Blackrain Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 So after going over my wife's Movado with a Cape Cod cloth for about 15 minutes, it looked great..............except for the 20 or so hairline scratches I put on the crystal! Forgive me for thinking it was a sapphire crystal, as I paid good $$$ for it about 5 yrs ago. Looking at the caseback, indeed, there is no mention of a sapphire crystal. So, I give it back to her, and she says, "Wow, it looks great!", and I'm thinking it looks like goat poop. So help a brother out.............. is there a best method to remove fine (Cape Cod cloth induced) scratches on a mineral crystal? I will purchase whatever additional tools required! Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Google is your friend: http://www.facetingmachines.com/polishing_glass.shtml and http://www.watchpolishing.com/polishingglass.htm say the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrain Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Thanks Pug. As it took you more than 2 minutes to respond, I was getting a little concerned, was thinking of calling the Paramedics, for fear some ill had befallen you Grasshopper is thankful again....... Long live Pugwash, the Master Po of RWG!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 (edited) Google is your friend: http://www.facetingmachines.com/polishing_glass.shtml and http://www.watchpolishing.com/polishingglass.htm say the same thing. And just remember an axiom that I learned the hard way after many f*uck ups. You better test it on something before you go polishing away. A hunk of junk quartz watch you might have would undoubtably have a mineral crystal so maybe try it on that. Speaking of which... I am asking a couple of question here because--just to check this out--I tried a jewelers cloth on a hunk of junk russian watch with a mineral glass crystal and I wasn't able to scratch the glass with the rouge in the cloth. Maybe the Cape Cod cloths use a coarser rouge but I doubt it since the purpose of both is to remove surface oxidation and handling marks. The next question is are you sure the scratches are in the crystal or is it possible that it has an AR coating and it is the AR you scratched? I am just double checking with that since you say you spent some money on the watch it is possible it has an AR coating. Do you know how to tell--the purple haze at an angle? If you scratched the AR you ought to just live with it because there is no fixing it without removing the coating entirely and reapplying. Next question. Are you sure that the crystal isn't acrylic? I don't know an easy way to tell this for sure n a small woman's watch since on a bigger watch tapping it would sound like plastic. If it is highly domed however it is likely to be acrylic. Scratches in acylic can be removed easily with Polywatch. If you are sure that these are scratches in the mineral glass, find another piece of mineral glass around on a junk watch that you can test the stuff The Zigmeister mentioned. You may end up making the whole situation worse if you try it and change a barely noticable flaw now into a glaring defect. Any polishing no matter the materal is a process of applying finer and finer scratches onto a surface. Your best bet if you want to try and remove these scratches would be to entirely remove the crystal and try the polish on the entire crystal face. From my experience the eye catches the lack of uniformity more than the individual scratches. If you try and polish just the corner that has the scratches you again may make the situation worse by changing the appearance of a larger area. If you apply the treatment to the entire watch crystal you are most likely to get the result you are looking for. /Tim Edited March 19, 2007 by Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrain Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 And just remember an axiom that I learned the hard way after many f*uck ups. You better test it on something before you go polishing away. A hunk of junk quartz watch you might have would undoubtably have a mineral crystal so maybe try it on that. Speaking of which... I am asking a couple of question here because--just to check this out--I tried a jewelers cloth on a hunk of junk russian watch with a mineral glass crystal and I wasn't able to scratch the glass with the rouge in the cloth. Maybe the Cape Cod cloths use a coarser rouge but I doubt it since the purpose of both is to remove surface oxidation and handling marks. The next question is are you sure the scratches are in the crystal or is it possible that it has an AR coating and it is the AR you scratched? I am just double checking with that since you say you spent some money on the watch it is possible it has an AR coating. Do you know how to tell--the purple haze at an angle? If you scratched the AR you ought to just live with it because there is no fixing it without removing the coating entirely and reapplying. Next question. Are you sure that the crystal isn't acrylic? I don't know an easy way to tell this for sure n a small woman's watch since on a bigger watch tapping it would sound like plastic. If it is highly domed however it is likely to be acrylic. Scratches in acylic can be removed easily with Polywatch. If you are sure that these are scratches in the mineral glass, find another piece of mineral glass around on a junk watch that you can test the stuff The Zigmeister mentioned. You may end up making the whole situation worse if you try it and change a barely noticable flaw now into a glaring defect. Any polishing no matter the materal is a process of applying finer and finer scratches onto a surface. Your best bet if you want to try and remove these scratches would be to entirely remove the crystal and try the polish on the entire crystal face. From my experience the eye catches the lack of uniformity more than the individual scratches. If you try and polish just the corner that has the scratches you again may make the situation worse by changing the appearance of a larger area. If you apply the treatment to the entire watch crystal you are most likely to get the result you are looking for. /Tim All good points Tim. It's a 5 yr old ladies Movado, probably a $700 watch, so maybe it does have the AR coating on it. Again, why they put the AR on the outside still escapes me. I ordered some cesium oxide, and will practice on an old Pulsar I have hanging around. The Cape Cod cloth appears to be OOOO steel wool with a pink, vanilla smelling, oil based compound. I'm sure it was the steel wool part, not the compound that did the scratching. The issue with these fine scratches is the fact that the insert is jet black, and there is nothing on the face except for the hands and a single hour marker. If anything, it will be a learning experience. Should I trash the crystal, I will just have to replace it, as the watch never seems to leave her hand. Another reason I thought it had a saphire crystal, she wears it constantly for the last 3 years, and no scratches, I have it for 10 mins, and scratch city Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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