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Thread: Acrylic crystal refinishing

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  1. #1
    Grand Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire
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    22,496

    Acrylic crystal refinishing

    Here's a quick example of how it's done and what can be achieved.......but it takes a bit more than polywtch.

    I received this Speedmaster last week for service and a bit of TLC. The crystal had suffered a deep gouge and looked pretty rough, but before condemning it I thought I`d try to refinish it. These crystals are thick, so refinishing was worth a try. Sometimes there are micro-cracks that only become evident after cleaning up, there's a risk of spending time and effort only to realise the crystal's scrap at the end of it, but given the price of a replacement this was worth a go.

    I don`t intend taking the crystal out of this watch, so the first job was to mask the bezel. I use electrical tape, yellow's the best choice because it's easier to see the edges. Simply run a scalpel blade around the reel to cut it down to a useful width, which also makes it easier to bend and flex.

    Here's what it looked like prior to starting work, the damage is clear to see and the rest of the crystal's not good.

    picture uploader

    First step is to work on the whole crystal using 1500 grit wet and dry wrapped around a small flat rubber block, wetting with dilute detergent/ water and wiping frequently with tissue. The water will turn milky as the plastic comes off, the detergent will ensure the fine particles stay dispersed and don't clog the paper. I work in swirls initially, them assess how the job's going. Not surprisingly the deep scratch was still evident but much shallower. I then worked down the length of the scratch until it was almost gone, then reverted back to an even swirl over the whole crystal, still using 1500 grit.

    Here's how it looked, obviously it gets worse before it gets better and at this point you have an even opaque finish, hopefully without any of the original scratches.



    Next step is to repeat the process using 5000 grit, followed by 7000 grit. At this stage the finish can be assessed, a magnifier will reveal whether all the damage has gone. If traces remain the process needs repeating using 5000 grit to cut a bit deeper. If the finish after 7000grit looks OK the next step is to polish using metal polish on a soft cloth. Solvel Autosol is as good as anything, use a swirling technique with moderate pressure until the crystal looks nice and smooth. Again, assess the finish under a magnifier and if you're not happy go back a couple of stages. In this case I was happy with the results, the initial 1500 grit treatment had removed all the damage and the subsequent steps took the fine scratches caused by using 1500 grit.

    Finally, polish with polywatch for a couple of minutes and the job's done. Thankfully no micro-cracks were revealed.

    [url=https://postimg.cc/Bty31pKD][/url


    The whole process took around 25 minutes. Using the rubber block is v. important to achieve a flat 'levelling' effect which gets the damage out by taking the minimum plastic off. Same principle applies to all refinishing work.
    Last edited by walkerwek1958; 16th February 2020 at 13:23.

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