Tips on Removing Minor Scratches on Stainless-Steel (SS)

[JustinCase 0]

Tips on Removing minor scratches from Stainless-Steel (SS) Finishes

 

I posted these tips elsewhere 10-15 years ago. Some people found them useful. On the assumption that some still do, and with minor revisions, here it goes again.

 

Like wrinkles on a face, scratches on your watch give it character, testimony to a life well lived. But not everyone is philosophical about such things. If your favorite watch has acquired more...character than Clint Eastwood's face in Gran Torino, you might feel an urge to do something about it. If you do, here are some tips. There is no universal way to repair all SS surfaces: you must use different tools for different finishes. The methods described here are not without risk, the only safe way is to send the watch to a watchmaker/jeweler. But if you are reasonably handy and not entirely without common sense and patience, the results can be very rewarding.

 

TOOLS

 

Pioneer Shino Polishing Cloth (iron oxide cleaner; watch-tool suppliers)

Sylvet washable (S. LaRose & Co. in Greensboro, NC; www.slarose.com)

Jewelers cloth by Inverness (chemical cleaners; drug store, grocery stores)

Never-Dull (chemical-impregnated cotton; drug store, hardware stores)

Eurotool (German-made fiber-glass pencil; watch-tool suppliers)

Manicure Styrofoam blocks (three grades; beauty supplies stores)

 

POLISHED SS

 

1. Fine scratches. I've found that nothing beats a jewelers polishing cloth, like the Pioneer Shino Polishing Cloth available from most watch-tool suppliers for less than $5. It is a double cloth; the inner cloth is imbedded with a red polishing powder (ferric oxide or rouge, i.e., your common rust). The outer cloth protects your hand from the nasty red stain and is also used to give the final polish. This jewelers polishing cloth works even better on gold--Warning: do not use these products on gold-plating, which is only 3-5 micron thick. You may also use Sylvet washable (S. LaRose & Co. in Greensboro, NC; www.slarose.com) or the double jewelers cloth by Inverness (impregnated with chemical polish) typically sold in drug store which does not leave red dust on the repaired surface to be removed. The only other tools you need are elbow grease and patience.

 

2. Deep scratches. Use Never-Dull--great name, isnt it?--usually sold in drug stores and hardware stores. Never-Dull is cotton impregnated with a strong cleaner/polisher. It has an unpleasant smell (like the polishing compound for automobiles) but works fast, leaving behind only faint scratches that can be removed with a jewelers cloth. And voila, you've got a mirror finish! Well, not quite.

 

CAVEAT: You will always leave microscopic scratches on a highly polished SS (or gold) surface. These ultra-fine scratches are visible only in bright light and from a certain angle. The only perfect finish I’ve seen is a factory finish. Even jobs done by jewelers/watchmakers are still inferior to the factory mirror finish so expect improvements but not miracles.

 

BRUSHED SS

 

1. To remove fine scratches, use a jewelers cloth. Be GENTLE or you will put a shine on the finish, which will not quite match the brushed look. If that happens, you can put the brushed finish back on by following Step 3 below.

 

2. For scratches over a small area, use a fiber-glass brush (German-made Eurotool sold by watch-tool suppliers). It looks like a mechanical pencil with a bundle of glass fibers instead of lead that can be dispensed from the tip. You brush this glass-fiber tip on the SS surface to remove the scratches and to create a new brush finish. I would not recommend using this tool over a large area because the brush strokes tend to be uneven, especially around curves, though you can get better with practice. WARNING: The broken fiber glass on your skin can cause unpleasant itches. Wear a thin latex glove and use a brush or a small computer vacuum to remove fiber-glass debris from your watch after repair.

 

3. For scratches over a large area, use a Styrofoam block made for polishing finger nails and sold in beauty supply store--just ask your better half. Each block is about an inch thick and 3 inches long. Its surface is impregnated with a very fine abrasive material, which comes in two to three different grades (coarse, fine, very fine). Brush gently with the grain to remove the scratches and to blend the new brush strokes with the original ones. The results depend on how steadily you are brush along a straight line. I prefer these Styrofoam blocks to sand paper, steel wool or abrasive , plastic pads as these blocks are easier to grip, maneuver and make straight lines with. The soft Styrofoam also conforms to curved surfaces and is very forgiving. With patience, you can even remove deep dents and re-shape small parts safely with this Styrofoam polisher.

