Recommendations in who can renovate a Stainless Case?

[Alastair]

I'm looking for someone who can renovate a stainless-steel watch case. My latest aquisition, a Swiss Square Accutron Spaceview has a reasonable case but does have some light scratches and is looking a little tired.

This is something I cant do myself as Ive not ever attempted, looks to be a specialist kind of thing...

Any ideas who could do this sort of work?

[jdm]

It's easy and rewarding to do buffing with a rotary tool.

I have great results with Dialux orange on a 5cm hard felt, both got from Cousins UK. Then you continue with regulat polishing, that is Dialux gray and then green.

[Ishima]

jdm, I would respect what alastair said about not being able to do it himself, if he doesn't feel confident with it it's probably best not attempted, you are right in that it is something anyone can learn with the right equipment, time, experience and advice, but I believe even the guy in the perplxr video said you can easily do more harm than good. 

Alastair, I don't know if you were looking for someone on the forum to do the work (of which there are some people that might, I'm sure) or if you wanted to know where to look to find where you live, it shouldn't be that rare a skill to find amongst jewellers and watch repair shops if there are many around you, they may not have someone who can do it onsite, but i would imagine most places would be able to offer you that service through a central workshop if nothing else. It may end up costing you a fair amount through any professional business and you'll have to be prepared that some people will be weary of doing anything to it, given what it is. 

whoever does it, I hope they de-case the watch before polishing it, knowing how temperamental accutrons are, I would expect the vibrations might effect the movement. 

Edited July 29, 2016 by Ishima

[matabog]

Anyone knows where I could buy a cheap buffing tool like that? With tapered ends?

TY!

B

[jdm]

46 minutes ago, matabog said:

Anyone knows where I could buy a cheap buffing tool like that? With tapered ends?

Aliiexpress has them and they are common in all trades.

Ishiima: SS case restoring is very easy and anyone should give it a try.. Forums much less specialized than this have many threads about it. Not a big deal job really. 

 

[Ishima]

Jdm, you are over simplifying, easy to think that it's easy if you've learnt how to do it, can do it well or even if you haven't had trouble with it before.

But I have a fair amount of experience restoring SS myself, I don't consider it overly difficult or complicated, but there's nuances and pitfalls, things you need to know. Some of these things you can only really know through experience. When I was first learning I damaged a fair number of scrap SS items and many people do the same, they end up effecting the symmetry of the piece, smoothing over hard edges, creating 'dents' etc.

I would encourage anyone here to learn how, but not on a piece that has importance, I don't want to see someone do something that might cause  damage to a piece they value, especially if it's a collectible and potentially valuable piece like a spaceview.

A spaceview accutron is not a practice piece. Treating it as such would be reckless. 

[jdm]

55 minutes ago, Ishima said:

Jdm, you are over simplifying, easy to think that it's easy if you've learnt how to do it, can do it well or even if you haven't had trouble with it before.

But I have a fair amount of experience restoring SS myself, I don't consider it overly difficult or complicated, but there's nuances and pitfalls, things you need to know. Some of these things you can only really know through experience. When I was first learning I damaged a fair number of scrap SS items and many people do the same, they end up effecting the symmetry of the piece, smoothing over hard edges, creating 'dents' etc.

I would encourage anyone here to learn how, but not on a piece that has importance, I don't want to see someone do something that might cause  damage to a piece they value, especially if it's a collectible and potentially valuable piece like a spaceview.

A spaceview accutron is not a practice piece. Treating it as such would be reckless. 

I hear what you say but in my own experience it is not a so difficult job as you imply.

Dialux orange on an hand-held rotary tool is a still a very weak abrasive.It can takes easily 20 minutes minutes to remove a single scratch or even a small dent, so long that one wonders, it this really working? Fortunately it does.

Regarding the mantra about smoothing hard edges, I found this danger (at least when working on 316 SS) to be vastly exaggerated, just keep the wheel away from the edges as much as possible. I'm not a talented person but I was able to set right various Seiko cases without any damage or accident. Of course if at some point a professional case finishing required perfect lapping, special brushing, etc I would say, hold a second, this can't be done at home.

Form what I understand this forum is about repairing watches, we have the occasional Rolex service done by an absolute beginner and nobody quibbles about it, if this place has to be changed into yet another collector/owner's forum where all is about what is the best strap to wear, sorry I would't be interested to be here anymore. 

I encourage the OP to watch more videos about case restoring on Youtube. There are also some excellent ones on Rolex.

 

 

[WileyDave]

Alastair, you should ask yourself a question: Is the cost to professionally have case refinish worth it? If you plan to wear occasionally, it's going to get scratched again. It is inevitable.

Above is a watch, (the black 24 hr dial Seiko on right, YUK!), with no polishing, just good ultrasonic cleaning, below is what it looks like now. Even with some plating worn, it looks new. There are some 'purist' collectors who think that watches are devalued when refinished, case, dial or even hands! (If it's a Patek, yes I would agree)

Post a pic if you can.

I'd leave it alone if has light scratches as you described. Hope this helps you.

[Alastair]

Well I really appreciate the answers given. TBH, my normal profession isnt in watch-repairs (Electronics) and buffing/polishing I'm sure I could learn, but the cost to set up and the time to gain the knowledge for this single one-off watch-case.

