Speedmaster Mark II case refinishing

Hi All,
Some of you may have seen the NOS condition Mark II I've got for sale here. I bought that case already "professionally" finished by Watchco. It got me thinking, I wonder how hard it is to do that?! Famous last words I suppose. Anyway I tried asking around various watchmakers and no one had any idea how it was done. I'm referring to the sunburst finish to the top of the case. There is a video that Archer Al posted on youtube which gives a hint and from there I managed to work a few things out. Certainly no one in Australia seems to offer this as a service and the only real advice I got was to send it to Omega.

I actually found the hardest part to be the polished chamfers that transition the sunburst pattern to the normal brushed finish on the case sides. That and the multitude of different angles! So all up I think this probably took me about a week of steady work to complete. I've just today fitted the crystal, movement and dial etc back in and am now gingerly wearing it on a nato strap. I've left the case back untreated and instead put on a Thomas Priek display back just for fun.

I think a Flightmaster case would have been easier actually but I haven't got any of those, pity I missed out on the fire sale ones the other day!

Let me know what you guys think of the work anyway, I'd appreciate some feedback. Apologies for the dust in the pics!

Cheers

Adam

This is way better than many commercial watchmakers and jewelers do. So...tell all...how did you do it?

JohnCote

Thanks guys, it's really all about getting the angles right. So you have to spend a lot of time on set up and practicing on something you're prepared to mess up. I used a mini belt sander from Foredom at a fairly low speed. If the belt speed is too fast and the case slips or it grabs against the belt it can gouge an edge which is very hard to put right. I actually sacrificed a gold plated case, whose gold had worn off, as a practice run. To get the sunburst effect you simply rotate the case against the belt around an imaginary center point. Yes, it is easier said than done! What you see here with this case was done mostly free hand with the help of pieces of angled wood as a support. Got to say though, it's very satisfying when the watch is finally assembled.

It seems that 400 grit is the one used for the normal satin finish on cases and bezels, or something very close to that anyway. The sunburst however requires 120 which is pretty serious stuff, without it though, it just doesn't look right. Having seen a case that was done in Bienne I think it's correct to use such coarse paper. I guess its the reason some Mark II's still show a bit of the finish after all these years.

And pascs, hadn't thought of doing it for others, I didn't think anyone would trust me!

Jim, you're right of course, playing around with my own watches is one thing but working on another forum members pride and joy would be nerve wracking. Al actually has two of my Speedmaster 321's and I have nothing but admiration for his work. My skills are paltry by comparison and I do not do any actual servicing, save for replacing parts here and there. The things I've taught myself center around case work, crystals, dial and hand swaps etc. This is by no means any kind of profession with the exception that I do sell watches for a day job in a boutique.

That Cone graining link is very interesting. What he is doing there is very similar to myself with the exception that I'm doing the actual turning of the case purely by hand and feel. Also I note he is using 240 grit, while I've had another look and I'm actually using 180 not 120 as previously mentioned. Another difficult part is getting the details exactly right and the edges perfectly sharp, I noticed some of the graining there had spilled over onto the polished ring. Yes.....its not easy, especially when you're making it up as you go along 😀

I think maybe the real reason the pro's don't do this too much is it that it really does take a lot of time and time = money. I'm sure they have the skills but would just rather perform more profitable work.

It looks very nice.
Well done👍
I´d like to see the watch before restoring the case.

Thanks Tritium, if you go back through my posts and find the racing dial MKII I had for sale a while back you will see what it looked like. I replaced its case with the other Watchco one I got.

👍 👍 👍

Two more finished cases 😀

Wow, nice work! 👍

Wanna try your hand at a Genève Dynamic? They have a similar radial brushing on the top and a polished side.

Ha! There's probably worse jobs I could have - my day job for example 😉

Geneve Dynamic hmmm that looks do able, can you supply me just the case on it's own Ulack?

That can be arranged. 👍