Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Rolex Case Polishing

Restoring or refinishing a stainless steel watch case is not as difficult as may be thought. Unfortunately most watchmakers are either not interested in doing it properly or were never taught how to do it. Those few who have mastered the skill of hand-polishing would rather die than to reveal their secret of the trade! The trick in obtaining mirror-like finish is simple : a/ to use correct polishing medium and b/ to master polishing skills by following the correct procedure.

This tutorial is aimed not only at watchmakers, but also at watch dealers and collectors wanting to familiarize themselves with the process of hand-polishing. The procedure shown below was passed to me by my father (and to him by his brother Mihajlo Hacko, Master Watchmaker since 1948. who still does his own watch repairs!)

Rolex Case polishing

Guinea pig: 15 years old Explorer II Ref 16570, long overdue for decent case re-polishing.


Rolex Case polishing

I prefer to do all case polishing by hand.


Step 1:
To get rid of scratches, start with coarse sand paper, grade 220.


Rolex Case polishing

Keep it parallel and keep polishing until you remove ALL scratches, no matter how deep. This step is very important.


Rolex Case polishing

All scratches are gone, but the surface is very coarse and dull. That's OK. The most important thing here is to remove ALL scratches and to have the grain lines parallel with the case.


Rolex Case polishing

Step 2: Switch to dry paper grade 800. I use German made, but most sand papers of similar quality will do the trick. You can buy this grade at any automotive shop supplier.


Rolex Case polishing

Don't rush - take your time (at least 5 minutes per side). The surface is still dull but we are heading in the right direction.(note how more light is now reflected from the steel surface)


Rolex Case polishing

Same surface, magnified. Keep it parallel! If I can do it, you can do it too :-)


Rolex Case polishing

Step 3: very much the same, now with finer grade dry paper - here I use Swiss made 1600 powder coated jewellers paper available from jewellers suppliers. This is jewellers stuff, so they prefer to call it 4/0


Rolex Case polishing

Take your time, don't rush - 5 min. per side


Rolex Case polishing

The steel surface now reflects even more light and looks fairly smooth.


Rolex Case polishing

Step 4: More of the same. Medium: 3M Film sheet polishing (plastic)grade 60 microns and 10 microns (2-3 minutes each).


Available from jewellery suppliers only. 3M film feels like ordinary plastic sheet, definitely not your ordinary sand paper :-)


Rolex Case polishing

If there are still any visible imperfections go back to Step 3.


magnified


Rolex Case polishing

Step 5: polishing on buffing wheel


Rolex Case polishing

There are far too many different polishing cotton wheels available; go for medium soft cotton disk, 10cm diameter.
Apply some chromium oxide rouge (known as Green Steel Rouge)


Rolex Case polishing

Keep polishing. Be careful not to over-buff edges!


Rolex Case polishing

Once you achieve mirror-like finish, clean in ultrasonic.


Rolex Case polishing

piece of cake!


Rolex Case polishing

one more shot


Rolex Case polishing

Cheers !


Rolex Case polishing

1 comment:

Selling Rolex said...

I never knew polishing rolex cases should be as easy as pie. Kudos to you... this article is very informative.