Never seen the Big Crown with a patina like that. It looks incredible!Originally Posted by Mcb2007
My Oris big crown pointer , great looking /wearing watch .off with the strap and onto a Watchgecko lil brown number that suits it better than the original .
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Just to say if anybody wants a buckle I just received one from steeldive and it looks very good. B it's CuSn8, and Panerai style. I'm going to need to take a red hot pin to my two piece NATO and enlarge a couple of holes so the big wide pin of the buckle will fit, and then I'll get some photos.
This auction of a Tudor Bronze made me chuckle
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TUDOR-BLA...sAAOSwpSlgNkhv
Quote from the description “Only 1 issue is BEZEL DOES NOT TURN ANYMORE , ALL OTHER FUNCTIONS OF THE WATCH WORK GREAT , NOT WORN OFTEN “
So, they’ve ruined it forcing the patina and think they can charge for it as a feature.
Credit for trying!
Jesus - what a mess! Forced patina is a big no for me. Leave it alone, and it'll look like this.
God Almighty! What did he force the patination with - an arc welder?
Oh I quite like a strong patina, although it'll make a mess of your shirt sleeves I'm sure. I'd think getting the bezel off and carefully cleaning under it with vinegar should get it working again.
So do I, but there is stuff brought up from the Mary Rose that isn't that bad!
Lol! True :). Green is from copper chloride, he's either sat it in bleach (sodium hypochlorite) or he's used table salt with water or vinegar or ammonia I'd guess.
Hahaha
A random thought - is he charging more or less than he otherwise would due to his...errm...'personal' patination??? I guess he'd say 'Find me another!'
To be honest, I slightly like it, apart from the blue tinge.
Thay forced patination is awful. I have seen a few very well patinated 382s thay look ace, that looks just awful.
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The faded bezel insert looks bad. From that I reckon the watch has sat in bleach.
My first bronze watch.
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There was a very nice looking bronze Mont Blanc in the sales section recently. Surprised to not see it posted here as it looked great.
It was this one I think:
New today
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
This was freshly cleaned back to 'raw' by redmonaco when I got it a month ago. Being CuSn6 I knew it would patina quicker than some watches but still pleasantly surprised at the speed. No need to force this patina I feel. It was taking a darker, richer hue with lighter highlights on high spots. Then yesterday I took advantage of lockdown easing and the glorious sunny weather and headed to the beach taking the CW trident with me. No diving...I don't dive and the water was bl00dy cold! However it was huge fun building sand castles and paddling in the waves with my little girls, and I took the opportunity to dip my wrist in the sea a couple of times. Immediately the watch looked bright, but quickly settled back, and after 10 minutes had the white marks of dried salt and hints of verdigris. This is how it looks today after a wash in hot soapy water to get any sand off and the salt out the strap.
Last edited by LondonNeil; 31st March 2021 at 23:49.
Somehow my little collection has become 33% bronze. The Hanhart is/was for sale, but with no takers I've put him back in the box with his brothers!
Although the 3 share the same case material, they are completely different, with each having a different alloy and rate of oxidation.
I sold the Baltic Aquascaphe Bronze and bought the Stowa Flieger Bronze Vintage 36. The Baltic was AlCu8 bronze alloy whilst Stowa use CuSn8 which is a more paler in tone higher corrosion resistance alloy which is less reactive to air oxidisation. Nevertheless, Stowa apply a hand finished treatment to the case which means the patina won't escalate much (if at all) beyond what you see.
I have washed the watch a number of times now with soap and handwash and noticed the hue does brighten up with the darker areas gone but then within a day or two will return to the factory treatment finish which in my eyes and the eyes of many others, is nigh on perfect for a vintage look on a higher end bronze alloy.
I also like that it looks like a flat brown under direct sunlight with a shifting hue tone in other lighting. Nice.
That Stowa looks very nice. My Zenith in the middle of the previous posts pic also has a pvd treatment over the bronze (which has been burnished) Interested to see what happens with them over time.
I wonder if it's a similar treatment perhaps? Stowa don't mention PVD though and only describe it as a manual hand finishing treatment that stops any further patina once the look that they deem is ideal for how they want is achieved!
Mine definitely has a satin sheen to the finish in normal lighting.
The PVD coating on the Zenith has been quite well burnished, to allow the bronze to show through. This is particularly so on the case edges, where the case is changing colour as the bronze oxidises.
Two-and-half months on and that wreck is STILL on there for sale... Quelle surprise!
Not convinced the crown isn't also corroded solid, too.
