Thread: What types of watches do you like?

Seems to me that I have used toothpaste and Kleenex tissues to polish scratches out of my Hamilton Khaki's crystal which is supposed to be sapphire.

Bob

I have the Polywatch on hand for clean up from scuffs and scratches.


I have used CD scratch remover before worked though seems slower than Polywatch. Might be good for a finish polish.

Another little secret I discovered myself is the use of Mother's Mag Polish. Gives the same results as poly watch.

Photos taken a few years ago when I needed to remove some odd pitting in the Hesalite crystal in the Speedmaster. None of these polishing agents above do a thing beneficially to mineral glass crystals.



Don't do this at home kiddies!

I have a new set of those sanding pads already. HUH. And I found a new crystal for 20 bucks. I don't know what it would take to replace a new crystal but I do know how to wet sand. I guess I will give the wet sanding a try first. If its too bad I guess I can always take it to a watch repair shop. Thats what the wife wants.

Originally Posted by BobH

Seems to me that I have used toothpaste and Kleenex tissues to polish scratches out of my Hamilton Khaki's crystal which is supposed to be sapphire.

Bob

Sapphire is hard stuff. You need diamond or sapphire to polish it. Most Sapphire has a non glare coating on it which scratches over time. You probably removed that coating and with it the scratches.

Sapphire is hard to scratch. You need totry really really hard to do it.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Not to be disagreeable, but the micromesh pads will scratch the crystal worse yes, by design.
But they assume you won’t stop at the first grit level, which is 1500 grit. You then go up to 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, and finally 12000 grit. Each pad you switch directions 90’ and sand until the previous grit scratches are gone. This process does work, and has been used in aviation, as well as glass shop scratch removal for over 30 years. On a watch, you go full face from the get go and remove material. On aviation or racing glass you focus your 1500 grit efforts on the scratches only, then with each subsequent grit you increase your work area by 2” diameter, this minimizes the parallax from the created thinning of the sheet.
They are also great in the shop for mirror like pens. For a watch face, start with new pads, or just replace the crystal if it’s available as it will certainly be easier.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...n-sanding-pads
Toothpaste will make your watch smell minty fresh and possibly prevent, or cause tarnish, but that’s about it, unless as BS said, the crystal is plastic..
Good luck Jerry..

Yea but it's the cost benefit ratio this time the cost being your time. Most watch repair guys will replace mineral glass for around 50 bucks. You can get sapphire for around 150 or so unless of course you send it back to the manufacturer and then you get soaked real good.

Or you can spend a solid day or more trying to polish glass and of course it depends how deep the scratches are. Superficial ones take long enough. Deeper ones simply aren't worth the effort.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Sapphire is hard stuff. You need diamond or sapphire to polish it. Most Sapphire has a non glare coating on it which scratches over time. You probably removed that coating and with it the scratches.

Sapphire is hard to scratch. You need totry really really hard to do it.

Could easily be as you say but all I know is that it worked for the scratches I had at that time.

Bob

The chatter about pocket watches had me digging through my storage chest. I bought this Baylor from Zales when I was a freshman in College. I needed something to wear with a 3 piece suit with vest. It still runs great. I didn't like any of the design options at the time, as a 19 year old, but settled on the horses. Little did I know that later in life I'd be an avid Horseplayer;



I bought this Wetclox "Scotty" when I was about 10 years old with allowance money from a Rexall Drug Store. I carried this to school every day. It stopped running about 25 years ago and I somehow lost the crystal. I should get it repaired for nostalia's sake. I have very few items from my childhood;



These were two watches I bought in my early 20s when I got my first job out of college. A Seiko "Faceted Crystal" (stainless) that still runs superbly, and a Bulova Accutron (gold) that does not run. This is the Bulova that was a generation PAST the tuning fork. It was pure quartz, but with a second set button to set the watch to the exact second you wanted. WHen it stopped runnin in about 1998, I sent it to a Bulova dealer and he told me that it was unrepairable. He said the parts were no longer available. In hindsight now, I wish I had purchased the previous generation with Tuning Fork. It would probably still be running today;



I did inherit my grandfather's pocket watches. I don't have them handy to photograph. He was an Engineer for a railroad and carried a very large (Elgin?) watch for time, and for dress on Sunday he had a solid gold pocket watch. I will try and dig them out soon and photo them for here, and so that I can see them again. The last time I looked at them was probably 25 years ago.

Actually the original Accutrons have passed their service life. I have a few and the only one that actually runs is an Omega F300. The battery the watches called for doesn't exist anymore and the closest replacement depending on the model may or may not work.

Parts are simply not available anymore.

The Westclock probably is not repairable. Those movmts were not designed to be repaired. If you have someone who specializes in vintage and antique watches you may be lucky.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Actually the original Accutrons have passed their service life. I have a few and the only one that actually runs is an Omega F300. The battery the watches called for doesn't exist anymore and the closest replacement depending on the model may or may not work.

Parts are simply not available anymore.

The Westclock probably is not repairable. Those movmts were not designed to be repaired. If you have someone who specializes in vintage and antique watches you may be lucky.

Thanks. It's a crying shame that the Bulova Accutron Quartz is non functional - permanently. I probably only wore that watch two or three times. And for what I paid for it when I was in my early 20s, that was a huge waste of money. Oh well, such is life.

I do have a jeweler (local) that says he can (probably) repair the Westclox, but even if he can I'm thinking, why? It's just a relic from my childhood. I don't recall but I probably only paid a whopping $5.00 for it when I was a kid. It has no value to anyone but me. And I'd never wear it with a suit or anything. I will probably just enjoy looking at it once or twice a year, as it sits.

Quick "small world" story on that Westclox. I was at a hotel in Orlando about 20 years ago and enjoying a cocktail in the lobby bar. A group of people were at the bar and I overheard them talking about where they were from. It happend to be my hometown. As I listened more, I also heard that they were actually a group from my old school that I moved away from when I was about 12. I introduced myself, and a few of the men remembered me. They were actually in my class in elementary school. What are the odds? Then one of them said to me, "I remember you. You had the neatest pocket watch that you used to carry!"

Yep, I did. It's funny what people remember from their childhood.

As I recall I was running from one bus to another sometime in the 1960s and I saw this pocket watch-Westclox bullseye sitting in the window of a Tobacco shop. I think I paid ten bucks or so for it and that was my first pocket watch.

Hmm I wonder what ever happened to it.