Daring to polish the case

mozartman

My grandfather's Omega Geneve and Tissot Seastar are both back from the watchmaker, freshly serviced and keeping good time. But the 20-micron gold-plated Geneve, last serviced in 1979, had a noticeably dingy and tarnished case, so I gave it a gentle polish with a polishing pad and wiped it off with a microfiber cloth. The result was not a perfect like-new shine, but a great improvement (I think) though maybe not so obvious in my mediocre photos. I'd told the watchmaker to do absolutely nothing to the cases, both of which have very minor scratches. A professional polishing might have smoothed away the sharp edges which are the whole point of the case design of this Geneve imo. Maybe all you experts would have done something better, or nothing at all. You don't seem to be fans of case polishing (right?) But I think it worked well enough here.

TIMElyBehaviour

What you did was remove tarnish. It’s ok to use the micro fibre cloths on occasion just sparingly, and carefully.

mozartman

Yes. I thought some here would object to my doing anything at all. But for me, though tarnish or 'patina' often works for antique brass, bronze or copper, it seldom does for silver or gold.

TIMElyBehaviour

I’m not adverse to removing tarnish. I don’t like machine polishing as it’s prone to removing lines. I have had experience in case polishing by hand. Generally take off less than you think and maintain all lines and brushing. Don’t try and get every scratch out or you sacrifice a tonne of metal in the process.

It’s your watch, do as you please. I agree with your approach.

mozartman

Yes, thanks, that makes sense. Also, I didn't touch the case of that beautiful steel Tissot Seastar, which BTW is nearly identical outwardly to an Omega Seamaster De Ville from the same period (166.020), though that one has an automatic movement. It seems that Tissot is an excellent low-cost alternative to Omega, even on the vintage end.

M'Bob

I bought this house recently, with its wonderful patina, completely untouched since it was made!

M'Bob

I bought this house recently, with its wonderful patina, completely untouched since it was made!

M'Bob

Cars, houses, boats, priceless painting in the Louvre all receive careful and sympathetic restoration…but never touch a watch. Because someone else’s grime, wear, and scratches are SO important to its history…

mozartman

Can't agree with never. I have an 18 k yellow gold dress watch I use on formal occasions that I bought new 27 years ago. I cleaned off some tarnish for the first time recently as I have an event coming up. It looked splotchy and dingy.