Bought a watch online, bracelet in terrible condition

[AP1875]

Considering this watch was supposed to be in decent condition, I’m extremely **** off about the scratches all over the bracelet. I’ve had a quote to repair it for £75 but I was just wondering if it’s something I could do myself? I can’t exactly make it any worse.

 

(Seller has gone quiet, wont accept it back unfortunately)

 

 

 

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[WatchMaker]

If ir's just minor scratches that are the problem then use a good quality 'finishing' compound formulated for stainless steel such as Dialux Green or Cannings Steelbrite.

[jguitron]

Where are you located??


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[AP1875]

Thanks I’ll look into those items.

I’m in UK.


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[Watchtime]

give it a good brush with a veltwheel and polishing paste

[manodeoro]

15 hours ago, AP1875 said:

 

Considering this watch was supposed to be in decent condition, I’m extremely **** off about the scratches all over the bracelet. I’ve had a quote to repair it for £75 but I was just wondering if it’s something I could do myself? I can’t exactly make it any worse.

 

(Seller has gone quiet, wont accept it back unfortunately)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hello,

Looks like an AP Royal Oak if I'm true (real or fake I dont mind )

I have never rebrushed any of those watches but the method I have used to successfully refurbish  my father-in-law's really worn Rolex bracelet (with polished central link) should work I suppose.

So here's what I would do ...

STEP 1 - remove the bracelet from the watch and put the 2 parts and clasp apart

STEP 2 - gently clean with ultrasonic or just bathing it with a cleaning fluid (I use "essence C" but that's a french product denomination)

STEP 3 - put some double-sided tape on a perfectly flat surface and stick the bracelet parts on it, downside-down, while checking that all the links are perfectly aligned ... press vigorously and check that not any part can move

STEP 4 - gently sand (YES) your bracelet with an abrasive block of really high grade (1200 or higher would be good) until all the big scratches have disappeared ... if some of the scratches remain  then consider them as "part of history" of your watch because you dont want to thin your bracelet here ... you just want it to be clean and nice

NOTES :

- after part 4 your bracelet will look dull and unbrushed  but don't worry  you will solve that problem later

- if the down-side of your bracelet is scratched too (it doesn't seem scratched on your pic but who knows) you just repeat steps  3 and 4 on that side

- if the sides of your bracelet have scratches you should do the same process but here you will have to hold the parts with one hand and do the sanding work with the other ... proceed slowly and carefully because you will have to repolish those sides 

STEP 5 - blow the metal dust which remains on your bracelet after sanding it ... DO NOT scrub it because doing this you would create more thin scratches

STEP 6  - clean your bracelet parts again with cleaning fluid and let everything soak or dry everything 

STEP 7 - repolish the sides of your bracelet, using Cape Cod polish or any other steel polisher  you can get ... the best is if you have a dremel (or you can borrow one) and use White Dialux with a felt disc then Blue Dialux with a cotton pad

NOTES :

- of course you have to proceed both sides of each part of your bracelet

- I really dont know how the clasp should be polished ot brushed so just check on the web

STEP 8 - clean your bracelet parts again (YES) with cleaning fluid and let everything soak or dry everything 

STEP 9 - put some new and clean (no steel dust) double-sided tape on "the above" perfectly flat surface and stick the bracelet parts on it, downside-down, while checking that all the links are perfectly aligned ... press vigorously and check that not any part can move

STEP 10 - stick a ruler (or a perfectly straight piece of wood, steel or any other material) on your work surface close to one part of your bracelet ... you must check that it is perfectly parallel to the axis of the bracelet part you will work now so take your time and align everything perfectly

STEP 11 - take an abrasive block of medium high grade (I'll explain how to choose the grade in a note below) and put it on your bracelet, placing the side of your block against the ruler so that you can use the ruler as a guide to produce perfectly parallel marks

STEP 12 - brush the bracelet part slowly and regularly, always proceeding from one end to the other and always on the same direction (I generally brush from the part close to the watchcase to the one that fit to the clasp) ... do as many pass as needed to obtain a perfect brush ... DO NOT apply too much pressure on your sanding block because you DO NOT want to brush the polished chamfers on the sides of your bracelet

STEP 13 - repeat the process with the other parts of your bracelet

STEP 14 - blow the steel dust, clean again, put back on your watchcase and ENJOY

STEP 15 - now if you have done really good work you should think that your watchcase too needs some rebrush/repolish ... but that's another story 

NOTES : 

What is really difficult is to figure out which grade of sanding block you should use to get a perfect final brushing.

It really depends on the brand and the model of the watch (I didn't redo my wife's vintage DJ Jubilee bracelet the same way than my father-in-law's Daytona bracelet).

The best could be to get a piece a clean stainless steel and do as many tests as needed and decide which grade will do the best finish.

 

That's all and hope it helps

 

Edited August 29, 2018 by manodeoro

[Endeavor]

Manodeoro's advice above seems very good. Perhaps this may be of some help too? ; http://www.great-british-watch.co.uk/how-to-polish-a-watch-case-and-bracelet/

[manodeoro]

Manodeoro's advice above seems very good. Perhaps this may be of some help too? ; http://www.great-british-watch.co.uk/how-to-polish-a-watch-case-and-bracelet/

Really instructive link ... congrats [emoji4]
Plus I really like the compound they use ... Dialux rules !!!
It appears that I should buy some green to use on steel bracelets and watchcases ... I'll try that to see if I get better results than with blue and white [emoji39]

BTW ... AP1875
I really hope that the watch the you bought is an hommage or a Fake and that you didn't paid too much for it.
If it's a real Audemar Piguet Royal Oak then the seller should be sentenced for life for half destroying such a nice watch [emoji16]

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[AP1875]

3 hours ago, manodeoro said:

Really instructive link ... congrats
Plus I really like the compound they use ... Dialux rules !!!
It appears that I should buy some green to use on steel bracelets and watchcases ... I'll try that to see if I get better results than with blue and white

BTW ... AP1875
I really hope that the watch the you bought is an hommage or a Fake and that you didn't paid too much for it.
If it's a real Audemar Piguet Royal Oak then the seller should be sentenced for life for half destroying such a nice watch

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Thank you very much for the advice, I'm going to clean it up and then re-read your post and decide whether or not im confident enough to do it. Yeah it's just a cheap fake I picked up to practice working on different movements and removing dials etc

If it were real and it arrived like this I would be devoting my time to hunting him down Liam Neeson style... 

[manodeoro]

Thank you very much for the advice, I'm going to clean it up and then re-read your post and decide whether or not im confident enough to do it. Yeah it's just a cheap fake I picked up to practice working on different movements and removing dials etc
If it were real and it arrived like this I would be devoting my time to hunting him down Liam Neeson style... 

All this is really easy to do if you are a little handy and you take your time.
And practicing on a cheap fake is of no financial consequence, though not the best choice for practicing on movements because the most commonly used in those watches, the DG2818, is difficult to service because of low engineering tolerances (it's crap in fact).

I spent hours and hours learning the brushing/polishing techniques on a cheap stainless steel sub hommage which has been alternatively all brushed, all polished, brushed/polished and so on until I felt experienced enough to work on "real" watches.

My wife's vintage Date Just (from her mother) is worth about 3.000€ I think and my father-in-law's Daytona is worth "I prefer not to know [emoji39]" so I would have never worked on those without a long training [emoji4]

There's a useful video on YouTube showing the refurbishing of a Daytona.
It shows many specific techniques for every part of the watch and I used it as an inspiration, though I don't have the same tools of course.
The "ruler technique" comes from that video.
I'll try to find it again and post a link here.

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