First Dial Cleaning Attempt

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Last night I tried my first dial cleaning, so I wanted to share the results in case it will help anyone down the road.

Please be aware that while this worked for me, it might not work for everyone and results may vary. If you don't want to accidentally ruin a dial, you may consider trying it on a watch of lower importance / lower value.

The watch I wanted to try was a jumbo Geneve 2748-1. When I purchased it, I noticed a lot of brown sticky residue on the case that looked like smoking residue. The case cleaned up easily with a damp cloth so I wanted to see if the dial could also clean up.



I decided to start the cleaning with a small piece of Rodico. I started on the outermost aspect of the dial which is obscured by the crystal. This way, if the cleaning did not go as planned, the failure would be masked. The Rodico brought up a little dirt, but nothing spectacular. I did not rub the dial, just dabbed with light pressure.

I moved on to a damp Qtip, again starting with the outer dial rim. I sprayed the Qtip with a water sprayer bottle and then rolled the tip in my fingers to compact the cotton. I started by rolling the Qtip on the dial and noticed that brown dirt was starting to come up.



Again, no rubbing or hard pressure, just lightly rolling the dial and letting the damp Qtip pull up the dirt. As the Qtip cotton began to deform, I pulled off pieces and compacted the tip for more accurate cleaning.

About an hour and many Qtips later I got the result below. The center, which was originally lighter in color is actually a stain and now appears darker than the surrounding dial. I didn't want to scrub too hard and risk losing text or the crosshairs.

I'm happy with the result and feel like it accentuates the silvered dial, markers, and dial texture nicely. Most importantly, I did not lose any dial text with this method.

I don't think this method will work for deep-set stains, but may prove useful with dirty dials and former smokers' watches.

What do you guys prefer - heavy smoker patina or the cleaner dial?

 
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I wonder if you took less dirt around the periphery you could have matched it better to the central stain.
This dial work definitely not for the faint hearted. Thanks for sharing, maybe someone hear can suggest something for the central stain.
 
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I wonder if you took less dirt around the periphery you could have matched it better to the central stain.
This dial work definitely not for the faint hearted. Thanks for sharing, maybe someone hear can suggest something for the central stain.

Once the dirt started coming up there was no way to modulate how much was removed.

I could always take up chain smoking until the dirt re-accumulates and then quit once the dial tone is even 😁
 
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I think there was thread with someone also cleaning waffle dial but can't find it 🤔
 
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Bravo for being brave enough to attempt this!

Afterwards I think I prefer the smoke patina Dail but there was no way for you to know it would turn out this way and it’s not bad looking.

Again, bravo for trying this and sharing the results with us! 👍
 
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I applaud your bravery. I did this twice with the lemon juice trick- first time it worked like a charm, second time the lettering floated off the dial 😲

Both were basket case dials anyway.

Art conservators use Naptha (lighter fluid) to remove grime, oil, nicotine and other funk from the surface of fine art. It’s rapid drying, doesn’t leave a residue and generally won’t hurt painted surfaces. If you are feeling daring, wet the tip of a swab and just roll it around on the edge of the stain and see if it helps.
 
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Duuuude, despite the color difference on the finished product, I think it came out awesome. Still a marked improvement over the condition you got it in. Kudos to you for having the stones to try it out!! 👍

Is it safe to assume that you left the hands on there while you were dabbing the q-tip on it?
 
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Congrats on the job!
Good idea to try it on a waffle dial, they seem somewhat sturdier than regular flat ones IMO 😁

Wouldn’t want to see the lugs of the previous owner though...🙁
 
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Last night I tried my first dial cleaning, so I wanted to share the results in case it will help anyone down the road.

Please be aware that while this worked for me, it might not work for everyone and results may vary. If you don't want to accidentally ruin a dial, you may consider trying it on a watch of lower importance / lower value.

The watch I wanted to try was a jumbo Geneve 2748-1. When I purchased it, I noticed a lot of brown sticky residue on the case that looked like smoking residue. The case cleaned up easily with a damp cloth so I wanted to see if the dial could also clean up.



