DeeCee Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Hi All, A while Back I posted pictures of my DSSD rep that made love with my the lugs of my friends titanium bulova precisionist. Left a nice deep scratch on the Crystal. After testing out some ways to polish off plastic I figured out that the watch had a sapphire. I learned from a PAM forum on how this guy got the scratch out of his crystal Using Diamond paste 2.5 Micron and then 0.5 Micron to polish it off. Let me tell you, the crystal is so smooth and glossy now. Here is the pic of the original scratch. Deep ones at hour marker 4 Heres the tape off and the diamond paste arriving Diamond paste application Self grinding diamond paste by hand with a cloth, did this for 30 minutes Now, the lighter scratches did come out, but the rest were tough, I ended up getting a dremel with a polishing tip and give it a whack. And it worked! This diamond paste can be had for about $6/tube which is about 5 grams per tube. Edited January 18, 2013 by DeeCee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krpster Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Nice work. Where did you get the diamond pastes and how much did they cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks. Took some effort. I bought this diamond paste from amazon. $6 a tube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtguk Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Good on ya DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Thanks sgtguk, it sucks to be out and wearing a watch with a giant scratch to it. Especially when its such a good piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Nice work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Thanks dluddy Its so funny how when you join this forum you start working on your own stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougar1 Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Must get some, have to do the same, although it pains me to sit down and do it. Offshore has this stuff also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Cougar, it was annoying but not as annoying as having the scratches. What ended up scratching the offshore crystal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cougar1 Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 (edited) I'm not sure what scratched it, it wasn't an AP offshore , just mentioning that offshore tools shop on the forums stocks that diamond paste also if anyone needed some. Scratch was on a gen AT, bought it with the description that is was a 'minor' nick and a few select nicely shadowed shots saying it would easily come out, granted it was cheap so I went with it. Bigger scratch than I thought, looks like I'll need to sit down for a while and get into this process. Thanks for the pics and writeup though, it got me motivated Edited January 19, 2013 by cougar1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imajedi Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Wow, great job. Never would of thought that was even possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Ahh, sounds good Cougar, If its not too deep the had polish with cloth will work just fine. Thanks imajedi! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Interesting! So titanium can scratch sapphire!! I didn't think this was possible or even probable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I didn't think it could either, which is what made me think the crystal was plastic of some different material. As far as I read in the past, only diamonds and some other misc materials could do the job. Apparently the short corners of a titanium lug can do the job as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Are you 100% certain that the metal was not deposited onto the sapphire crystal. This is how marks normally show up on these. The crystal does not scratch, the metal gets scratched, and ends up smeared on the crystal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 100% sure there was no metal. When the scratch initially happened I scrubbed the crap out of the crystal with a tooth brush and water. Nothing came out. I could feel the scratches with my finger nail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 OK .. just a thought for you .. there are versions of the DSSD which come with the normal mineral glass crystal. It's the model that sells for $99, and comes with a china A21j movement inside. Describe for me how it feels to wind this watch .. can you hear or feel an obvious buzzing in the crown as you turn it? I work in light industry and after 3.5 years of banging this DSSD on steel racks and shelving it has zero scratches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Excellent recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hey J, not sure which model it is. It was picked up by my parents while they were in Thailand. When I wind the watch I can barely hear anything and don't really feel much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well if they paid between $78 and $130 for it (the trusted dealer range for this watch) then it's a mineral crystal and an Asia 21j movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Wish I had the proper tool for this case back opener and find out. Not sure what they paid for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon05 Posted January 23, 2013 Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Nice post DeeCee, good to know thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyfras Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 What do you guys think would be the best method for a scratch like this? Its not deep, and it feels more like a scuff than a scratch. The picture looks worse than it actually is, and I'm probably the only one who notices it, but its all I see when I look at the watch. It happened when my GF dropped her keys in the same bag pocket my watch was in. This Is supposed to be sapphire, so im guessing this is AR damage. So what do I do? Autosol/Polywatch or diamond paste? I'm thinking anything but diamond paste since the Crystal is probably not damaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted April 3, 2013 Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 When you have double AR coating, unfortunately you will get these damages. The coating is not hard, like the crystal, and it will mark up over time. When you can not longer accept the sight of these marks, buff off the coating, and you will have Single AR instead of double. If you love the watch, you can always have it re-coated on both sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyfras Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Thanks Jkay, but what would be the best buffing method or material? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.