....


Good luck with your watch mate;)


Regards, John

[ShadownINja]

Wow. That is definitely an improvement!

[eccles]

sparkyhx said:

eccles said:

I use Micromesh on my vintage watch crystals. Just work up through the grades and then give it a final polish and they come up like new with very little work. Even really bad scratches.

I've Got the top kit on this link and it's lasted a few years now.

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_...

Of the few watches I have polished up I have found polywatch pretty useless for removing scratches. I have used similar to the above with very very good results. The only thing is you have to have the confidence to do it as the first grade looks like you have destroyed your watch but slowly thru the finer grades the crystal clears beautifully

This is what I use - 3m Micron Polishing Paper
http://www.silverclay.co.uk/shto.htm

the one I use first depends on the depth of the scratch

Try that on a multi thousand pound aircraft canopy, now that tests your confidence!