Signs of use on a watch case can hardly be avoided in practice, even if you pay careful attention. Once briefly worn somewhere and it already happens – the first scratch on the new Rolex. In the case of a small scratch, polish should not be used immediately since polish always removes some material. Scratches are part of a watch and give a watch its authentic appearance. In the case of deep or too many scratches, a polish is definitely worthwhile to restore the watch to new condition. The following is a guide on how to carry out such a process. This reworking is somewhat more complex than the other workshops, so you should make some time, because the quieter it is, the better the results will be. If you have concerns, however, the Rolex concessionaire or Rolex itself can perform such a project perfectly.
The basis for this documentation is a Rolex-like case, since nobody was willing to provide his expensive watch with extra deep scratches for demonstration purposes for this workshop, but when you see how easy it is, you will also trust working on the original scratched case.
This workshop was created along with Jörg, a friend from the R-L-X-Forum, who is again thanked for his support.
What you need for doing all this work as on a bracelet:
We do not need the following things: flat files, fiber boards for matting.
The case, again provided with deliberately bad scratches and marks.
To ensure that the matt of the rest of the case is not polished when working on the polished part, this is carefully taped with adhesive tape. This should always be done when matt and polished parts are directly adjacent to each other (as with the Rolex Daytona).
Then it begins. First, select sandpaper according to the severity of the marks. Here is the result with 320 grit paper.
Then 400 grit paper …
… and then with 800 grit …
… and finally with 1200 grit. It looks great.
Now the polishing can begin. The Proxxon buffing disc is first held on the polishing blue and thus provided with the polishing paste.
Then simply gently touch the surface of the side. Make absolutely sure that the matted surfaces are taped! And after a short time it looks like this …
… or so. The result is impressive. There is nothing left to see and the removal of material is minimal due to the cautious approach.
