Watch Plating

[szvwj]

This may be old news to many of you, but I just stumbled upon this site (I haven't tried their products yet):

www.caswellplating.com/kits/index.html

It looks like they have a way to touch-up the plating on watches (or other small items) without disassembling the entire watch.

They also sell products that allow you to 'blacken' steel (at room temp). I'll let you know if I buy anything from them.

I just wanted to share this information in case it was of use to anyone out there.

Good luck.

[freddy333]

Old news, but still useful.

[stilty]

I tried out their nickel plating kit yesterday. I ordered one to plate my movement holders. I followed their instructions, but ended up with a couple of very nasty tarnished holders!

Now I have to try and clean them and get them back to the nice brass finish.

I have yet to contact them to see what the problem is. But as it stands, the kit is crap and does not work! I tried the "brush-on" method and that didn't work, then I tried the "dip" method and that was even worse. The "dip" method left my holder with a crusty green finish.

[drhydro]

I've tried a small bit of plating, and my experience is that it is truly an art.... the "simple stuff" like those brush platers might work, but ONLY if the metal to be plated is CLEAN and CHEMICALLY ACTIVE, and only if you know exactly what you are plating onto. (To clean and activate a watch case so it will accept plating is not just rinsing it off- it can involve acid dips, electrochemical cleaning, distilled water, rubber gloves and face/eye protection.... YMMV!)

[szvwj]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm sorry to hear that you had bad experiences with their products.

I was hoping that they were a source for good (and inexpensive) plating kits.

I wonder if their Black Chromate or Black Oxide kits are worth trying (has anyone tried them?).

[stilty]

Well, I took some very fine steel wool to one of my holders to remove the crud. Seems there is a very light layer of plating below. I'll give it another try to get another layer applied.

definitely a time consuming process.

[drhydro]

Stilty, have you looked through Caswell's support area? They have very good FAQs and troubleshooting downloads. And if you're getting crud that you have to steel-wool off, that sounds like contamination to me.

[nstinksux]

Has anyone tried their Black Oxide Kit yet? I'm curious as to how the finish looks.