Cleaning techniques ???

[ianrichards]

So many questions !!!

I’ve looked around the internet for beginners watch cleaning methods and they seem to vary quite a bit as to what to use. 
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 
Thanks. 
Ian

[gpraceman]

Well, it depends on what you have at your disposal.  Do you have a watch cleaning machine or an ultrasonic cleaner?

[Malocchio]

A lot of useful tutorials

 

[JohnR725]

8 hours ago, ianrichards said:

seem to vary quite a bit as to what to use.

one of the unfortunate or amusing problems with watch repair is it's apparently not an exact science. In other words everyone has a different thought on cleaning machines or lubrication is a very popular one to bicker over.

In the case of watch cleaning it depends upon where you live some places getting cleaning fluids is basically impossible. Depends upon your ventilation system monetized people object to the ammonia-based cleaners as therein tiny apartments. Or if you purchase a gallon of cleaning fluid including you can purchase it off of Amazon with free shipping at least the last time I looked that's what it look like but they objected to having a gallon that might take them quarter of a century to use up. But typically the cleaning fluids don't go bad for a very long time but they will go bad after a long time they just won't clean as well. But were talking about quite a number of years which is what happens if you don't use it fast enough and then a course you have to dispose of used products not really something you should be pouring down the drain for instance.

[ianrichards]

4 hours ago, gpraceman said:

Well, it depends on what you have at your disposal.  Do you have a watch cleaning machine or an ultrasonic cleaner?

No

[watchweasol]

Hi. Well that limits the methods you can use. The only option open to you is cleaning ny hand and for that you could use an artists brush and lighter fuel or benzine or isopropyl alchol which is probably the best. Do not soak the pallet and the balance in any of them just dip brush clean and rinse then dry. This  

method will get you by untill you c a pick up an ultrasonic then it’s a different matter.  You will be weighed down with the different opinions you will receive sound them all out and pick the one that’s best for you. Apart from Lubrication this is an other contentious subject.

[ianrichards]

14 minutes ago, watchweasol said:

Hi. Well that limits the methods you can use. The only option open to you is cleaning ny hand and for that you could use an artists brush and lighter fuel or benzine or isopropyl alchol which is probably the best. Do not soak the pallet and the balance in any of them just dip brush clean and rinse then dry. This  

method will get you by untill you c a pick up an ultrasonic then it’s a different matter.  You will be weighed down with the different opinions you will receive sound them all out and pick the one that’s best for you. Apart from Lubrication this is an other contentious subject.

Thanks for that, it’s exactly the approach I’ve decided upon. I already have some IPA in the workshop. I heard that it will dissolve shellac, would this be a problem though on a 1980s Sekonda watch ?

Thanks 

[Malocchio]

2 hours ago, ianrichards said:

Thanks for that, it’s exactly the approach I’ve decided upon. I already have some IPA in the workshop. I heard that it will dissolve shellac, would this be a problem though on a 1980s Sekonda watch ?

Thanks 

Shellac has been used forever and is still used in modern watches. Whatever you use you can still do a final fast rinse in IPA, short exposure won't do anything to shellac. Especially if you use lighter fluid that leaves oily residue you should consider something like IPA.

[gpraceman]

8 hours ago, ianrichards said:

Thanks for that, it’s exactly the approach I’ve decided upon. I already have some IPA in the workshop. I heard that it will dissolve shellac, would this be a problem though on a 1980s Sekonda watch ?

Thanks 

IPA and lighter fluid are generally readily available for most people and not too expensive.  With lighter fluid, you can do some test parts and check for an oily sheen under magnification.  The flat side of jewels are good for that, as you can get the light to reflect off the surface to see any residue.  Check before and after under magnification.  You can do an IPA rinse afterwards if you see a bit of residue.

I clean the pallet forks and balance wheels separate from the rest of the parts.  In my case I use Hexane.  You can do an IPA rinse on these, if you keep it brief (like 30 seconds or so) so as not to dissolve the shellac.

Edited December 3, 2023 by gpraceman

[nico]

Seen recently this interesting video about the cleaning and the shellac on the pallet fork.

