Guide to refinishing a rolex case and bracelet

[Dr Fun Socks 74]

Here is my small guide on how to refinish your rolex. I used a batman with polished center links on the bracelet, its not really any different to do it on a regular sub bracelet, just ignore the part about polishing the center links and brush them with the same method. I wouldn’t say this is a particularly hard job, its just pretty time consuming. You should be able to pick up all the tools below for less than it will cost to get one watch refinished by a modder and you will be able to do as many watches as you have time for. This watch didn’t really need the brushing but i did it anyway for the purpose of the guide. 

As you can see, there are a few scratches on the polished parts of the links. 

 

Polishing tool list:

 

Abrasive rubber blocks- 120 grit and 240 grit (mine are made by york, but there are loads by garyflex on ebay)

8.5mm brown protective tape (cousins uk, could be available elsewhere. 

Either a dremel with both felt and loose cotton wheels. 

Or a bench grinder (mine has a dremel built in, was only £25 from lidl) with a loose leaf wheel (maybe a few to stop contamination between compounds)

Polishing compounds - green, white, jewellers rouge. 

Tooth picks and loads of tissue for cleaning. 

 

Screwdrivers for disassembly/reassembly. 

 

Case back opener to remove the bezel. 

 

The process:

 

Firstly remove the bezel and bracelet. There are various other threads on this so i wont go too far into it. Just remember to mask up the case, probably using the tape in the tool list, to prevent scratches (your rebrushing it anyway so its not a huge disaster if you do manage to put some scratches on). 

Polishing:

 

I started with polishing because i find its far and away the longest part, and also because ive never managed to polish a bracelet without ending up with a couple of thin polish lines either side of the polished links. I find it easier to brush these out after. On the contrary i think its easier to brush the case first then polish the sides so you get the nice polished edge where it meets the front of the case. 

Start by masking up all of the brushed parts of the bracelet. Ive never tried not doing this, i guess its not essential because you will rebrush the sides anyway but this is just how it do it. Once you have taped up the brushed links, trim the excess tape with a scalpel blade so you can get to the polished sides of the bracelet. This is tricky but take time to do it well. 

Repeat on the clasp and once you have all of your parts masked, your ready to start polishing. 

Start with the green compound. This is the most corse compound and is used for removing scratches and hair lines. Two key things to remember here, keep your motion parallel. Easy enough if your choose to use a grinder with a buffing wheel, just move the part you are polishing vertically. If your using a dremel you want a felt wheel attachment for the green compound, again keep the strokes parallel. Let the compound do the work, pressing harder wont get the job done quicker. If you have a really deep scratch, as in you’ve really smashed the watch into concrete or something, it will look much worse if you take a huge amount of material off the bracelet than just buff it up a bit. It will go all wonky and just look plain wrong. If you have to polish for more than about 1 minute on the same spot your probably fighting a loosing battle but its your watch, do as you see fit. The finish on the watch should be polished but somewhat cloudy now, hard to take pictures of but see below. 

Another thing to remember is to keep applying compound to your tool, it will get to a point where it stops making the polished surface cloudy, that means you need more compound. Be sure to examine the parts carefully to ensure all the scratches are removed and the surface is smooth. 

 

Before

#1

#2

 

After:

#1

#2

 

There will be black shite everywhere between the links, try to clean this off between operations because it will get onto the next tool and mess up the next finish. Tooth picks are ideal for this. 

So once all of your parts are polished with green, move onto the white compound. If your using a dremel, now use a fresh loose cotton attachment. I prefer doing the green compound with a dremel as it gives a bit more control, but the next two compounds do come out slightly better with a bench mounted grinder with buffing wheel. 

You can achieve good results either way you choose, if you get the same grinder with dremel i use then you have the luxury of options. Repeat the process on all polished faces until you get a decent shine to it. You may even be happy enough with the white compound to stop there, but i find the rouge gives it that extra je ne sais quoi. As you probably guessed, repeat for all surfaces with a loose cotton attachment and the jewellers rouge. 

 

Brushing:

 

I know what your thinking, Ive been doing this for hours, why didn’t i just pay someone else! Don’t worry, your on the home straight! Start by masking up the polished parts. This is where the 8.5mm tape comes into its own, its the exact width of the polished parts. 