I decided to start the cleaning with a small piece of Rodico. I started on the outermost aspect of the dial which is obscured by the crystal. This way, if the cleaning did not go as planned, the failure would be masked. The Rodico brought up a little dirt, but nothing spectacular. I did not rub the dial, just dabbed with light pressure.

I moved on to a damp Qtip, again starting with the outer dial rim. I sprayed the Qtip with a water sprayer bottle and then rolled the tip in my fingers to compact the cotton. I started by rolling the Qtip on the dial and noticed that brown dirt was starting to come up.



Again, no rubbing or hard pressure, just lightly rolling the dial and letting the damp Qtip pull up the dirt. As the Qtip cotton began to deform, I pulled off pieces and compacted the tip for more accurate cleaning.

About an hour and many Qtips later I got the result below. The center, which was originally lighter in color is actually a stain and now appears darker than the surrounding dial. I didn't want to scrub too hard and risk losing text or the crosshairs.

I'm happy with the result and feel like it accentuates the silvered dial, markers, and dial texture nicely. Most importantly, I did not lose any dial text with this method.

I don't think this method will work for deep-set stains, but may prove useful with dirty dials and former smokers' watches.

What do you guys prefer - heavy smoker patina or the cleaner dial?

[/

well done
 
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Nice outcome, I’ve had two attempted by my watchmaker both at my asking, the first came out amazingly well as it was a smooth brushed finish dial with some mound spots and he used an eraser to remove the mould, the second was a pie pan with an uneven stain and unfortunately he rubbed off a lot of the markings while cleaning it (not the eraser method this time).
 
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I sure haven’t the guts to try that, even though the “yuck” at 4 o’clock annoys the hell out of me and seems to darken every year.

 
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Wow... Indeed, congrats for giving it a shot, and for the results.
I would like to see both on daylight, as often artificial lighting can accentuate colours... Obviously, with an older picture of the watch at daylight😀
 
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You have to remove the hands and take off the dial to have better results. You just can’t accès the center of the dial and you can’t use any liquid that risk to damage the movement .
 
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I'm resurrecting this old thread with a new cleaning result. I purchased this old Geneve on ebay, then found out it was sold and posted about on this forum.

I removed the bezel and hands and went to work with a few different things. First distilled water and a Q-tip, then diluted lemon juice and a mascara brush. Then I got nervy and tried a bit of naptha on a mascara brush. Was very careful to try to avoid the lettering. But certainly did touch the lettering. And found it to be pretty tough on this particular dial. So very lucky. I think the waffle has something to do with the lettering having better adherence. Anyway--central stain mostly removed with naptha and mascara brush and I'm fairly pleased with the result.

May bring this to my watchmaker for a service and wear it a bit..

Edited:
 
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Fabulous result! I had one good attempt with lemon juice and one disaster (watched the lettering float right off the dial 😲 )

Naptha is an amazing chemical for these kinds of applications - I know many art conservators that use it - but they know exactly how it will react on what surfaces. They also swear by enzymatic solution #1
 
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Thanks guys, yeah, after I recased it I was pretty pleased. And yeah, I've watched lettering float off a dial as if it were a decal. Heartbreaking-

But also knew that there was a fair chance I'd be kissing the lettering goodbye on this one. So a very lucky venture.
 
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Thanks guys, yeah, after I recased it I was pretty pleased. And yeah, I've watched lettering float off a dial as if it were a decal. Heartbreaking-

But also knew that there was a fair chance I'd be kissing the lettering goodbye on this one. So a very lucky venture.
That is exactly what it is a decal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decalcomania the lacquer is what holds the printing in place. Basically the image is transferred to water soluble glue. Or is picked up on a pad printer using fine leather known as zephyr skin, made from cow intestine filled with ox gall. These were also used for prophylactics. Nowadays silicone is used.

The process is fairly simple once the master is created, usually engraved onto copper or steel.

I found the kit I used to make some dials (and timelord watches.)