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Replating - Experiment One!

  1. Mothra Mar 1, 2014

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    I posted my new arrival in another thread - a heavy duty brush/tank plating machine. I may have already hit an issue with tank plating which I'm quite annoyed about, so for now I'm going to concentrate on brush plating while I work out the wrinkles.

    I was mainly planning to do bracelets - I think there's a lot of scruffy gold plate bracelets out there that should respond well to plating, but in this case the victim/target is a genuinely lovely Raymond Weil kindly provided by SpikiSpikester:

    WP_20140301_10_10_28_Pro.jpg

    Normally I'd be loathe to risk a perfectly usable and functioning watch like this, but looking at the back, there's something odd:

    WP_20140301_10_10_48_Pro.jpg

    18K gold electroplated? Yep, the watch used to be gold plated, but someone has polished the lot off. It'll be interesting to see how the stainless markers and hands go with a gold case - if you look at the top left lug, you can see some remaining plate, so I'm assuming with work that hamfisted the markers and hands have not been touched...

    WP_20140301_10_11_03_Pro.jpg

    And there's quite a lot left at various points on the watch... According to my user manual, I don't have to take it all off providing it's not flaking - but the bits by the lugs might need some flattening.


    WP_20140301_10_12_27_Pro.jpg
    There's a genuine buckle as well; the tang has quite a lot of corrosion which I think has come from the springbar, but obviously needs to come off.
    WP_20140301_10_16_47_Pro.jpg
    Really clean looking movement in there.

    WP_20140301_10_21_19_Pro.jpg

    So having carefully uncase the movement I'm left with these bits for potential plating. Using a plating calculator, estimating 6cm of 10 micron 18k gold I'm going to use about £17 of gold solution and it's going to take about 30 mins to plate.

    The prep is going to take a little longer.
    WP_20140301_10_25_48_Pro.jpg

    Right now, I'm starting off with a couple of passes in the ultrasonic cleaner - later I'll be using the special plating preparation polish that allows me to skip the electroclean and activate plating steps, as it needs a light polish anyway.

    So a couple of questions - Do I press out the crystal? I'm terrified of breaking it as I suspect a replacement may not be easy to source. I don't believe whoever polished off the plate would have removed the crystal, so I think whats in there is factory finish. Second, do I plate the caseback? It would wear better if I don't, but I think with the text it would look weird if it stayed stainless. Opinions please!
     
  2. Darlinboy Pratts! Will I B******S!!! Mar 1, 2014

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    Can't wait to see the results!

    I know absolutely nothing about plating, which obviously makes me highly qualified to give you uniformed opinions....

    - Would take the crystal out, unless you're sure the plating process won't etch it, or deteriorate the seal (if there is one)
    - leave the caseback as is. you can always plate it later. I've seen plenty of watches in gold/goldplate with a stainless caseback. Are you sure it was plated too?

    Good luck!
     
  3. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 1, 2014

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    Yes remove the crystal - looks like it is glued in, so try acetone to loosen the glue.

    I recommend UV curing cement to install it again.

    Cheers, Al
     
  4. Mothra Mar 1, 2014

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    Ok, shameful admission time.... I got sucked in and did the lot.

    First off, I left the crystal in situ - again, I was thinking I could always take it out and plate it if it looked awful. I also decided to plate the caseback - it was a nice flat surface and I actually wanted to start with it to see how it went. I did lightly polish it, but a) I didn't want to lose the engraving and b) I was keen to see how the plate looked on a non mirror finished surface. Sorry Archer and Darlinboy.

    All the photos are with a phone (I had my hands full) and I had every light in the kitchen on so I could see what I was doing...

    So first off, I polished everything with the plating polish supplied with the kit. The instructions say this means you don't need to electroclean and activate if you do this, but I decided to take no chances and followed the polish with both. The cleaner foams up nicely as a current runs from the swab to the bits I'm plating. You can see the caseback is still quite scuffed.

    WP_20140301_13_15_51_Pro.jpg

    Once cleaned and activated (basically removing any layer of oxides if I've understood it right) with a copious rinse with deionised water between each stage I started plating. I'd masked up the inside of the crystal before using the preplating polish, but it really wasn't needed as the polish isn't very abrasive at all...

    The tang was actually quite badly corroded and was so small I didn't want to use a dremel on it as I was quite sure I would lose it. It didn't look great, but again I was interested to see how it came out:
    WP_20140301_13_26_35_Pro.jpg
    It was about this point when I realised that springy elastic gloves are awesome at flinging something across the room if you hold it wrong.


    WP_20140301_13_40_04_Pro.jpg

    In this picture, you can see half the case is plated, and the other half still to go. The pink stuff in the pot is the gold solution. I think I need to find a better way of holding the parts than croc clips, but they didn't seem to mark the case or the plating.

    It all seemed to go on really well - it's almost magic as the parts wind up covered in gold as you wave a wet swab covered in pink (not gold) liquid over it:

    WP_20140301_14_04_17_Pro.jpg

    Everything picked up a nice strong colour. I went and did a second pass on the lugs and crown and other high wear areas.

    WP_20140301_14_04_48_Pro.jpg

    You can still see the scratches in the caseback, but I've used a flash and bright overhead lights here - it looks much better in reality. The tang was gold coloured, but not very shiny as you'd expect. It will look fine on the watch though as it's so small...
    WP_20140301_14_21_51_Pro.jpg

    Slightly blurry shot of the movement recased. I think the crystal looks fine, but open to other opinions...

    WP_20140301_14_22_02_Pro.jpg

    And the caseback. Don't look at the caseback screws (I'm hoping it turns up) but you can see what the lugs look like.I wasn't sure wether to do the screws or not; when I find the missing one I think I probably will.

    And finally with a strap on:

    WP_20140301_14_37_51_Pro.jpg

    I'm actually really chuffed. It was straightforward, not too hard and looks really professional. Anyone with dodgy lugs or a scratched up bracelet should think about having a go. Doing hands would be a doddle too. I'll report back on wear as we go.

    WP_20140301_15_24_40_Pro.jpg

    A wrist shot to show it in better light - but its a lot shinier than it looks in that picture... I'll have another go later and see if I can get a better shot.
     
    SpikiSpikester likes this.
  5. gatorcpa ΩF InvestiGator Staff Member Mar 1, 2014

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    I think my old watchmaker called this process "dipping". I have a Seamaster Calendar in rose gold cap that had a broken hand. The original crown had turned yellow and I had purchased a genuine Omega buckle, also in yellow gold. He had the new hands, crown and buckle all treated like this.

    Not only does it look great, but after several years, there is no wear-through on the buckle or crown. Both are rather "high-touch" areas, so that's a bit surprising.

    Very nice job.
    gatorcpa
     
    GuiltyBoomerang likes this.
  6. Darlinboy Pratts! Will I B******S!!! Mar 1, 2014

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    That came our rather well for your first go! :thumbsup:
     
  7. Barking mad Prolific Speedmaster Hoarder Mar 1, 2014

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    That looks brilliant. Hope you find your screw, nothing worse than having a screw loose::rimshot::
     
  8. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker Mar 1, 2014

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    Looks good mate. :thumbsup:
     
  9. SpikiSpikester @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 1, 2014

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    Nice job :). It's good to see you've given that watch a new lease of life.
     
  10. Mothra Mar 1, 2014

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    :) It looks great - thanks again, Spiki.