My polishing achievements so far

[VWatchie]

Five months ago I decided it was time to learn basic polishing and received much-appreciated help in the "Please help me buy a polishing machine" thread.

Usually, I prefer to keep the patina especially if I or the owner of the watch has had it in their possession for a long time and shares a history with it. That the watch and of course the movement should always be clinically clean after a service I consider a matter of course. I also think that really expensive watches should avoid polishing, at least if you can't do it correctly and preserve the original shape of the case. I have learnt during this period that accidents can happen very quickly if you don't really know what you are doing, so training is a necessity.

Having said that, although the result is not perfect, I feel very proud of my achievements so far, and I hope you like the before and after pictures because there are quite a few.

Before the refurbishment:

After the refurbishment:

Edited May 31, 2024 by VWatchie

[RichardHarris123]

Looks great, let's see the back  

[Neverenoughwatches]

Looks great H, difficult to get dings out without changeing the shape. Blending material to hide faulta takes an awful lot of practice .

[oldhippy]

Is this the watch you were looking for a replacement glass? if so where did you get it. It sure looks nice now it has been  polished up. 

[VWatchie]

4 hours ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Looks great, let's see the back  

It is a good example of what happens if you use a mop wheel in the wrong way. You can see that the engravings have been rounded off. The correct method would probably have been to sand it by hand with wet sandpaper to an increasingly fine degree on an aluminium sanding block. But now I just had the goal of getting the case back clean and scratch-free quickly. After all, I paid no more than £11 for the watch and had originally only intended to use it as an everyday watch. Had it been someone else's watch, I would have asked the owner first.

However, when I polished the lugs and the case, I was very careful to preserve the original shape of the case, especially the lugs, which easily become rounded otherwise. I feel that I succeeded well with that. It's all about having a strategy and using Kapton tape.

2 hours ago, oldhippy said:

Is this the watch you were looking for a replacement glass?

Yes, it is! The problem was finding a new glass gasket because the ones I found were either a tenth of a millimetre too wide or too narrow. In the end, I chose a glass gasket that was a tenth of a millimetre too wide. However, it fitted better than I expected so maybe I measured wrong, despite being very careful, or maybe it's not all that sensitive. To make it easier to press in the glass, I first lubricated the glass gasket with a little silicone. It worked perfectly and the glass sits as if it was moulded into the case.

[RichardHarris123]

Ok, so not perfect but it's a huge improvement.  Give yourself a pat on the back, we are far too harsh on ourselves.  

[VWatchie]

12 hours ago, VWatchie said:

It is a good example of what happens if you use a mop wheel in the wrong way. You can see that the engravings have been rounded off.

I remembered that when Lititz Watch Technicum's YouTube channel existed, they had a video about polishing. As I recall, many experts thought that video was among the best on the subject of polishing. It's a real shame that their videos are no longer available and I've been in touch with them regularly to see if they can get these videos back. Unfortunately, it seems that these videos are gone forever. The last message I received from them on 21 January read:

"I'm sorry, but not yet. In a nutshell: the school is scheduled to be shut down next year - a new school is bring opened in Dallas, Texas. Because of that all video access is blocked. If a decision is made to not close the school, then at some point the videos will likely be made available. We just do not know that yet. So, just check in again in a month or three; sorry I can't be more specific than that."

Well, as I recall, there was a section in the video that was about how to preserve the edges of a watch case, that is, how to avoid rounding off the edges when using a mop wheel. I don't remember all the details but what I do remember is that it's about keeping a high speed on the mop wheel and keeping a light pressure on it.

I didn't think of this when I was polishing the case back but the next time I'll try it and see what difference it makes.

Edited June 1, 2024 by VWatchie

[VWatchie]

Buckle before polishing

Buckle after polishing

I don't think I've ever heard of or seen anyone polish a buckle, but I thought "Why not?". This time I kept a high speed on the mop and applied only a light pressure against the metal surface with the engraving "Mondaine". I did this to avoid rounding off the engraving and I'm pretty sure it helped.

A high speed on the mop creates significantly more heat in less time so you have to be careful not to burn your fingertips. I am still looking for good protection for my fingers. The pin for the buckle was way too small to hold with my fingers so I clamped it in a vice. It's a bit scary if such a small and hard piece of metal flies away when the wheel spins at 7500 rpm (over 125 rounds per second) so not without safety glasses which should be used regardless.

It could be that the original polish on the buckle was satin-brushed and I have a couple of mops for that too. It's easier to satin brush because you don't need to use any polishing compound, but it's nice when it shines