I think patience is one of the key factors in the discipline of watch cleaning... and a quick revisit to the high school chemistry lessons. I usually slept through these but some how some things sticked.
Cleaning a watch is about chemistry since one wants to get rid off for example old oil and grease.
So first we have to loosen up the old dirt, since it mostly are different kind of petrol residues we want to get rid off any kind of mild degreaser is good, any kind of petroleum product can be used.
One have to patiently let it soak for a while before moving to the next stage.
When the residues are nice and soft they can be cleaned off. To do this you have to expose the residues to an alkaline solution, this is the key component in any cleaning solution, to get an alkaline solution you can use sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide solved in distilled water. Warning! A too strong solution will be extremely corrosive so you have to try which amount of chemicals you have to use, preferably test it on a couple of scrap movements. Nowadays I always use an ultrasonic cleaning machine.
To rinse of the alkaline solution I usually rinse the parts first in chemically pure petrol and later in an 99.5% alcohol solution, the alcohol will bind all the water one might have missed to get away from the ultrasonic bath, it's the same trick used in cars to bind water in petroleum..
If there is rust on some parts I clean these later on with a slight acidic solution, white wine vinegar in distilled water works great. and then carefully rinse the solution off.
For the pegging work in the jewels and any eventual rust removal I use my new favorite, bamboo toothpicks, these can be sharpened to extremely thin points and at the same time be gentle on the jewels.
I always clean the palletfork and balance separately but this is just a thing I'm used to do.
So the path for me when leaving the jewels in when cleaning is:
1. Use a petroleum product to solve oil and grease.
2. Use an alkaline to remove the oil. Use an acidic solution for rust removal.
3. Rinse first in a clean petroleum product.
4. Second rinse in an alcohol.
5.Peg jewels with a super sharp bamboo toothpick.
To try to clean any old oil residue can be very hard but tips and tricks like this should work with any brand of watch even Oris, but I leave no warranties ;).
The picture presents an Oris Cal. 718 ticking away one year after cleaning..