The PVD coating on the Zenith has been quite well burnished, to allow the bronze to show through. This is particularly so on the case edges, where the case is changing colour as the bronze oxidises.
Ah that is very nice, mine is definitely not the same then, no PVD just hand treated bronze.
I think it's slowly evolving after the last wash lol, look how golden brown, like well done toast it looks!
A gentle patina on the Tudor, 3.5 years in the making.
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Really loving your Stowa!
Ah that is very nice, mine is definitely not the same then, no PVD just hand treated bronze.
I think it's slowly evolving after the last wash lol, look how golden brown, like well done toast it looks!
I am considering a bronze watch but a couple questions. Tudor has caught my eye really, shame the new bronze is so small.
1, are they suitable as everyday all day wearers ? in particular skin discolouration especially in this hot weather.
2, do you polish them back to as new at all?
3, would a bronze bracelet wear out much quicker than a steel, and or there actually any available aftermarket.
4, how durable are bronze crowns if not worn often, adjusting time and winding and screw down
I own a few different bronze watches, from my experience:
4) no reason for your bronze crown to get damaged much more than a regular steel one (even if steel is a bit of a harder material), unless you're "overscrewing" it, using force.
But for me that's the case with pretty much any crown thread anyway
3) to my knowledge, bronze bracelets are fairly new, not too sure about discoloration, and I doubt you'll find many, if any aftermarket offerings.
If I'm not mistaken, bronze bracelets still have steel screws, which against bronze are sort of naturally sliding so not necessarily wearing out quicker than steel, but we're lacking of long term datas on that...
2) up to you! I personally like the aspect of bronze when it's more dull, darker, so I never attempted to "clean" it.
1) it depends mainly on what type of bronze is it, the main 2 ones being cual8 and cusn8.
The former tends to keep a more yellowish tint and is to be found in watches like the tudor bb bronze. It doesn't get too green, mainly a hue of it.
The latter, cusn8, contains more copper, which gives it a more redish/brownish tint, and is more prone to developing patina with verdigris (the green stuff which can stain).
That's the alloy you'll find in ch ward bronze watches, oris as well for example.
Stowa uses this one as well, but somehow claims they pre age it so it's darker and then stabilize it so it doesn't change over time.
I have a stowa bronze flieger, and I've seen no change indeed on it so far, so might be an option if you want a "stabilized" option.
Whether it's cual8 or cusn8, I've experienced both and I've been wearing those watches pretty often, without stains issues on skin or clothes.
If you don't "force" the patina, I find it tends to stay quite reasonable and doesn't develop much if any verdigris, but that may vary based on the acidity of your skin/sweat, and the specific alloy of bronze used.
Time will tell for the bracelets!
A good point for the patina if you don't mind it: it usually protects quite well the metal underneath, and light scuffs or scratches you might observe are usually only on the patina rather than the metal itself
Last edited by Wandril; 1st July 2021 at 12:44.
1 - I have recently been wearing my Hanhart bronze LE for weeks on end - no discoloration on the wrist at all, however, it has an SS caseback and I use a NATO
2 - No, sleeves make the bronze bezel, especially, stay bright
3 - Not had a bronze bracelet, so no idea on wear, like many other metal bracelets, they probably have SS pins and collets
4 - almost all bronze crowns are actually bronze caps on SS mechanisms, so no issues.
Very true for the 4th point
Cheers! It's been steady going really and I don't think it has aged much in the last few weeks even though on first glance it appears to have but then I look back at old photos and realise it's more or less still the same, just surface texture has come out a bit more.
The buckle however is ageing, got some scratches and stuff on it as it drags along desks, rubs against coat zippers and everything else so naturally would be beaten up fairly quickly. This is the way
1: They have a bigger Black Bay Bronze, although it is rather too big IMO.
2: I don't see any reason to polish back unless you subjected an untreated bronze case to salt water and green stuff is growing in which case lemon juice is all that's needed to restore it and then restart the patina process.
3: Only time will tell, the new BB58 Bronze bracelet looks cool but nobody knows how the finishing will wear over time. The pure silver 58 they released already has yellowing 2 months in and they claimed that was a long wearing finish on that so I fully expect the BB58 bronze to wear rather quickly too.
4:No less durable than a stainless steel one. As mentioned the stems inside are steel.
Thanks for all the feedback, the idea of the Tudor with a high aluminium content seems better to me, not after a patina expirience.
It will be interesting to see how the Tudor bracelet fares over time, although im guessing they are probaly going to be like hens teeth.
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