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Posted (edited)

Hi Guys,

doing some clearing out and found my wife's grandfathers old Omega watch. Its a bit scratched but is keeping great time, and I would really like to clean it up. Now can you guys give me advice on mainly how to clean up the crsytal, if it indeed crystal I dont even know. The watch has an engraving of here papas name on the back and the date in 9/5/1963, the date he bought it or was given to him one would assume.

here are some pics of the job, took the bands off, they were looking horrible

IMG_5813.jpg

IMG_5819.jpg

IMG_5822.jpg

any advice would be very much appreciated.

Edited by opti
Posted

It's a plastic crystal, so it's relatively easy to polish it. Poly-watch is made for polishing crystals or you can use toothpaste and a soft cloth. Really not much to it, good old elbow grease will do the trick.

The case is gold plated so a light polishing is all you want to do there. All you're trying to do is remove the oxidation and the very fine light scratches maybe. But careful is the word, you don't want to polish thru the gold plating.

A new strap and gold buckle is last. I've been buying my straps from www.fredawatchstraps.com lately. You just need to measure between the lugs- 18mm, 19mm or possibly 20mm and order accordingly. He'll send you new springbars and a tool to install the strap with.

Somewhere down the road a service would be in order, I'm sure it's due. It's a nice classic watch, I'm thinking manual wind, dial and hands look fine, so nothing needed there. Good luck.

Posted

A 4-sided nail buffer and a tube of toothpaste are what you need :) Work over the crystal in circular motions with the coarsest surface of the buffer until you have pretty much erased the scratches, then use the progressively finer surfaces, getting it as clear as possible each time, and finally, use a smear of toothpaste and a bit of cloth (t-shirt etc) and you should be able to restore it to a near-new finish :)

Posted

got a bit of work done on it today and Im pretty happy with it. I just cleaned the gold parts didnt polish it yet (contemplating using brasso). Put another strap I found on another watch in the box of old stuff

Here are the pics

IMG_5828.jpg

Good ol wrist shot. I have large wrists and this is a smaller watch than what Im used to, making it look a little on the feminine side but I do still enjoy wearing it.

IMG_5827.jpg

Naturally it still has a few scratches, not sure if i should go through the motions again and take it back another layer on the crystal/plastic.

IMG_5838.jpg

Still a huge improvement from when I still got it. Thanks again for the advice guys :)

Posted

What a nice Improvement form the before pics, lookin good :thumbsupsmileyanim: I have my fathers old Omega from the late 60s early 70s that I should do the same thing to but It needs a servicing yesterday, enjoy your vintage Omega :) Mike

Posted

Taking it back another layer on the plastic crystal shouldn't be a problem. Plastic crystals are really a maintenance item- polish them til it's time to replace 'em. It's relatively cheap to replace them. Looks good.

Posted

Nice work, bro, it's looking really good :) Something to bear in mind, is that a watch of that age would not be box-fresh pristine, so a few scuffs and dings is good, as it keeps the character of the watch :victory:

Posted

I disagree about wear being a good thing on a dress watch, especially a gold 1. While wear does add character to a sport watch, I think it just makes a dress/formal watch look tired & worn (as in worn out). With such a fine timepiece, I would either have a professional watchmaker overhaul it (including polishing the case & replacing the crystal, which will make that watch look like new) or learn how to polish the case (with rouge) & crystal (with Poly-Watch or similar) properly.

Posted

+1

gotta go with the fact that if it is intended as a dress watch the case and crystal should be re polished, either by a professional jeweler or if you have the necessary tools to do it yourself..a nice fresh strap adds to the look also me thinks..

regardless.. congrats on the new acquisition.. looks great :thumbsupsmileyanim:

AC/Randy

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