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So I decided to plate a watch at the weekend, I polished the case back to brass as usual and placed it in my nickel plating solution. I then applied my normal 0.10-0.15 amperes and let the magic happen. Then after about 10 mins I noticed that the nugget of nickel was bubbling instead of the watch case.... Then I realised I had connected my leads backwards, making the case and not the nickel nugget the sacrificial metal. I pulled the case out and it had become very dark grey with a frosted look, it was not possible to see this in the green nickel plating solution. Here is the strange bit, I decided to polish back the case to re-do the plating, but as I polished the dark grey took a polish and looked like gun metal or titanium. I polished a little more and the grey disappeared to reveal a silver metal (colour not the element) coating. How/where did this come from?? Could I have pulled the copper out of the brass leaving behind the zinc??? I swapped back the leads to the correct configuration and plated the watch perfectly. But where did the silver come from when I had them backwards??

Hi I'm working on a diver watch named : Philly Master Mariner I join a photo of the dial The question is about the case what do you advise I know it's very personal to restore or not a case some do it other prefer to keep it as is as more authentic. But here I've in dilemma, the face is not too bad but the back and side are very damaged So your advises are welcomed even if someone tell me don't think about it because it'll be a catastrophic failure Thanks

I agree with what you are saying completely. I plan to only keep the case and back and replace everything else. I would have loved to put a mechanical movement in the watch but I think it’s too small (33.9mm x 7.1mm). My plan is to have the case and back replated and have the back blanked of its manufacturers engraving so as I can have a blank canvas to have something engraved on it myself. I was hoping to get advice on what movements could be used and buy the parts ready for a watchmaker to assemble as like you said, I don’t want to ruin the watch. I’ve already started sourcing/ordering parts which was a little silly without any advice so I’ll post what I have ordered below (if rules permit me to do so?).