 

TITANIUM

 

The finest-grade Styrofoam block will work on a titanium surfaces but you have to be extremely careful about it because once the top, hard titanium-nitride layer--if there is one--is removed, the actual titanium underneath is very soft, like aluminum (aluminium?). Titanium nitride layer is produced at extremely high temperature in inert nitrogen atmosphere so is unlikely to be found on inexpensive watches. This extremely hard layer does not peel away like gold plating but, like gold plating, it is only skin-deep. Finally, the repaired surface may look slightly different (shinier) than originally but will usually acquire the same dull titanium patina once it has fully re-oxidized. Do not attempt to work on titanium until you have acquired some skills and confidence with easier tasks on SS.

 

SAND-BLAST SS

 

Leave it alone! Even fine jewelers cloth will still put a slight shine on this mat finish, which in my opinion, completely ruins it. Get this finish re-done by professionals.

 

FINAL COMMENTS

 

Above tips are for repairing minor scratches that are annoying to you but not worth a trip to your local watch-repair shop, or shipping the watch out. But to restore the whole watch, often necessary when you dabble in vintage timepieces, I found it best to send the watch out to professionals with the right tools and skills for the job. My friend at an authorized service center for a top Swiss watch company have told me many amusing stories--to him, anyway--about watches in dire need of cosmetic surgery after the DYI’ers realized that their enthusiasm had outstripped their skills--no pun intended. Anyway, it is not uncommon to get very satisfying results by doing it yourself in which case I will take all the credit. For any damage to you watches, the fault is obviously all yours.

 

Cheers,

 

Justin Case

[dingle 57]

another awesome post. Well done Justin

[greg_r 81]

Great stuff, Justin. Deserves to be a sticky.

[trailboss99 994]

Wow, great advice!

Thanks for posting JC

 

 

Col.

[KeNnY 29]

JustineCase, awesome post. Thanks for pointing out Pioneer Shino Polishing Cloth. I have bought recently from Ebay an Horosafe polishing cloth (price around 15 USD) but it looks like it is some normal cloth for windows cleaning, because the information label from the cloth was cut out

My question is, can I use an polishing cloth like this one Pioneer Shino Polishing Cloth also to clean the mineral glass ? Or I should not use this cloth not even clean the surface of the mineral glass (scenario is, I would took off my watch from the wrist and polish it, without taking off the crystal from the watch).

 

Thank you for your inquire also I have an good tip to clean watches, especially polished SS. What I use are wet cleaning paper cloths for cleaning glasses. This cloths are with special alcohol, not leaving any marks or traces, and also they are great removing dust and other dirtiness. And special thing is, after cleaning, the watch is polished and reflecting like mirror

[MikeMcNair 0]

thought i would offer anther neat little trick here. if you have a GF, she certainly likes to do her nails. SOOO, get the "block" che uses to polish her nails,a nd here ya go.....

 

 

be- fo

 

 

afta....

 

 

 

removed other marks on the bracelet too...

 

 

 

AND, was able to blend the case into the bracelet better.......

 

[ivotedale 0]

Amazing tip! I don't have a girlfriend now, but I somehow still have one of those nail buffers around the house. Hm...

[MikeMcNair 0]

honestly, i was like "wtf is this, i can use this..... this shit is MINE NOW, fuck your nails"...... and sho nuff, it worked PERFECTLY!!!!

 

i am pleased.

[MikeMcNair 0]

another tip is of course using the dremmel, and like posted above, use the tape to tape off sections of the bracelet that need not be polished.

 

my brothers gen TH Aquaracer is about 4 yrs old and pretty beaten up, so i did my work on it. took about 4 hrs due to the level of detail i went into. i did EVERY SURFACE of EVERY LINK and EVERY component of the watch. my mission was to restore the watch to NEW. i'll let the pix do the talking......

 

here is what it looked like BEFORE (dull, scratched, and no polished finish left......)

 

 

 

 

now, notice how this watch has POLISHED mid links, and BRUSHED OUTER links? well, this is where i taped off each section, and worked on the exposed section.

 

 

 

case was VERY SCRATCHED, but dremmel made quick work of repolishing it.

 

 

 

 

 

i also repolished the "5, 15, 25 etc" markers on the bezel....

 

 

 

 

 

 

she is now looking as good as new. each surface looks like it did from the factory, and in 4 short hours i refinished the watch from SHIT status to GREAT looking. i am very pleased with the results, and appreciate the posts above for the tips!!!!

