Discolouration

[RichardHarris123]

Any ideas what caused this  

[KarlvonKoln]

I have vague memories of hearing about how someone used naphtha (cigarette lighter fluid) to clean a watch - which was once a rather common practice.  And then, impatient to wait for the cleaner to evaporate, the person lit it on fire.  It would burn off extremely quickly, but I remember it was mentioned that doing this would harm the nickel finish on the movement and (depending how much lighter fluid was left upon the movement) could possibly melt the shellac holding the jewels in place. 
Whether that was the case here, with the above watch, I do not know for sure, but others may comment and confirm later on.  Either way, if you use that kind of stuff as a cleaning agent, setting it aflame while it is still covering the movement is discouraged.

[Nucejoe]

You have showed us a picture before so ask to show one for after,   cleaning that is.

A chance to show Coca Cola in action.

1- disaeemble and drop all part in Coca Cola. 

2- Give it all a 48 hrs saok.

3- You will need some powdered detrgaent, a used tooth brush.

4- Rinse the parts with tal water.

5 -Plenty of pwdered detergent a few drops of water on the part, scrub the part with the brush. The few drops of water is to help the powder as a cleanser.

Give each part a real good scrub, keep scrubing under tap water.

6- Watch how shiny the parts are. take pictures show us before and one of after please, so folks here believe how Good Coke works. 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Nucejoe

[Waggy]

I use naptha to clean my watch components, but have never lit it, I would assume this is very dangerous as it is the same stuff as they put into zippo lighters it is extremely flammable. Naptha evaporates very quickly, so in less time than it would take to make a coffee it will be gone, and no singed eyebrows!

Naptha will clean, but if you want to brighten you can use IPA (after the naptha) to brighten the parts and make then shine as well as cleaning anything the naptha didn't remove, which is what I do.

As a note of caution, I would be careful using IPA on any jewels that are held in place with shellac as some alcohols can disolve and/or weaken the shellac, but I believe naptha will be OK (as long as you don't light it!) 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Waggy
Fixed typo

[RichardHarris123]

I use lighter fluid but dream of lightning it, how strange.