Ok, there must be an ACTUAL remedy a good one i dont want "i heard toothpaste works" i would like an actual confirmed decent way of removing crystal scratches THAT WORKS not some crappy ebay "snake oil" seller i mean all YOUR combined experience MUST have unearthed something? im referring to Crystal (glass not plexy) scratches on lower end (non sapphire) crystals SEIKO mineral glass type stuff. without me needing to replace every one with a new one...
I have never polished crystal, but if you could find a fine diamond abrasive it should work well. Not sure if super fine grit diamond sand paper exists but it should work. You would need I start off with a lower grit and work your way up to 10000 grit + to get it perfect. Again I have never done it, but logic leads me to believe since the mineral crystals are so hard, that in order to polish them you need to use something even harder.
Toothpaste is not going to affect mineral glass. My thought is that anything thats hoping to be able to do it would need removal of the glass. At that point replacement becomes the better option.
Cerium oxide followed by jewellers rouge but given the time and effort required to remove what look to be deep scratches a new crystal may be the best way forward. As an aside if polishing you would require to polish all of the face evenly to the very edge or you would end up with distortion.
In MY combined experience a DREMEL with BUFFING and POLISHING COMPOUND will ACTUALLY WORK if you MUST know how to polish your SIEKO mineral glass! I heard toothpaste works too.
The short answer is that it isn't worth your time when you can replace the crystal for probably $50. The long answer is yes, it is possible to do - it's a multi-step process that involves lens polishing compound and several hours of time. It was detailed on WUS several years ago. Here's a link to the thread: http://forums.watchuseek.com/f21/lets-repair-sumo-crystal-because-we-can-567218.html However the Sumo has a removable bezel that exposes the crystal and makes it easy to get to. Your watch does not, so there is essentially no way of getting to the crystal and polishing it without removing it from the case in the first place. And if you are going to do that, well then you replace it with a new one.
Very timely topic for me. I have a few seikos that I can't polish with polywatch, and really should just be replaced. Now that I know what a pain trying to hand polish them will be, it makes the decision easy. Replace the ones I can actually find replacements for, and live with the others.
Mineral glasses are so cheap you wouldn't believe it. Provided that the right size and profile are made by Sternkreuz (or similar) they should cost about £5. Add the price of a hard gasket if that is how it is held in place. Even if you have to buy a cheap press to install it, you will still see change from £25.
The only Seiko 310W46GN00 I can find is from Italy and cost about $41.00 USD. For that price I will live with the scratches. After all it is a beater watch for me.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Seiko+310W46GN00&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Seiko-310W46...ss-Uhrenglas-Verre-Original-NOS-/162036607482Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network 22bucks usd
I saw the eBay one, with shipping 31 USD, don' know why I was thinking 41. When I tried Google I didn't get those hits. Thank you.
THANK YOU EVERYONE! I love OF yea i know the point is i SELL them and i have 100s of seikos with similar problem not all lower end too and some i love and keep =( i have looked around and there are a lot of diamond pastes (and the sort) can anyone recommend "the one paste to rule them all" with a link preferably? and i dont mind the time i can waste hours repairing something that i KNOW ain't worth it (or simply ain't gonna work) sometimes for myself sometimes free for customers. just because i like to.. it's a satisfaction thing. a labor of love... the other day i did 9 hours on a bloody helvetia with a nicotine stained dial... pointless but he was happy! price was already "SET" at a crystal change. but he had complained he liked it par the "DULL GOLD" dial wished he had one in silver i could find him... it WAS bloody silver.. £12 crystal change... labor of love....
ok so i have a... Dremel (with everything attached) and tubes of diamond paste from 40-0.25 micron lets see...