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Thread: Any tips on tidying up a PCL oyster

  1. #1
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Doncaster
    Posts
    1,095

    Any tips on tidying up a PCL oyster

    I do quite a bit of machine polishing on bike and motorcycle parts and turn out a nice job on those bits. As a consequence A mate has asked me if I could have a look at his Oyster bracelet. I’m not planning on machine polishing but think I can do him a decent job but interested to know any tips on isolating the two finishes on the adjoining parts of the bracelet.

    I’m thinking cape cod for the PCL and grey grade 3m scotchbrite on the brushed but looking for suggestions on order of doing this and how to avoid overlap. I have in mind masking off the PCL area and the bracelet edges and then carefully scotchbrite the side links then masking the brushed links and working on the PCL with cape cod on an ear bud or similar

    Can anyone offer any experience or tips on this

  2. #2
    Grand Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Wakefield, West Yorkshire
    Posts
    22,498
    If you don’t have experience a Rolex isn’t a good watch to start on.

    Stainless steel isn’t easy to work and polish, and trying to get a good finish on a flat surface like a centre link is quite a challenge.

    The way I’d tackle this depends on how heavily marked and scratched the bracelet is. It may be possible to refresh the original brushed finish but if it's heavily scratched the damage needs removing first. I do this by hand, using a small hardwood block and various grades of wet and dry paper. For the final brushed finish a Garryflex blue block, coarse Scotchbrite pads, or 600 grit wet and dry all give the right grade of finish. I also use a wheel made from scotchbrite- type material on slow speed for final finish to get the
    graining straight.

    For the polished parts, use 1200 grit wet and dry wrapped around the hardwood block to get the scratches out. Work through the grades ( 1500, 3000, 5000, 7000) before polishing with a buff stick and metal polish. Final finish is done on a polishing wheel.

    At each stage I use the brown plastic masking tape that Cousins sell, its heat- resistant so it’s OK with the polishing wheel. I have a piece of hard rubber pipe acquired from work many years ago that I fasten the bracelet around, I used it as a stress ball in the past and it now serves nicely as a support/ former for this work. Double- sided adhesive tape is used to secure the bracelet pieces.

    I would expect to spend around 3-4 hrs doing it my way, it’s tedious work and I’m no longer interested in taking these jobs on.

    Trying to polish the centre links with cotton wool buds is like boring through a mountain with a carrot, metal polish on a buff stick is the way to go, but only after you’ve taken the scratches out with wet and dry.
    Last edited by walkerwek1958; 21st June 2020 at 23:32.

  3. #3
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Doncaster
    Posts
    1,095
    Many thanks Paul. I have had an hour on the brushed links this morning and seemed to have achieved a good result. There were no major scratches, my mate had been using a polishing cloth on the bracket and basically polished away the sharpness of the graining in those links.
    I’ve just got to work out the PCL treatment now around what you describe

  4. #4
    Apprentice roadrunner1972's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2020
    Location
    lancashire
    Posts
    56
    I have had the similar quandry with a sarb033 bracelet. Which is all brushed apart rom about 1.5mm from each edge. Which is polished. I rebrushed it to get rid of scratches then realised i had lost the polishing at the edge. I masked it with flexible harris masking tape for going round curves, so i could easily follow the taper, then polished lightly with autoglym metal polish by hand. It worked fine. A nice edge.

    Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

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