A Shout-out to my Watchmaker

Just to clarify, this is what most brands approve for cleaning dials, meaning removal of loose debris from dials:



These cleaning sticks have a small blob of what I think is urethane at the tip, and clean dials very gently without leaving any residue behind. The blue pad is also sticky and is used to clean the tips of the sticks. This system works very well and I use it daily.

The basic Rodico (the green one), Rodico "Premium" (which is grey), or A*F's product called Rub-Off (which is blue) and any similar products are all forbidden by Omega and other companies for use on movements, dials, or hands as they leave a residue behind. I've said this before, but one of the first things the instructor at Omega did when I was their for training was tell anyone in the class who had this type of product in their tools to leave it there, because they don't allow it's use, and if you were caught using it you would fail the course.

Just to show some not so good outcomes with watchmakers cleaning dials, these were sent to me by very upset watch owners to ask my advice on what to do, and why a watchmaker would even think of cleaning the dials they sent them. This one was washed...removed some lume and generally made a mess of it:



This one was fully printed when sent away, but the watchmaker dipped the dial in "solvent H" to remove dust from the dial, something he says he does on every dial and is standard practice (it isn't). The result was loss of most of the dial printing, and to make matters worse, he didn't even mention it before sending the watch back, so the owner got quite a shock when he opened the parcel:



So in the case of the OP's watch, yes it turned out okay. I suspect the lacquer was removed, and if none was applied to replace it it's unclear how long the dial will stay nice, but overall it turned out about as good as these things do. But the risks of doing this can't be overstated, and IMO should always be done in consultation with the watch owner.

Cheers, Al

I gave a friend of mine (who works on watches- not a watchmaker) two basket cases to experiment with using the lemon juice trick. The first, the dial was almost orange with funk, came out beautifully like the OP. It removed the lacquer and left all printing intact and revealed the stunning silver sunburst beneath. The lume was gone but a small price since it was a mess before. The second didn’t go as well using the exact method- the lacquer came off in big chunks taking half the minute track and dial text with it- a total loss.
That said- same friend will use the gel tips like archer to clean the dial surface and metallic indices. Years of fine moisture and migrating decay of materials can make the dial dull and lifeless. A gentle dry clean can make a huge difference.
It’s all about the right tools in the hands of someone with experience.

The cleaning sticks and blue pad are also what I use. They work quite well. When the little sticky ball at the end is gone or no longer sticky(and then removed) the plastic stick works good to decant oil out of the bottles into the oil pots. The sticky sticks are all we use on dials at the AWCI. We have used solvent H on some date discs before.

Gotta know what “solvent H” is, if it’s like “enzymatic solution #1” used in art conservation- then I totally get it 😀

Oh my- you would never say that in front of the client 😗

Chemical characterization: CH3-(CH2)5-CH3 = C7 H16, n-Heptane

Thank you @Archer and Google- Heptane is a component in gasoline.... makes perfect sense as a solvent.

You have clearly worked with art conservators.

Then in addition to the chocolate biscuit and coffee in ES#1 is nicotine from the smoke break and an Altoid to cover their coffee/cigarette breathe. 😗