When applying the tape, start on one link, then rotate the next link away from that link before putting the tape on it. This will allow some flex in the bracelet once taped up, if you just lay it flat on the table and bosh tape on it, it will be very rigid and unable to flex. 

Now you have a nice two tone bracelet... i start by brushing the case. Its important to have the bezel off for this to get the best results. Start with the 120 grit block. I cut a section of the block off and added a triangular cut out so it will brush the entire lug but wont hit into the crystal. It sound strange but you’ll see what i mean when you try it, its the best way to keep the lines straight. 

You have to just focus on keeping straight lines for the brushing. I start from the inside to out as i find it more controllable. 

The bracelet is easy to brush. Only parts to remember are on the sel, you need a nice sharp corner on your block to get right up in the corner where the brushing meets the raised center part. Same applies to the clasp, sharp corner of rubber is needed to keep a tight line. 

When working on the bracelet i drape it over my screwdriver stand, it probably makes next to no difference but i feel it lets you brush further around the rounded parts of the links, which would otherwise remain untouched if it was flat on the table. 

I don’t own a gen rolex, so i don’t have anything to compare the brushing finish to. Depending on what you prefer, 120 grit will give you a more corse brushed finish, the 240 gives a finer more polished finish. Heres a few macros of 120 grit, maybe some experts can chime in. Worth mentioning bergeon make rubber blocks for about 3-4 times the price of these, 120 is their medium, 240 is their fine. 

Whip off all the tape, stick the watch back together, then tell the mrs you don’t care its 11am on sunday morning, its been a long day and you’ve earned a beer!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and should you choose to give it a go, good luck. Keep it shiny people!

 

 

[Nikosaldente 630]

Awesome job and tutorial mate 

Well done!

Merry Christmas 

[semperfi55 4,707]

Well written mate

This is very useful for my next project. Thanks for the clear and detailed instructions. You’ve made it really easy to follow, for someone who is a beginner in modding.

More guides pls

[deju 1,859]

Brilliant DIY guide mate. 
 

Don’t want to alarm you but you’ve forgotten to put the movement back in. 
 

@Glaude this deserves a stickie! 

[GingerApple 7,272]

Stickie!!!! STICKIE!!!!!!!!

[Lagger 160]

Brilliant mate, well written and laid out......and very helpful

[Adit 642]

19 minutes ago, deju said:

Brilliant DIY guide mate. 
 

Don’t want to alarm you but you’ve forgotten to put the movement back in. 

[Dr Fun Socks 74]

4 hours ago, deju said:

Brilliant DIY guide mate. 
 

Don’t want to alarm you but you’ve forgotten to put the movement back in. 
 

@Glaude this deserves a stickie! 

I was going to mention everything inside the case is in the usa on holiday but i thought it was obvious! The bezel is hanging off in the Christmas tree pic! Thanks for the kind words everyone, this is the culmination of a fair few refinishes, with varying results. Honestly if you have a bit of time to spare and about £100 your can get really good at this, pretty quickly too. You will soon understand why people charge so much for this service, its very time consuming! If any one has a different watch or problems with the process, let me know and ill help where i can

[BC1221 44]

Great tutorial. This is pretty much exactly what I do except, I use masking tape and do a light compound polish with cotton dremel tip on the brushed bits. Gives it a nice shine and brushed look.

I also put a layer of clear packing tape on the clasp sometimes to keep the desk dives minimal so I don’t have to do this ever other week. (I’m very OCD about cleaning. Lol)

Just put a strip of clear packing tape on the clasp. Run a heat gun over it a few times. It will form itself over the clasp. Then get a very sharp razor and trim the edges. Can’t even tell it’s tape on there.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Glaude 1,615]

Awesome tutorial as always ! 

I don't know how expensive it is around the world, but the tape used in this tutorial is Kapton tape, a special thermal resistance tape used in various other application, I would say that packing tape would be as resistant and way cheaper than that, but rarely come in small width like this one.

PS : It's stickied  

[brang1 3,989]

fantastic post, well done mate, you earned a beer.... but Fosters??? 