The case is two-finish, One is a brushed finish, the other a polished finish It appears this particular square Accutron is rather rare, I can only find 2 pics of its type on the web and one reference to its case-number. (7387) Its not featured in the case-number catalogue either 7386 jumps to 7390. 7386 appearing to be the gold/gold plate version...

Another bungle I made was after checking the movement and locating its fault (Cured, mis-adjusted hack-spring but its desparate for a service) I cleaned the Inside of the glass flat crystal--and the 'Bulova Accutron' paint markings on the inside of the glass came off. I only used a light artists brush as there was, and still is a heavy bloom on the inside, but that was enough, name gone....

As the case is two-finish I think it really would need someone who knows what they are doing to do it rather than a bungler like me! The Movement I'm well aquainted with, the case--And now the crystal--I'm not so sure on!

Edited July 29, 2016 by Alastair

[jdm]

I think for someone that has developed the skills to work a peculiar movements like the Accutron, case refurbishment will be a relaxing and rewarding task. Polished / brushed cased are no problem, for the latter I use 600 grip papers on a buffing stick always applied in a single direction, and then follow with a "magic pad" from Ebay. I have stupendous results with that, on the watches below the turtle had pretty bad dings on the front lug and case edge by the bezel, the Alpinist was in indescrivibile conditions, I still wonder what the owner did to bring the case and bezel to not have more than 5mm between one damage and another.

Investment is maybe 30 euro for a generic rotary tool (get one that can rotate slowly), 2.50 per Dialuz bar, same for and hard felt wheel and mandrel. I've heard that in my country "casecrafters" can extract 600 Euro from a Rolex owner.

 

[WileyDave]

2 hours ago, Alastair said:

'Bulova Accutron' paint markings on the inside of the glass came off.

 

Who amongst us has not mucked up something when we thought we were on the right path? If you want to practice case refinishing, by all means find some that don't matter and record your findings for the future.

Outstanding job on the Seiko jdm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 600 EUS is probably heluva lot less than Rolex charges, so that's why folks make that decision.

Dave

 

[mikepilk]

I recently had a go at refurbishing my first stainless steel case - I used a cheap Seiko 5 for practice. 

I was surprised how easy it was to get good results. I used wet and dry paper to take out and deep marks, then finished with nylon abrasive pads (only about £1 each from Cousins).

I bought a cheap Dremel type multitool and tried using one of the abrasive stone wheels to take out a deep scratch,but it 'tore' the surface. Not fast enough, too co**BLEEP** a stone ? 

[jdm]

11 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

I recently had a go at refurbishing my first stainless steel case - I used a cheap Seiko 5 for practice. 

I was surprised how easy it was to get good results. I used wet and dry paper to take out and deep marks, then finished with nylon abrasive pads (only about £1 each from Cousins).

I bought a cheap Dremel type multitool and tried using one of the abrasive stone wheels to take out a deep scratch,but it 'tore' the surface. Not fast enough, too co**BLEEP** a stone ? 

Do not use abrasive to remove scratches. Use buffing with an hard felt wheel, as the video above shows.

Edited July 30, 2016 by jdm

[mikepilk]

The swear detection algorithm is a bit over zealous !  I wrote c o a r s e, and it bleeped out the a r s e  !

[mikepilk]

1 hour ago, jdm said:

Do not use abrasive to remove scratches. Use buffing with an hard felt wheel, as the video above shows.

Just watched the video - very impressive. Problem is I don't have a desk mounted wheel, or space for one. And I guess a hand held rotary tool is not adequate? 

[jdm]

37 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

Just watched the video - very impressive. Problem is I don't have a desk mounted wheel, or space for one. And I guess a hand held rotary tool is not adequate? 

It is. Get one that has accessory to put on a vice. In a pinch, even a drill works fine.

[mikepilk]

20 hours ago, jdm said:

It is. Get one that has accessory to put on a vice. In a pinch, even a drill works fine.

Where do I get buffing compound? - can't see anything described as that on Cousins.  

Is Dialux Grey a buffing compound or an abrasive ?

[jdm]

4 minutes ago, mikepilk said:

Where do I get buffing compound? - can't see anything described as that on Cousins.  

Is Dialux Grey a buffing compound or an abrasive ?

Buffing / polishing are terms often interchanged. As mentioned, Dialux orange is perfect for buffing and deep dent/scratch removal. Gray does almost the the same but is less effective, leaves a decent shine. Green for the perfect mirror finish. 

[Ishima]

Grey on felt can and will buff aggressively. Though as always it depends on the sort of steel your buffing, the wheel you're using, the pressure you're applying, the speed the motor is running at, even the torque of the motor needs to be considered (will it slow down at low speeds as soon as you apply any pressure?) 

For finishing as JDM suggests green is ideal, I personally use green with chamois/loose cotton mops.

Edited August 1, 2016 by Ishima

[jdm]

As you know I work on Seiko only. To give you an idea, a very small dent on the case takes easily 10 minutes with orange, and forever with gray. Strangely, shallow scratches on the clasp are very hard to eliminate. Could be because the tool I use has barely enough tourque. I would need to get a mount for the drill or a proper motor.