Scratched bezel - Cape Cod Polishing cloths

[Rano85]

Greetings all,

I have Rolex Explorer I, which has the highly polished bezel. Unfortunately I also scratched the bloody thing and it really irritates me. I have a tin of Cape Cod polishing cloths, and as far as I understand it these are for "high polish" surfaces.

So in theory, using it on the Rolex bezel should be fine right? Before I go ahead and use it, I wanted to see if others had any experiences of using this product for something like this?

My plan was to wrap the cloth over a cotton bud or something and carefully polish the scratched area.

[walkerwek1958]

Cape Cod is fine on polished surfaces, but they will only remove fine scratches. Anything deeper requires a more rigorous approach.

Wrapping the material around something hard is better. I use small pieces of flat hardwood.

For deeper scratches, metal polish such as Autosol is better, finishing off with Cape Cod or similar. However, if the scratch is deeper I`d use 2000 or 3000 grit wet and dry paper (used wet) wrapped around the wooden block.

If you polish on one spot you are likely to leave a small indentation which will show up. It's better to treat a wider area, particularly if the scratch is deep.

Sometimes, using a Cape Cod will take the sharpness of the scratch, making it less obvious, but it won`t remove it completely.

If in doubt, give it to a Jeweller to do. Rolex watches are not the best thing to practice on, but careful use of a Cape Cod will do no harm. Just be sure to mask off the brushed areas first.

Paul

[ach5]

Take your pick from any of these threads;

http://forum.tz-uk.com/search.php?searchid=7509507

(if the search link doesnt work for you, just search "cape cod" in WT - there's about 40 threads)

[Rano85]

Cape Cod is fine on polished surfaces, but they will only remove fine scratches. Anything deeper requires a more rigorous approach.

Wrapping the material around something hard is better. I use small pieces of flat hardwood.

For deeper scratches, metal polish such as Autosol is better, finishing off with Cape Cod or similar. However, if the scratch is deeper I`d use 2000 or 3000 grit wet and dry paper (used wet) wrapped around the wooden block.

If you polish on one spot you are likely to leave a small indentation which will show up. It's better to treat a wider area, particularly if the scratch is deep.

Sometimes, using a Cape Cod will take the sharpness of the scratch, making it less obvious, but it won`t remove it completely.

If in doubt, give it to a Jeweller to do. Rolex watches are not the best thing to practice on, but careful use of a Cape Cod will do no harm. Just be sure to mask off the brushed areas first.

Paul

Great post. Thanks for that. I don't think it's too deep. I'd be happy if it just reduced it a bit, since it catches the light.

[Rano85]

Went for it. Worked a treat. Pretty chuffed with that.

[Glen Goyne]

Do you have any before and after pictures?

[Rano85]

Do you have any before and after pictures?

I thought about doing that but I couldn't get the scratches to really show up in the photos. I still have one on my phone that you can just about see the annoying scratch just below the 6. I'm not wearing it today so can't do an after yet, but basically this scratch has pretty much gone.

[Geralt]

Don't use a loupe! Not a fan of Cape Cod cloths as IME tend to leave micro scratches which are even more annoying than the original one. I've taught myself just to live with marks and hairlines. Makes for a more stress free existence...

[Rano85]

Don't use a loupe! Not a fan of Cape Cod cloths as IME tend to leave micro scratches which are even more annoying than the original one. I've taught myself just to live with marks and hairlines. Makes for a more stress free existence...

It hasn't left anything which is noticeable to the naked eye, so I'm happy with it. I actually went round and did the whole bezel to tidy it up.

I am generally ok with dings and scratches, but this one was particularly annoying as it always caught the light.

[Rano85]

Before and after. Scratch just under the 6.

[Wallasey Runner]

Excellent job, looks really good. Don't be tempted to repeat the exercise every time you spot a mark or scratch !!

[southerner101]

Looks good! May have to try it on the polished sides of my explorer 2

[Neilw3030]

Just followed some advice from this forum, cotton bud with cape cod fluid on it, polished the centre links on my strap a treat, very impressed