Any ideas how to make this dial usable?

[Bill2024]

I bought a cheapo eBay watch which I wanted to try and “restore”. The movement is a Tissot 27B-21 which runs and looks very clean. The case and dial are a different matter!  My main aim is to practice on the movement and try to get it running as well as I can.

I’d like to end up with a usable watch at the end but I fear that the dial is a lost cause. It’s badly stained and scratched. One nice thing though is the old style Tissot logo which matches the logo on the inside of the case back. I know that cleaning dials is generally a non-starter for fear of making them worse; but it’s hard to imagine I could make this much worse.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how it might be worth trying to clean this?  I was also wondering if I could go drastic and strip the lacquer completely, leaving the gold hour markers and logo intact. Sorry if this is heretical talk but, for me at least, the current dial is not usable.

I can’t tell if someone has had a go at cleaning already between the 8 and 9?

Thanks, Bill

[AndyGSi]

As nothing apart from the Swiss Made appears to be painted, as you say I don't think you've got a lot to loose.

I'd start with saliva on a cotton bud and go from their.

[mikepilk]

59 minutes ago, AndyGSi said:

I'd start with saliva on a cotton bud and go from their.

That's what I do. Saliva works well (at least mine does but that might be due to the alcohol content  )

Then I would try naphtha (lighter fluid) , then IPA - but only the tiniest amount on the very edge to start with to see the effect.

[Bill2024]

1 hour ago, mikepilk said:

That's what I do. Saliva works well (at least mine does but that might be due to the alcohol content  )

Then I would try naphtha (lighter fluid) , then IPA - but only the tiniest amount on the very edge to start with to see the effect.

Thanks @AndyGSi @mikepilk

I just did a quick test and the saliva was certainly removing some of the staining. The temptation to really go for it and use too much pressure is almost overwhelming but I’ll keep at it and see where we get to. 

[Mercurial]

Rather than rubbing with pressure, you’re far less likely to damage the dial if you use a rolling action to clean it. 

Wet a q-tip or similar shaped foam swab and roll it over the surface. It’s slow, but it’s very gentle. 

I hope that helps,

Mark

[Bill2024]

5 hours ago, Mercurial said:

Rather than rubbing with pressure, you’re far less likely to damage the dial if you use a rolling action to clean it. 

Wet a q-tip or similar shaped foam swab and roll it over the surface. It’s slow, but it’s very gentle. 

I hope that helps,

Mark

Thanks - yes that makes sense. I’ll try that. 

[Bill2024]

So this is where I’m up to. Just using saliva and a piece of paper towel wrapped around a small plastic stick. 

It’s still not a thing of great beauty but better than it was!

I’ll go over it again but it almost feels like all the staining is in the top layer of lacquer, so it might be interesting to try and remove that without destroying what’s underneath. Somehow . 

[AndyGSi]

I think for the age of the watch and considering what it looked like previously I'd just leave it as is.

[Nucejoe]

3 hours ago, Bill2024 said:

So this is where I’m up to. Just using saliva and a piece of paper towel wrapped around a small plastic stick. 

It’s still not a thing of great beauty but better than it was!

 Ye thats as far as salivamatic works, unless you wanta try putting saliva on top of one stain only, give it some time to  peneterate  deeper.  Worth a try on one stain. 

 

[JohnR725]

Typically with dials it's recommended not to do anything at all because typically they don't do well to anything especially if they're painted dials. If there are enameled dials like found in American pocket watches then they can go in water and all sorts of cleaning and will clean up quite nicely. Or some American pocket watches use engraved brass dials filled in with wax or something like they did with clock dials and then silvered. With fee is you can strip off the lacquer and dip them in one dip silver cleaning brightening solution. That actually works really well and then unfortunately you have to lacquer it again because with the silver exposed it will tarnish. Seeing as how you are able to clean up or dial the way you did you may build a try some of the liquid silver tarnish remover. But whatever you do you typically want to be careful as even if you think you know what you're doing bad things can still occur. Which would result in either finding a replacement dial or sending it out to be refinished after somebody on your part of the planet that does that kind of thing.

[Klassiker]

If I were you I'd be very pleased with the result so far, and quit while I'm ahead.