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Dial (face) cleaning?


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4 hours ago, poolen0123 said:

How I can clean this without damage letter or reprinting a whole dial.

You can't, because it's not dirt, is either oxidation or chemical turning of the paint. As soon you get to touch you can only make it worse, not to say that is any good now.

BTW, we have a section of the forum where it's considered polite for new members to introduce themselves. 

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1 hour ago, rodabod said:

The most common ingredient used to dissolve lime is acid. I'd hazard a guess that this is the active ingredient in Calcium Lime Remover.

Yes but its organic acids lactic and gluconic and its heavily diluted with water, using straight up vinegar will most likely instantly remove the lettering. You can dilute these acids but i dont trust my mix of water to acid ratios and I wouldn’t recommend it to the OP. For $6 a pint its already pre-mixed ready to go and hasn’t failed me yet. I have also used these products on radium lumed dials without any issues with the lume afterwards. I attached an example. I wish i had a before pic with dial out the yellow crystal hides all the lime that was on the surface.

With all that being said, this is a varnished dial and since there is ink on it so there isn’t  many alternatives here without having to reprint. But with the CLR and W&D 40 the OP can make it look much better than it looks now.

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Edited by saswatch88
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Just now, poolen0123 said:

Result : repainting or buy a new dial may be easier because the varnish was very old and some of it already peeled off.

Yes, as mentioned above. And even if you could magically remove the clear coat, that would not make any easier to restore the oxidation or whatever chemical decaying. 

Regarding reprinting unfortunately there are very few shops worldwide to do that. For a modest piece it can cost many times its. value. That assuming they have ready suitable cliche or templates, othwrwise is even more costly. 

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  • 1 month later...

Don’t know wether it was on this forum that I read this but I use it all the time now. 
Steradent dentures cleaning tablets. Now make sure that the numerals etc are under a glaze just to play safe, I have used this with the numerals painted onto the dial, just keep an eye on the task I case they get lifted by the cleaning action.

99% of hairline cracks disappear due to the dirt being removed from them, they still exist but are just about invisible to the naked eye.

thought I’d share this tip whist no doubt we are all stuck indoors and tinkering away. Stay safe guys.

2D514553-AEB7-4B1E-9E4B-75A28FF3857D.jpeg

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Thanks for that transporter. I use a laundry product branded as ‘shout’ in the Uk. It’s designed for removing stains (ink, oil etc) from delicate fabrics. Spray a little on, leave for a minute or two then sloosh off in a beaker of lume warm water. Repeat if necessary. I once left it on overnight as an experiment and ruined a dial. It softened the lacquer and lifted the print. This was a bit extreme on a very damaged and dirty dial.

Maybe a final rinse in demineralised water then dab dry with watch makers tissue would guarantee no streaks or clouding at magnification?


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  • 1 month later...

Hello everybody,

I've managed to make some scratches with a cotton swab on my seiko 5's dial while trying to remove some dirt.

can you recommend a way to polish this dial before i make another mistake?

Thank you very much for your precious time reading this! :)

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8 hours ago, xmixail said:

I've managed to make some scratches with a cotton swab on my seiko 5's dial while trying to remove some dirt.
can you recommend a way to polish this dial before i make another mistake?

There is really no way, even if there was, it would unrealistic for someone that never worked on dial repair to have good chances of success. Dirt is removed by a blowing gently and using rodico or a silicone picker upper.

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  • 4 months later...

This is the second video by this watchmaker I've seen where a couple of liquids are used to clean a dial. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD3ZuTp8PcA

A 6 minutes and 15 seconds into the video he uses a pale red and pale blue liquid to clean a badly deteriorated dial. He then air dries it. 

I'm very curious what might have been used. Does anyone know? 

Any ideas?

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if you had asked the question without the video the answer would've been different. Normally attempting to clean wristwatch dials would end disastrously. Dials like what he has in the video those are brass disk with a silver metal finish. The black numbers are printed on and then there's a lacquer protective finish. Normally any kind of cleaning would have to take the lacquer off if you what the silver to look untarnished. If you're not careful which is basically trying to do this you can end up with the numbers floating away because they really don't like to be cleaned. then if you can brighten up the silver which you can do with silver cleaning solutions it would ideally real actor the dial. None of which she shows here it's almost a magical process.

seeing as how there's a website maybe you could ask their. If you get an answer report back please

 

https://www.nicholashacko.com.au/

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I also saw this video yesterday and was amazed at his results. I now think that it mostly had dust on it ,that he just washed off. You should always test a small spot on the dial before diving in with any cleaner. I've found that lighter fluid does not hurt alot of dials I've used it on. I use a Q-tip to wipe the dial and stay away from the writing as much as possible. If it's printed on, it works well. But if it a decal, any liquid will raise it off the dial. I never use anything stronger than lighter fluid. I'm sure the professionals will not like this advice.

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I think best would be to post a clear picture of the face and ask for advice from OH.

I guess the aproach to cleaning dial depends on how it was painted/made.

I read his advice on some thread wherein he advised using a rubber, the kind we clean pencil writting with. I tried it on a dial I thought is suitable to clean with rubber, the result was excellent.  You would think the job is by a professional if you saw before and after pictures.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure. I suggest deionized water and maybe a tiny bit of alcohol. Less is more  

These glossy dials show every scratch, although Rolex’s insistence on avoiding anti-reflective coating on their flat crystals to enhance “bling” makes it harder to see the scratches...

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  • 2 months later...
4 minutes ago, Mazboy said:

Hi guys, i'm slowly learning and improving my skills to service and repair watches and getting good results.  One area i've yet to tackle is how to clean up a dial.  I don't want to get in re-luming/re-laquering etc. just yet, just a basic clean of dust and dirt to improve the look of the dial.

I've seen a few videos where is suggested to immerse the dial in boiling water for a few mins before dabbing with a cotton bud but wasn't sure if this would lead to adding more damage.

I've also seen a few of the watch tool sites selling Class & Dial Cleaning Pens and Cleaning Swabs and wondered if anyone had used them with any success?

So my question is in two parts, firstly what chemical/liquid should i be using that will at least be able to remove some of the dirt without causing more damage, will water suffice or should i use Isopropyl Alcohol or is there something else better suited?

Secondly, what tool should i use to remove the dirt, i've seen Rodico being used which seems to work to remove the initial layer of dust and grim but what should i use along with the chemical/liquid mentioned above, cotton buds, baby wipes, cleaning swabs or something else?

Any guidance is appreciated, thanks in advance.

It really depends on the dial material, paint, etc. Some dials are very forgiving, some not so much. Thinks twice. No, think 25 times before you try to remove anything from the dial.

A very sharp peg-wood stick can be gently used to remove dirt, old lume, etc. Then you can use lighter fuel and soft brash to just brash off any oil, discoloration, etc. But you have to be so careful and do not apply pressure on the dial, or you may remove more that desired :-(.

Dry the dial immediately by blowing air. I have just cleaned my Omega dial and it was somewhat nerve-racking / delicate process. It's better to clean less, then accidentally remove more ?

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Every dial is different. Sometime we read here people wanting to clean corrosion or substrate reaction, or faded paint - you can't do that. While a damped earbud, applied gently, is almost always safe, I have seen cases were it was not.  So avoid any chemicals and try first to understand well what is dirt and what is not, what the dial can take and what it can't.  Of course, experience helps, when in doubt post good picture here as good advice is always present.

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