Gruen 510 sub seconds rebuilt

[rjenkinsgb]

Hi all,

this is the one I asked about opening the case a couple of days ago; I've just finished re-assembling it, its running well and looking quite nice.

The strap is the one it came with, which is Gruen branded branded. It's a bit dried up but a couple of doses of Lexol should see to that. It just needed new spring bars as one had disintegrated and the other was too short.

The case has some rough spots in the plating, such as the upper right strap lug, but nothing too obvious at a distance. I have sent enquiries to a couple of local platers to see if it can be refinished at a reasonable cost. I've not tried any electroplating yet and I'm going to start with nickel on another very badly worn one, originally chrome or nickel plated, rather than a gold one.

 

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 minutes ago, rjenkinsgb said:

Hi all,

this is the one I asked about opening the case a couple of days ago; I've just finished re-assembling it, its running well and looking quite nice.

The strap is the one it came with, which is Gruen branded branded. It's a bit dried up but a couple of doses of Lexol should see to that. It just needed new spring bars as one had disintegrated and the other was too short.

The case has some rough spots in the plating, such as the upper right strap lug, but nothing too obvious at a distance. I have sent enquiries to a couple of local platers to see if it can be refinished at a reasonable cost. I've not tried any electroplating yet and I'm going to start with nickel on another very badly worn one, originally chrome or nickel plated, rather than a gold one.

 

 

 

Gruen looks good Rob, I'm keen to see what you discover with the plating process, i have the equipment and supplies but I've only dabbled very briefly .

[RichardHarris123]

If you go ahead with the plating, ideally the old plating needs removing and any scratches polished out.  At a minimum the plating on the lug looks to be flaking and definitely needs removing. 

[rjenkinsgb]

I'm not doing anything on the gold one; there is no great wear or damage, other than the plating flaking or starting wear, so if anything that's going to be professionally done.

 

The one I'm going to try for my first case restoration is the Other Gruen 510 (the centre seconds one). I've got the materials to try a nickel plate finish on this.

The case it was in is pretty much wrecked, so badly worn that rim around the recess for the screw back is worn away to a knife edge at either side, plus lots of knocks and wear on the lugs.

If I mess this up, it's no big loss;  that is why I got the NOS Gruen Guild case as an alternative

I am hoping I can chemically remove the chrome from the brass on this, as filing hard chrome from brass seems like asking for trouble!

[Neverenoughwatches]

26 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

If you go ahead with the plating, ideally the old plating needs removing and any scratches polished out.  At a minimum the plating on the lug looks to be flaking and definitely needs removing. 

Absolutely the process of plating doesn't fill in scratches,  at best might improve micro scratches. As with watch servicing, perfect cleanliness is a must throughout all of the plating stages.