 

[JohnR725]

8 hours ago, gpraceman said:

You can do an IPA rinse on these, if you keep it brief (like 30 seconds or so) so as not to dissolve the shellac.

watch repair is interesting it's such a not exact science apparently. Like isopropyl alcohol or even

21 hours ago, gpraceman said:

ultrasonic cleaner

for instance in the above video we learned that isopropyl alcohol dissolves shellac very very fast.  then we get to my favorite part of the video at about 9:40 the pallet fork is been destroyed and that basically is a all new watch you permanently destroyed your watch the end of the world just because you are stupid and use isopropyl alcohol and ultrasonic except we have a problem here the conflict

the case of a professional watch cleaning machine quite a few of which use ultrasonic the first cleaning product is very similar to the rinse basically all the solvents in the cleaning and the rents are the same solvent. So professional watchmakers of them cleaning watches and ultrasonic machines for years with seemingly no problems at all except now with modern YouTube videos which point out the dangers of ultrasonic.

Then the isopropyl alcohol problem. I was once looking on a woodworkers users group because they use alcohol dissolves shellac to make a finish and somebody couldn't get the proper alcohol sleigh tried isopropyl and what becomes interesting it depends upon the particular shellac. In other words somebody said it actually did not work at all it would not dissolve the shellac I think somebody else said it did but it took hours of time. So there appear to be variations in the quality shellac versus isopropyl alcohol.

So for instance at work I work on American pocket watches their vintage. They go to an Elma cleaning machine all the parts balance wheel pallet fork everything goes through the machine. The final rinse is isopropyl alcohol because otherwise the normal rinse water evaporate so we need a final final rinse and yet the best of my knowledge I have no problems with the shellac dissolving away. Usually in a time I have problems with shellac it's because it was going bad in the first place. Like the other day and incoming watch the was hopelessly very dirty and upon examination of why it wasn't running at all the roller jewel was already use so I just had the re-shellac it was fine and that I ran into the cleaning machine and the shellac is still fine

oh and when I was at home cleaning watches I didn't have any isopropyl alcohol so went to the hardware store and purchased some other alcohol which 100% does dissolves shellac and even says that on the container itself but it still isn't a problem because I only dipped it in as a final final rinse before I put it in the dryer.

 

[ianrichards]

8 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

watch repair is interesting it's such a not exact science apparently. Like isopropyl alcohol or even

for instance in the above video we learned that isopropyl alcohol dissolves shellac very very fast.  then we get to my favorite part of the video at about 9:40 the pallet fork is been destroyed and that basically is a all new watch you permanently destroyed your watch the end of the world just because you are stupid and use isopropyl alcohol and ultrasonic except we have a problem here the conflict

the case of a professional watch cleaning machine quite a few of which use ultrasonic the first cleaning product is very similar to the rinse basically all the solvents in the cleaning and the rents are the same solvent. So professional watchmakers of them cleaning watches and ultrasonic machines for years with seemingly no problems at all except now with modern YouTube videos which point out the dangers of ultrasonic.

Then the isopropyl alcohol problem. I was once looking on a woodworkers users group because they use alcohol dissolves shellac to make a finish and somebody couldn't get the proper alcohol sleigh tried isopropyl and what becomes interesting it depends upon the particular shellac. In other words somebody said it actually did not work at all it would not dissolve the shellac I think somebody else said it did but it took hours of time. So there appear to be variations in the quality shellac versus isopropyl alcohol.

So for instance at work I work on American pocket watches their vintage. They go to an Elma cleaning machine all the parts balance wheel pallet fork everything goes through the machine. The final rinse is isopropyl alcohol because otherwise the normal rinse water evaporate so we need a final final rinse and yet the best of my knowledge I have no problems with the shellac dissolving away. Usually in a time I have problems with shellac it's because it was going bad in the first place. Like the other day and incoming watch the was hopelessly very dirty and upon examination of why it wasn't running at all the roller jewel was already use so I just had the re-shellac it was fine and that I ran into the cleaning machine and the shellac is still fine

oh and when I was at home cleaning watches I didn't have any isopropyl alcohol so went to the hardware store and purchased some other alcohol which 100% does dissolves shellac and even says that on the container itself but it still isn't a problem because I only dipped it in as a final final rinse before I put it in the dryer.

 

Wow, thanks for that. 
I reckon as a novice I’m best going low tech, brush and lighter fuel to start with and then as I gain experience introduce other methods. 
 There’s plenty of time (pun)

Thanks

Ian

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by ianrichards
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