{"id":527,"date":"2014-01-17T11:58:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T17:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/?p=527"},"modified":"2014-12-16T14:45:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T20:45:12","slug":"to-polish-or-not-to-polish-your-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/to-polish-or-not-to-polish-your-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"To Polish Or Not To Polish Your Watch?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You received your brand new watch a few weeks ago and today, horror of horrors, you knocked it on the sink faucet giving your watch a bright shiny new scratch. Or maybe you work in front of a computer and the buckle is already starting to show the classic ‘desk diver’ swirls.<\/p>\n

Scratches are unavoidable. Some enjoy the authenticity of an unpolished case, the decades old scratches that tell the story of a vintage watch and those people might recommend you never polish your watch. Other owners will rub away engravings constantly worrying at their watch with Simichrome and tell you the watch still looks like new when the metal has been rounded and the original finish is beyond recognition.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, most wear accumulates on the on the outside facing parts of the watch, bracelet and buckle, not parts that are usually visible to your eyes when you are wearing it. So what’s Bernard Watches’ take on polishing? Moderation to abstinence.<\/p>\n

Few watches are ever going to be of special interest to collectors and auction houses who will want to see an unpolished case and have everything original, but if you know your watch is one of those, like a Rolex Sea-Dweller, or a Patek Philippe Annual Calendar or suspect it might become a collectible, like a sword-handed Omega Seamaster Professional, then take special precautions when sending your watch in for service. Service centers will honor requests asking them to refrain from polishing your watch and often will honor requests to return any original parts that might have needed to be replaced.<\/p>\n

If you are thinking of selling or trading your watch, we recommend you decide whether you want to sell or trade the watch to an end user or a watch dealer before you have it polished. A dealer is going to want your watch in as close to original condition as possible, so they can decide how to any work should be done and make sure it is done correctly. An end user is going to want to see the watch in the nicest condition possible, but this adds to the expense and hassle of selling a watch on your own.<\/p>\n

If your watch is not necessarily unique or rare or for sale, and is simply your baby that you plan to keep forever and just want to see in a better condition, let a professional do the work and try not to have it done very often, no more frequently than you would have the movement serviced, every four to seven years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A professional polisher takes into account the edges of the watch and will work to keep them sharp, not polishing away too much metal in order to remove a negligible scratch in a hard to reach place. The really good polishers will take apart the watch before working on it so they can give each part separate treatment. Factory service centers and large independent service centers will do this.<\/p>\n

Whatever you do, don’t try to refinish a watch on your own with a Brillo pad or Simichrome polish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You received your brand new watch a few weeks ago and today, horror of horrors, you knocked it on the sink faucet giving your watch a bright shiny new scratch. Or maybe you work in front of a computer and the buckle is already starting to show the classic ‘desk diver’ swirls. Scratches are unavoidable.… Continue reading To Polish Or Not To Polish Your Watch?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watch-knowledge","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/polishing-tools.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/pjs-watch-notes-of-the-week-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":0},"title":"PJ\u2019s Watch Notes of the Week","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Panerai - Radiomir GMT Alarm - PAM 98 This is a model we have been fortunate enough to come across a couple of times in the past, but it remains a rare piece, with only 3000 total pieces made between 2001 and 2006. \u00a0 The Panerai Radiomir GMT Alarm features\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Notes & Comments"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/image\/archive\/PAN283S.JPG?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/pjs-watch-notes-of-the-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":1},"title":"PJ’s Watch Notes of the Week","date":"September 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"PJ drops his comments on a Panerai - Luminor Base, Breitling - Aerospace, Perrelet - Seacraft Automatic, Omega - Aqua Terra Co-Axial, and Rolex - GMT-Master II.","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Notes & Comments"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/image\/PAN321F.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/fake-rolex-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":2},"title":"Fake Rolex Tell Tales – Submariner How To Spot a Fake","date":"August 13, 1999","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are looking for a genuine Rolex Submariner to buy, please review our Rolex Submariner inventory. We had a gentleman come in one day to offer a Rolex two tone blue Submariner he had bought mail-order from someone in Florida. Original Rolex boxes and booklets accompanied the watch. Nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Comparisons"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/content\/fakesub\/f-dial.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/things-you-should-know-when-buying-a-submariner\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":3},"title":"Things You Should Know When Buying A Rolex Submariner 16610","date":"September 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Stainless Steel Submariners often look very similar and you might have a hard time telling them apart at first glance. Here are what we consider the key features when deciding on a Submariner Date (model 16610) with aluminum bezel: The Solid End Link or SEL bracelet. You can find this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Knowledge"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rehaut.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":271,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/pjs-watch-notes-of-the-week-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":4},"title":"PJ’s Watch Notes of the Week","date":"September 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost drooled on this watch, but I didn't. \u00a0Oh, also, it is in pristine condition and has a balance of the factory warranty, although you shouldn't need it since this piece was averaging 0 seconds of gain or loss with no position outside of COSC specs on a full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Notes & Comments"","img":{"alt_text":"A. Lange & Sohne - The Richard Lange","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/ALS04E3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/rolex-sea-dweller-deepsea-116660-fake-vs-real-comparison\/","url_meta":{"origin":527,"position":5},"title":"Rolex Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA Fake Vs. Real Comparison 116660","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We received a high-quality replica (fake) DEEPSEA today. We will be shipping it back to the person who tried to sell it to us. Below, you will find some of our observations on differences between the genuine 116660 and the fake. In the above photo, the only thing that really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Watch Comparisons"","img":{"alt_text":"Rolex Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA Real vs. Fake Comparison 116660","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Rolex-DeepSea-Real-vs-Fakefakecompare-e1393342787416.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bernardwatch.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}