Ouch! If it's not too deep Cape Cod polishing cloths will do it nicely. About a fiver on ebay. Good luck.
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Is it doable at home? Being a bit OCD perhaps but got a mark on the polished bezel of my favourite watch. It’s superficial, not deep, but I’d like to get rid! But have no idea what product is best or if it’s advisable to attempt myself or give to an expert. Total novice in this area - any advice please folks?
Thanks
Ouch! If it's not too deep Cape Cod polishing cloths will do it nicely. About a fiver on ebay. Good luck.
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Cape Cod is a very fine polish that's only any use for getting fine hairlines scratches out.
If there are any brushed areas adjacent they MUST be masked off with tape, if they inadvertently get polished the brushed finish will appear shiny and that's not what you want.
For this type of job I use a small hardwood block and fine wet and dry paper, 2000 or 3000 grit depending on how deep, progressing to 5000 or 7000 grit, before finishing with metal polish and finally something like Cape Cod or a polishing wheel. This sounds long-winded but it isn`t it's quicker than rubbing away for ages with a Cape Cod cloth.
I've just scratched the bezel on one of my own, a vintage C cased Constellation that I bought recently and carefully restored. That'll
need the case stripping down to remove the bezel to do it properly, and it's a tricky one to get right........it'll wait a few months till I'm in the mood to sort it out.
Some refinishing work is very easy to do and it's not hard to learn, scratches on large polished areas are the easiest to put right, but it's worth investing some time in practicing first and acquiring the right materials to do the job. Small hardwood and rubber blocks are what I use, or wet and dry paper glued to a lolly stick, or attached with double sided spongy adhesive tape if I want something more flexible.
For final polishing there's no substitute for a polishing wheel, I also use leather-faced buffs available from Cousins but the wheel is the best way. Metal polish on a soft Dremel mop can be used, but I have a small variable speed polisher (cost £95) that's far better.
Think of a scratch as being like a ploughed furrow on a field, the metal stands proud of the surface and needs taking down using a levelling technique, that's why I use abrasive paper and a hard block. Once the ploughed up metal has been removed the scratch will look a lot shallower, but it'll take more work to get the metal down to the level of the bottom of the scratch and you end up repolishing a larger area, but if a fair bit of metal has to come off this is better, it avoids an indentation or ripple in the polished surface. Anyone with experience in painting cars will appreciate this, it's the same principles.
Last edited by walkerwek1958; 9th December 2019 at 11:58.
One of the first lessons to learn when buying a new watch is for you to wear the watch and not to let it wear you.
If you scratch it, so what, cross the bridge and move on. No watch, not even a PP, is worth getting yourself wound up over daily wear and tear. Wear it, enjoy it and get the scratch removed at the next service and just relax.