 

my brother is so please, he said "it looks too good, i am afraid to wear it" i simply said to go a head, cause i can always refinish it again

 

thanks to the OP!!!!

[KeNnY 29]

well done Mike !

[MikeMcNair 0]

well done Mike !

 

 

thanks ken. i have to go through the pix and find the REALLY SHITTY before pix and post them, because the watch looked like ARSE!!!!! but now, i really does look nice. i am very pleased.

[tissotman 0]

some great tips there and a great watch.

[d1isthe1 0]

nice informative post... some days ago i did a brushed metal finishing of my Tissot V8 with a #800 sand paper and it too was satisfactory....

[MikeMcNair 0]

so, i was working construction yesterday and i banged my watch on a million things, putting marks on the bracelet. i redid it last night, and here are the results (using the above method again)

 

all marks GONE, and she looks BRAND NEW again

 

[kolchak 17]

Amazing work. My DSSD from Mary has some fine scratches on the polished case and I was about to search for this exact type of info, so thanks. Good to know removing scrapes / scratches isn't too hard.. Question - How did you use the dremmel?

 

Sounds like a beater may be in order for work days or you'll be getting a lot more practice!

[MikeMcNair 0]

Amazing work. My DSSD from Mary has some fine scratches on the polished case and I was about to search for this exact type of info, so thanks. Good to know removing scrapes / scratches isn't too hard.. Question - How did you use the dremmel?

 

Sounds like a beater may be in order for work days or you'll be getting a lot more practice!

 

 

thanks man, as for the dremmel, i used the wool pads and the one buffing wheel that looks like MANY layers of cloth, and simply high speed, and the rouge that comes with the dremmel polishing kit.

 

tape off with SCOTCH TAPE the areas you want to remain "brushed" looking, as the scotch taps is smooth enough that the dremmel will not catch it and rip it off.

 

its amazing what a little time an patience will do. that gen tag i did took 5 hrs, but it literally looks BRAND NEW, and have many different surfaces that needed polishing, and brushed finishing.

[kolchak 17]

Did you use any polishing products or "never dull" with the dremmel or hit it dry?

The drivers side interior door open/release handle on one of my cars is a polished SS and scratched to hell (probably from rubbing against various watches). It's starting to bug the shit out of me but these tatics may be the answer.

Thanks again!

[MikeMcNair 0]

Did you use any polishing products or "never dull" with the dremmel or hit it dry?

The drivers side interior door open/release handle on one of my cars is a polished SS and scratched to hell (probably from rubbing against various watches). It's starting to bug the shit out of me but these tatics may be the answer.

Thanks again!

 

 

use the rouge that comes with the dremmel polishing kit. it is orange-brown in colour, and works surprisingly well. as for a final wipe, i recommend "speedy metal polish", it can be found all over the internet and is AMAZING (it beats flits and nuvite IMHO) and is half the cost.

[MikeMcNair 0]

duplicate post, sorry....

[Pohoho 0]

Just thinking out loud :rolleyes:

 

we put all those protective films on our iphone and and computer screens for scratch protection.

 

Anyone tried a fine thin layer of lacquer or some spray-on plastic thingy for scratch prevention on watch cases? Is there such a thing in the market?

Edited July 13, 2011 by Pohoho

[SThiess 0]

Great info Mike,

 

will have to study your posts some more.

 

For removing scratches on the polished parts I used Cape Cod Polishing Cloths. They work very well with minor scratches.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017H3PIO

 

Just do not rub to hard on plated material it will take it off. Good idea, like Mike did is taping it off. If you polish over brushed material it will polish it.

 

To bring brushed material back to original I used a fiberglass pen which also worked quite well.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Grobet-FIBERGLASS-BR...6036&sr=1-2

 

Some info for those who do not want to invest in a Dremel and want to give their watches a quick and nice shine.

 

Make It A Great Day

[myaz 3]

This post gave me an idea for another application: polishing the ole Ipod. Used Flitz polish (mentionned elsewhere in the forum) available at the local hardware store, followed

by cape cod on the lower half (the half that is shiny :P ). About 3 minutes of work. Next? the toaster.

 

 

[kolchak 17]

toaster pics?

[Airglide 0]

I Pod...the list could be endless!

[Pihlippe 1,264]

Necrowhore

Yes give us a toaster pic!