# Watch Rescue



## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Hello all,

I've found that is' amazing what you a difference you can make to an old watch with just a little bit of work. I have recently taken to searching ebay for some projects to revive. I've found that stainless steel 70s watches can be had for very little money and clean up a treat. At least if you get a dud it didn't cost a lot!

Here is an example of a Citizen I got for less than £7. Nothing more than a nail buffer and Polywatch on the crystal and a wash with soap and water and a Cape Cod on the polished bits of the case.

Before:





After:



There are still a couple of deeper gouges in the crystal I could probably get out and the case is still a bit scratched but you need to keep a bit of character!

Anybody anything to show? I've a couple more if anyone is interested.

Thanks.

Carl


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## Davey P (Sep 9, 2010)

Excellent stuff mate, and the fact that it still has some minor signs of wear only adds to the appeal IMHO :thumbsup:

Feel free to post more "before and after" pics of other watches, there are plenty of members on here who would be interested to see them (me included).


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## Robden (Apr 2, 2016)

Nice save Carl.

Rob....


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Lovely job. I've got a similar cased manual wind that had been lying in water. Internals cleaned up a treat and it's been super accurate and reliable ever since. Mine was saved from the bin. :thumbsup:


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## Damo516 (Nov 9, 2015)

Very nice Carlos and a great save. Please feel free to post more of your saves as I'd be another that is interested in before and afters especially after doing a bit of case polishing (posted in watch making and repairs) myself.


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## Tazmo61 (Oct 3, 2016)

A great job very nicely done :thumbsup:


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## jmm1 (Aug 18, 2009)

I love making a silk purse from a sow's ear and find it very therapeutic.

You made a really good job at that.


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## cactus (Feb 10, 2011)

Very nice job, I'm partial to picking up old duffers myself. Would really like to see more before and after photos too. By the way, was the watch a runner when purchased ?


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## andyclient (Aug 1, 2009)

Great work, very rewarding to save a watch from the bin , would love to see some of your other saves.

Keep up the good work :thumbsup:


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

cactus said:


> Very nice job, I'm partial to picking up old duffers myself. Would really like to see more before and after photos too. By the way, was the watch a runner when purchased ?


 Thanks. Yes it ran. Movement looked in good condition and so did the dial from what I could see through the scratches.

I think that's a plus of these late 60s/early 70s watches. The movements are shock protected and pretty robust and the cases are at least water resistant so even though there might be a lot of superficial damage the movement and dial could be ok.

Was always in to 40s/50s watches before now but I am really starting to appreciate these polished and brushed steel cases more and more.


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

andyclient said:


> Great work, very rewarding to save a watch from the bin , would love to see some of your other saves.
> 
> Keep up the good work :thumbsup:


 Thanks. I've picked up four of these steel watches but the other three were in a much better state than this. I just really wanted to show the difference a little bit of effort can make. I'll post some pictures but they are not as dramatic as the above. I'll also post the pictures of the Omega 561 that I used to own. It needed a bit of TLC but a lot of the dramatic transformation with that one was due to the bad auction photo to begin with.

It's got to the stage on Ebay where I skip over anything that looks ok and look for the wrecks!


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Here is a Rotary GT.

Again clean with soap and water and polish the crystal. The lugs and sides needed quite a bit of hand polishing to get them near to their original shine but I like the result on a black rally strap.

Before:





After:





It's still got a crack in the crystal but I really like the look of the contrast between the polished and brushed steel.


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

This one is a real classic from the late 60s early 70s space race.

Earnest Borel Space Gem.

Not bad condition to start with. It's a lovely quality auto, waterproof to 300 feet. It has a fantastic sunburst dial and they have really gone to town to make sure everything catches the light so It deserved some effort to make sure the crystal was clear and the polished edges shining (though I've just noticed in the close up below that there are still a few crystal scratches to remove, damn!).

Before:



After:





I'm wearing it today.


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

And lastly for today my lovely Omega 561 auto that I no longer own.

This was a polish of crystal, clean of case, new crown (unfortunately I couldn't source one in matching pink gold at the time) and a nice leather strap.

I think this one goes to show that some auction sites do themselves no favours with their photos.

Before (auction photo):



After:







Thanks for all your interest.


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## Akhila Bale (Sep 19, 2016)

Nice job Carlos,good keep it up.The transformation of old watch to New watch by simply cleaning is a great work.


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Just a quick note to add that using the very helpful sticky at the top of this forum I have used the serial number 91100140 to date the Citizen in the first post to November 1969, slightly earlier than I thought.

Thanks.

Carl


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## cactus (Feb 10, 2011)

Honestly, really amazing, just shows as you say what can be done with a wee bit work. I guess we'll all be looking for rough looking oldies from now on.


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## Littlelegs (Dec 4, 2011)

They all look great. Nice to see them resurrected. Good work.


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## Robden (Apr 2, 2016)

Here's one I did earlier.



















Rob....


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

robden said:


> Here's one I did earlier.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Looks good Rob. Is that a gouge in the top right corner? How did you get that out?


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Last one before everyone gets bored:

Before:



After:





Thanks. Anyone else got anything to show?


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## Sulie (Jul 14, 2015)

Stop it .. this is GREAT suff, new lease of life for this lovely time pcs ,,, more tips plse 

pics of equipment etc 

Fantastic :notworthy:


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## Robden (Apr 2, 2016)

Carlos Fandango said:


> Looks good Rob. Is that a gouge in the top right corner? How did you get that out?


 A very thin flake of rust. With very fine wet and dry.

Rob....


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Sulie said:


> Stop it .. this is GREAT suff, new lease of life for this lovely time pcs ,,, more tips plse
> 
> pics of equipment etc
> 
> Fantastic :notworthy:


 I used to only use soap and water and Duraglit wadding (works well on the crystal as well as case). However recently I have bought a small ultrasonic jewellery cleaner from Argos and some Cape Cod polishing clothes and Polywatch for the crystal. To be honest though these have only made marginal differences to the results I used to get before.

If the dial and movement are at least ok then most of the rest is just cosmetic and easy you just have to be able to see beyond the grime and take a gamble. You won't get rid of deep scratches without a proper polishing wheel but that's not what I am trying to do I just want to make them wearable without removing all their history.


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## bobbee (Aug 28, 2016)

One I did, a 1978 Certina DS4 quartz.

Before, note the bits of disintegrated case back seal on the dial and inside of crystal, and on the movement itself. The remains of the seal had to be picked out with pegwood.




























Paper plate with remains of half-melted seal scraped onto it!










After. I didn't polish the case much, just removed a few of the worst scratches and polished with Brasso and a Cape Cod. The crystal, dial and movement took ages to clean off, and then polished scratches from the crystal with 1200 grit wet and dry paper, and finished with Brasso.










Inner white shock absorber still has traces of black rubber even after washing twice...

New case seal needed, but a smaller sized one was fitted and spliced a small piece in with rubber glue (not shown in pic).



















Cheers, Bob.


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## dobra (Aug 20, 2009)

Well done Bob, glad you didn't remove all scratches, as it retained its age better.

mike


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## cactus (Feb 10, 2011)

Another fine job, a very nicely finished timepiece.


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