Gold case restoration.

[Neverenoughwatches]

Eyup forum members, i hope you are all in good health. A bit of a random/unusual question here ( of course what else can you expect ? ) Just a thought I've had, maybe something, maybe nothing, maybe stupid.  But if i dont ask i won't know. Probably directed towards good case restorers. Gold case back engraving, the retirement watch sort of thing. There are plenty of nice gold watches out there but many have back engraving some with quite deep inscriptions. These tend to be cheaper than a non marked back. Seems a shame to lose that history but not all of us want to know what year Bernard Cratchet retired from East Scunthorpe sewerage works and that his colleagues will sorely miss his rendition of Dan Dan the lavatory man. So my question is this- can the engraving be filled and buffed, rather than just ground and polished as some engraving can mean losing quite a lot of material to remove it. If anyone has tried this can the inscription still be visible through the gold fill ? Thanks in advance peoples.

[oldhippy]

If the filling is done correctly you shouldn't be able to see  what it previously looked like. It will be expensive so you need to ask yourself is it worth it. My own feelings is it is part of its history and should be left.

[Neverenoughwatches]

15 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

If the filling is done correctly you shouldn't be able to see  what it previously looked like. It will be expensive so you need to ask yourself is it worth it. My own feelings is it is part of its history and should be left.

Appreciate that OH, i personally like to keep things original as far as possible but it would feel like it still belonged to someone else. 

[lexacat]

I'm in two minds. If it increases the resale value, or you want it to be your watch, then it might be a good if not expensive thing to persue.

But then again, perhaps in 10-15 years Scotland Yard might announce that they've finally uncovered the identity of the infamous East Scunthorpe Sewerage Strangler, and suddenly your old retirement watch is worth a mint to some weirdo.

[dadistic]

I think it might be tricky to match the gold. If the color is even a little bit off, you'd still be able to see the engraving.  Worth talking to a jeweler to see what they think, though. 

[JohnR725]

6 hours ago, oldhippy said:

My own feelings is it is part of its history and should be left.

The problem with history on the back of your watch is for a lot of people it decreases the value considerably. On the other hand a lot of the engravings are very stylishly done and to me it's part of the decoration it's not really an issue. But is the decreasing in value that upsets people.

3 hours ago, dadistic said:

I think it might be tricky to match the gold.

That's the problem that I'd be concerned with. Gold tends to have color variations. I've seen were somebody had a case replayed it for instance and to me it didn't look right bigger just didn't look like the right shade of gold.

Then depending upon the case back it may be expensive in that if the case back is smooth you can just fill it in with whatever slaughter you have but solder tends to not necessarily be the same carrot as the original gold because it does have to melt. So you fill it all in polish it backed ounces nice and smooth and possibly replace the entire case just so it all matches.

But if you want to find out find somebody who does engraving and ask them how to deal with it. The reason he ask existing people who do engraving is accidents happen and they have to be fixed. This is where a lot of modern engraving is better than the vintage because the modern engraving tends to not be as deep somebody hand engraved in the traditional way it can be a really deep into a case back. Versus something newer that if it's solid gold or silver can just be polished out re-engraved if you so desire.

[nickelsilver]

I think many good case refinishers now offer laser welding to repair worn cases as well as to fill in engraving. I know the guy my main client uses does, and it's always invisible. Don't know the cost though.

[grsnovi]

What sort of watch is it? Is it one for which you can find an "original" donor case? Or, a donor replacement back?

[Neverenoughwatches]

8 hours ago, lexacat said:

I'm in two minds. If it increases the resale value, or you want it to be your watch, then it might be a good if not expensive thing to persue.

But then again, perhaps in 10-15 years Scotland Yard might announce that they've finally uncovered the identity of the infamous East Scunthorpe Sewerage Strangler, and suddenly your old retirement watch is worth a mint to some weirdo.

Good point lexacat  I'll check the news reels for that area before i make a decision.  

28 minutes ago, grsnovi said:

What sort of watch is it? Is it one for which you can find an "original" donor case? Or, a donor replacement back?

Just something I'm looking at buying G. The engraving is quite deep and to dress it out would remove quite a lot of gold and maybe leave the back too thin. I even wondered if the engraving could be partially reduced and the gold removed  be used to fill the remainder. It would seem a shame to take away its history but its up for sale, wasn't wanted and the inscription doesn't actually have meaning or sentiment any more. It wouldnt be connected to me or mine as such and not something i could pass down to my children. Still thinking