7

Restore your watch’s original look

TUTORIAL

Use a few household products to make your wrist-bling shine like new

Restore your

watch’s original look

ver time, watches can become

scratched, chipped, and dented.

This article will describe the methods

that watchmakers use to restore

watches to a ‘like new’ condition.

Restoring a watch is a simple

process. You do not need any expensive tools or

supplies (although these can speed things up), as there

is a good chance that you will already have most of the

materials to hand.

Often when perfectly serviceable watches become a

little lacklustre, they are discarded and replaced, which

is bad news for your wallet and the environment.

All watches can be restored, providing you have the

knowledge. This article will discuss the procedure used

to restore the most common type of watch: a modern

one made from stainless steel.

This method can also be used to restore watches

made from other metals such as gold, titanium, and

platinum, although I would recommend practising

on watches made from stainless steel before

progressing to working on more expensive gold and

platinum watches.

These techniques cannot be used to restore

watches that are plated or coated (such as gold

plated, platinum clad, or black PVD), or watches that

are made from ceramic, plastic, or wood.

It’s usually very simple to identify the material that

the watch is made from, as it is generally marked on

the back of the watch or in the owner’s manual. As

a general rule, any modern watch made from white

metal, which cost between £50 and £10 000, will

be made of stainless steel, but it is best to be sure

before you start.

O

BEFORE AFTER

Right

Almost all metal

watches can benefit

from a bit of attention

Cameron Fraser

watchtoolkit.co.uk

Cameron is a

Newcastle-based

watchmaker. He blogs

about the tips from the

trade at

watchtoolkit.co.uk