[Mr_B 2,401]

Nice one mate! 

[Dr Fun Socks 74]

Woo my first sticky! Best Christmas ever haha! 

5 hours ago, brang1 said:

fantastic post, well done mate, you earned a beer.... but Fosters??? 

Yeah i don’t actually drink beer, im a spirits kinda guy, but it matched the bezel insert haha!

7 hours ago, Glaude said:

Awesome tutorial as always ! 

I don't know how expensive it is around the world, but the tape used in this tutorial is Kapton tape, a special thermal resistance tape used in various other application, I would say that packing tape would be as resistant and way cheaper than that, but rarely come in small width like this one.

PS : It's stickied  

Thanks Glaude! The tape is only about £4 per roll so it wont break the bank. The fact you can get away with applying it only once when brushing makes it worth the extra couple of quid for me. Used to use different wider tape and you have to repeat the process for the left and right sides of the bracelet, on the clasp and both sets of links. 
 

@BC1221 The clear tape idea is not a bad one at all. Is it super thin the stuff you use? Its a lot quicker and easier to change a layer of tape than go through the polishing motions!

[Theviking 197]

Great post, many thanks for putting it together.

[BC1221 44]

[quote post="2273692" timestamp="1577437748"
 
[mention=56435]BC1221[/mention] The clear tape idea is not a bad one at all. Is it super thin the stuff you use? Its a lot quicker and easier to change a layer of tape than go through the polishing motions!


Na. It’s just standard packing tape. About a mm thick. Using the heat gun makes it form to shape correctly. You can use scotch tape as well but those don’t last as long as packing tape. I haven’t had anyone notice it yet so I still use that method. After about 2 weeks of constant wear, the edges will start peeling off. That’s when I just remove it and re-do the tape steps unless some desk dives made it in there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SCShrek 494]

Ahhhhh....I had the polishing down but was still experimenting with what would do a good job on the brushing! Thanks mate. 

An ultrasonic followed by baby oil bath at the end will get ALL the black crap out and make it silky smooth...

Great tip on the tape and heat gun.

[Dr Fun Socks 74]

2 hours ago, BC1221 said:

[quote post="2273692" timestamp="1577437748"
 
[mention=56435]BC1221[/mention] The clear tape idea is not a bad one at all. Is it super thin the stuff you use? Its a lot quicker and easier to change a layer of tape than go through the polishing motions!


Na. It’s just standard packing tape. About a mm thick. Using the heat gun makes it form to shape correctly. You can use scotch tape as well but those don’t last as long as packing tape. I haven’t had anyone notice it yet so I still use that method. After about 2 weeks of constant wear, the edges will start peeling off. That’s when I just remove it and re-do the tape steps unless some desk dives made it in there.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have you tried heli tape? I use it on my bike to stop scratches on that. Its strong as hell, i think they use it on helicopter carbon blades to protect them. Could be worth a punt? Mine has lasted over a year and fitted with a heat gun, no loose bits or marks. 

[RX951 18]

This is awesome, now I know what to do to re-brush the band up my hulk to clean up the desk dives

[thegolfman 38]

That's  solid tutorial...will look at this.  A lot of woodworking and polishing similarities.

 

overall, a mother great post here on RWG.  Not a day goes by without learning something new here.  Many thanks!

On 24/12/2019 at 21:19, BC1221 said:

Great tutorial. This is pretty much exactly what I do except, I use masking tape and do a light compound polish with cotton dremel tip on the brushed bits. Gives it a nice shine and brushed look.

I also put a layer of clear packing tape on the clasp sometimes to keep the desk dives minimal so I don’t have to do this ever other week. (I’m very OCD about cleaning. Lol)

Just put a strip of clear packing tape on the clasp. Run a heat gun over it a few times. It will form itself over the clasp. Then get a very sharp razor and trim the edges. Can’t even tell it’s tape on there.





A great idea!

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by thegolfman
typo fixed

[Knowone 0]

New to the forum.  Thanks for breakdown.  I can use this on my gen and soon to be reps!

[texaswatchguy 12]

I’ve been meaning to rebrush for awhile but I keep putting it off for some reason. Nice guide.