Sapphire Crystal Scratch/Mark

[Sprintz25]

HI Guys,

Am new to rep watch collecting and so far only have a 45mm Planet Ocean from Silix which i love to wear everyday. I walked past a door the other day and hit my watch into it, the crystal now has a very fine layer of metal deposited on it (the crystal is not scratched) which ruins the appearence of the watch. Just wondering if anyone cen tell me what i can use to safely remove the mark without damaging the crystal. I have a dremel etc so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

J

[HauteHippie]

HI Guys,

Am new to rep watch collecting and so far only have a 45mm Planet Ocean from Silix which i love to wear everyday. I walked past a door the other day and hit my watch into it, the crystal now has a very fine layer of metal deposited on it (the crystal is not scratched) which ruins the appearence of the watch. Just wondering if anyone cen tell me what i can use to safely remove the mark without damaging the crystal. I have a dremel etc so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

J

You're going to be very hard pressed to damage that crystal. I'd think rubbing with a microfiber cloth would do it, but you could pick up a pack of Dremel #414 pads and dry buff the residue off the surface. There is no AR coating to worry about on the exterior.

[chet]

You're saying the crystal isn't scratched but now has a fine layer of metal from the door deposited on it. I doubt a cloth alone will remove this. I would try a very fine liquid polish on a microfibe cloth. Perhaps a fine silver polish or one of the jewelers polishes offered on the web. Must have been a soft metal, aluminum would be my guess, so a polish should be able to cut it and remove it from the cyrstal.

Be very careful using a Dremel, even at low speed. Better to do this one by hand.

Edited February 18, 2008 by chet

[Sprintz25]

Thanks for your prompt replies. It was in fact an aluminium door that marked my watch. I will give the metal polish a shot tonight and report back tomorrow.

Thanks to both of you

[Victoria]

Sorry to hear about that, J. I posted a similar thread once.

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry319438

And here is the answer ("How to Remove a Scratch from a Sapphire Crystal"). I got the micron paste on FleaBay.

http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tre...32539&rid=0

[HauteHippie]

I don't think you've scratched the crystal. And I don't think you will scratch the crystal no matter what you do to remove the blemishes.... I have tested a sapphire crystal with a metal dremel pad bit (and no pad attached) at 30K RPM. No scratches. I think the only way that you might possibly scratch a sapphire crystal with a dremel is if you let the crystal heat up significantly while polishing.

The other possibility is that your crystal is not sapphire.

Regarding the TZ article... He scratched true sapphire with a ceramic tile? Not likely. But regarding sapphire polishing, yes diamond paste does work. The issue is that you must start with a size as large as your scratches and move down in size to achieve the final polish. So each situation is different, and what worked for the TZ guy might not work for other scratches. The TZ guy found something that did the trick for 8 GBP per tube, but that's quite a good price. tedpella.com is a source for these pastes that I've talked to, but the least expensive route that might work for a variety of scratches would be the 895-20 set of monocrystalline diamond polishing compounds for $67.60 applied with 813-10 3M Scotch-Brite High Performance Cloth for $17.75. A new crystal is probably cheaper.

[Sprintz25]

OK, I tried some Silver polish on a microfibre cloth and the mark is still there. I have also noticed tiny polishing scratches have appeared in the area around where i polished. I'm pretty sure that the crystal is sapphire because i couldnt scratch it with a screw driver. I dont have the dremel bit that Chieftang described but that will be my nxt port of call and if that fails then its either ebay for some cheap diamond lapping polish or a new crystal. Thanks for all your input so far guys (and gals).

[HauteHippie]

I think there is either a coating on the crystal which is scratching or it's not a sapphire crystal. There is just no way a hand rubbed polish is going to scratch sapphire. You should see what I do to these crystals to strip some of the stubborn AR coatings off.

If you'd like to send this crystal to me, I can take a look.

[HauteHippie]

deleted double post

[Sprintz25]

Thanks for the offer (and advice) Chieftang, i live in Australia so sending the crystal overseas may be more trouble than its worth (i also would probably destroy the crystal removing it from the watch). Very generous offer though. I appreciate all the help everyone has given me. I guess i'll buy the diamond paste next and see what happens. I received an SMP Chrono and B&M Riviera yesterday so i have some new toys to distract me at the moment. I'll come back to the PO later on and see how i go. Once again thanks to everyone who offered advice.