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Pre-Cleaning A Watch

fuse63

By fuse63
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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fuse63 Watch Enthusiast

fuse63

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Hello Everyone,

Can anyone tell me exactly what goes into pre-cleaning a watch? I took a webinar with AWCI and they talked about precleaning the watch before checking the escapement. I usually just clean a watch so I would just want someone to explain to me what goes into it.

 

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watchweasol Distinguished Member

watchweasol

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Hi not a function I have come across, If you are going to clean it just do that,  One normaly checks the watch out before doing anything anyway,  why pre clean somthing you are goung to service unless its in a bit of  a state (gummed up or dirty)

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fuse63 Watch Enthusiast

fuse63

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watchweasol, I couldn't agree with you more, but when i took this class on escapement they said the best way to be able to check the escapement is for a pre-cleaning and then to do your checks thats why i ask. I am assuming that this pre-clean is probably to take some rodico to remove any dirt on the escapement, pallet fork etc.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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in modern watch repair shops is where you're going to find pre-cleaning.  the pre-cleaning procedure is to remove the watch from the case remove the dial and calendar parts for the most part. I know someone who does Rolex repair and claims at least one Rolex watch you can leave the calendar parts on because they're not affected but to be safe everything with paint the dial etc. has to come off.

then the entire watch is run through the pre-clean cleaning machine. Yes they usually are separate cleaning machines. It's usually set to a shorter cycle than you normally would run all the pieces through. The reason for doing this is it gives you a nice clean watch allows you to evaluate everything.

then out of curiosity how was your escapement class?

then you want to be careful with your rodico is really amazing for cleaning but it can leave a residue behind that interferes with things.

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clockboy Distinguished Member

clockboy

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I sometimes pre-clean if a watch/clock is particularly dirty. Rodico,peg wood and sometimes cotton buds are my tools. I do this to aid a closer inspection & analysis and also with watches it gives my cleaning solutions a longer life.

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fuse63 Watch Enthusiast

fuse63

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JohnR725, thanks for the information, so basically you are saying after you remove the dial etc, you just put the whole movement in the pre-cleaning machine without disassembling it? The escapement class was through the AWCI and it was very informative. 

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rodabod Distinguished Member

rodabod

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"Pre-cleaning" is the term I use for cleaning absolutely filthy watches. They go in a jar of naphtha. Keeps the large volume of dirt separate from my normal cleaning fluids.

Edited by rodabod
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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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2 hours ago, fuse63 said:

whole movement in the pre-cleaning machine

yes that is pre-cleaning whole movement nothing is disassembled.

10 hours ago, fuse63 said:

The escapement class was through the AWCI and it was very informative. 

I hadn't realized but AWCI has a YouTube channel looks like they have two separate videos on the escapement including one that covers lubrication.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI5yh2536IS62ehsNONDHiA/videos

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