Hi guys, I've found a 1039 in a good condition but all the links are more or less brushed. How could I make the sides easily bright again? Many thanks !

 

You ( or maybe better a good watch maker ) will need to tape the bracelet down very straight on to a table, mask off with more tape the centre section of the bracelet that you want to remain brushed and then buff/polish up the outside parts of the links. A buffing dremel and some fine metal polish will do the job. Repeat for the other side.

I've done this once or twice with good results.

 

Without a dremel isn't possible ? Something manually to slightly polish?

 

You can try what you like, I've explained how I've done it with successful results.

 

Those scratches look a bit too deep for a manual polish, and besides, a dremel tool is great for so many things around the house it is worth the investment. I just got one myself and wish I had done so years ago.

 

Yes, if you are patient, you can certainly polish it manually with any sort of polishing compound. Whatever you have around the house should work, or pick something up at the hardware store.

 

IMO a Dremel should never be used for polishing a watch or bracelet. The risk of creating an uneven surface is much greater when using a small tool like that. The proper way to refinish this would be to mask of the areas you don't want refinished using Kapton (Polyimide) tape, making sure that the bracelet can still flex - you don't want it flat and rigid. Then use a proper bench lathe (polishing motor) with the appropriate buffs and compounds to get the right finish.

I've seen (and had to fix) a lot of polishing jobs done at home with whatever is on hand, and most times they do more harm than good...

Cheers, Al

 

The proper way to do this is not the way a watch maker would do it. A jeweler would use a strip of abrasive coated mylar and wrap it over one link at a time. Using a pull and tension technique will render a perfect polish without the chance of flat spots. Depending on the depth of damage, each link can be polished with progressively finer grits until mirror finished. This is also how custom knives are done.

 

I'm not sure what kind of jewellers you are used to working with, but none that I know of would do it this way - if they did they would have to charge you massive amounts of money. It would also round the links, which is not what you want on this bracalet...

The way I described above is how Omega does it.

 

Archer's way would be best and for the value of that watch just find a good jeweler (maybe one who details those Rolex things) and have him do it, but you could do quite a bit by hand on a flat thinly padded flat surface then topped with fine then finer grit papers and eventually then polishes on leather. I've done a lot of odds and ends and case work like this but is way tedious. And yes rounding corners is bad. But then the bracelet wear may not match the case? I kinda like the "it is vintage and valuable" look.