Scratch / Toothpaste

[Etouffee]

Greetings All,

I recently, somehow, scratched my crystal on my 16013... I think the picture will show. It is vertical just to the right of 9:00. It seems fairly light.

Do you recommend just leaving alone and that it is now part of the personality of the watch? It is 36 years old after all.

Or, light toothpaste? I am concerned about making it worse/cloudy. If toothpaste is okay, is there a particular kind/type?

Thanks!

[Dan S]

I would suggest some standard plastic polishing compound instead of toothpaste. The grit will be more uniform. Novus, polywatch, etc. There are many threads on this if you search.

[Kingface66]

I've had better results with classic Crest than polywatch.

[linesiders]

Go to your local car parts store and buy Maguire's PlastX headlamp compound ; )

And use a textured paper towel. Apply, dry, buff. Repeat.

Bad scratches use 1500 > 3000 > 5000 > Grit sandpaper and then go to PlastX.

This all depends on your mechanical skill level and from Louisiana - I assume some skill ; )

[StanGMT]

Originally Posted by linesiders

Go to your local car parts store and buy Maguire's PlastX headlamp compound ; )

And use a textured paper towel. Apply, dry, buff. Repeat.

Bad scratches use 1500 > 3000 > 5000 > Grit sandpaper and then go to PlastX.

This all depends on your mechanical skill level and from Louisiana - I assume some skill ; )

Similar advice from me. Back in the 1990s I scratched the acrylic on my GMT and I found that Autoglym resin car polish, applied using a soft pure cotton cloth and worked gently around the scratch, eventually produced pristine, smooth, polished acrylic. Job done!

Stan.

[zapokee]

Good advice all round. Rolex will do you a new acrylic crystal for 100 bucks or so if you screw it up. It's a consumable part. Don't stress about it too much.

[nda]

Do you have a brand called Brasso in the US? It's a metal polish and comes in a tin of soft impregnated wadding... this is perfect for polishing watch crystal.

[EEpro]

Polywatch. Toothpaste will likely make it cloudy.

[Kingface66]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Polywatch. Toothpaste will likely make it cloudy.

That’s simply not true. Toothpaste will not make it cloudy. It doesn’t transform the plexi. It’s a mildly abrasive paste that wipes off clean after buffing. I’ve been using it for years and it’s fantastic.

[linesiders]

Originally Posted by nda

Do you have a brand called Brasso in the US? It's a metal polish and comes in a tin of soft impregnated wadding... this is perfect for polishing watch crystal.

We have Brasso in the states and now I can smell this post ; )

Ran thru a can of that back in the day polishing, you guessed it, uniform brass ; )

[EEpro]

Originally Posted by Kingface66

That’s simply not true. Toothpaste will not make it cloudy. It doesn’t transform the plexi. It’s a mildly abrasive paste that wipes off clean after buffing. I’ve been using it for years and it’s fantastic.

Simply speaking it is true. You may have a specific counterexample of a brand of toothpaste that you use and can share with OP. Generally speaking rubbing an abrasive of unknown grit on your Rolex is not a good idea. There are 1000 varieties of toothpaste, I'm sure the one you're using is fine and it isn't crest prohealth for example.



And the high end of the abrasive list.

[Kingface66]

Originally Posted by EEpro

Simply speaking it is true. You may have a specific counterexample of a brand of toothpaste that you use and can share with OP. Generally speaking rubbing an abrasive of unknown grit on your Rolex is not a good idea. There are 1000 varieties of toothpaste, I'm sure the one you're using is fine and it isn't crest prohealth for example.



And the high end of the abrasive list.

To be sure, I’ve been using (yes) Crest for years on many, many plexi crystals and have never once had an issue with cloudiness.
In all seriousness, if you haven’t actually tried it, are you that convinced that it will make a plexi crystal cloudy?

[SunTzu]

Originally Posted by linesiders

Go to your local car parts store and buy Maguire's PlastX headlamp compound ; )

And use a textured paper towel. Apply, dry, buff. Repeat.

Bad scratches use 1500 > 3000 > 5000 > Grit sandpaper and then go to PlastX.

This all depends on your mechanical skill level and from Louisiana - I assume some skill ; )

AMEN to the Meguiar's. I SWEAR by it.

I use it exclusively on all my G-Shocks. It totally restores them, removes fine scratches, stains, grime, paint transfer, and dead, oxidized G-Shock paint. I have done some miraculous restorations with it after buying 10+ year old collectible G's for pennies on the dollar, destined for the trash heap.

In fact it’s on my desk now!

[Boaters]

Polywatch for me.

[Dan S]

Well, after my bottle of Novus is used up, I am going to try the Meguiar's since it gets such good reviews. Unfortunately, that will probably take 5 lifetimes. ;-)

[swaini3]

Toothpaste has made mine cloudy. After some research, similar results with others that had aftermarket crystals. Took it to a watchmaker that polished/buffed it properly and got it all sorted. I later tried Polywatch with all my crystals and its great but wont remove deep scratches.

[rootbeer7]

Originally Posted by Kingface66

That’s simply not true. Toothpaste will not make it cloudy. It doesn’t transform the plexi. It’s a mildly abrasive paste that wipes off clean after buffing. I’ve been using it for years and it’s fantastic.

I agree. Also use it on plexi.

[Das]

I use Polywatch also - it does time to see results so likely much milder than toothpaste, as has been said here.

I might give Crest a try, still some marks on my 6694 that won't go away using Polywatch.

[inglewood1026]

Don't use toothpaste - doesn't work. Its more of a wives tale I think. Have tried on cellphone screen and shower glass with no luck.

[winst]

Originally Posted by linesiders

We have Brasso in the states and now I can smell this post ; )

Ran thru a can of that back in the day polishing, you guessed it, uniform brass ; )

I always used to use Brasso on my Precision Oyster Dates and found it worked well.

[Etouffee]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am leaning to the Meguiars idea. I'll post a picture when complete.

[Kingface66]

Originally Posted by inglewood1026

Don't use toothpaste - doesn't work. Its more of a wives tale I think. Have tried on cellphone screen and shower glass with no luck.

Those are glass. It won’t work on glass.
Plexi crystals are plastic. It works wonders on them.
People who claim it doesn’t work tend to be people who haven’t actually tried it on a vintage plexi crystal. I promise you, it works.

[5513Mfirst]

Polywatch. and work ...before/after

[214270Explorer]

Save yourself potential grief and use the Polywatch - $6.95 a tube and you get a decent supply of it for the money.
It was designed for acrylic crystals. Enough said?
(BTW- I used it on a Rolex and a Vostok and it WORKS and is a GREAT product.)
You can get if from esslinger.com

I never tried toothpaste - just going by my experience.

[Hilts]

Originally Posted by linesiders

Go to your local car parts store and buy Maguire's PlastX headlamp compound ; )

And use a textured paper towel. Apply, dry, buff. Repeat.

Bad scratches use 1500 > 3000 > 5000 > Grit sandpaper and then go to PlastX.

This all depends on your mechanical skill level and from Louisiana - I assume some skill ; )

Yep to all the above - except I use Quixx (in the UK). A lot cheaper than buying Polywatch and does the same job.

Sandpaper does a good job on mineral and sapphire as well (ending with diamond paste) however it takes some bravery depending on the watch.

[nolaclarky]

My superdome acrylic on my Tudor 79090 is all scratched up and only seven months after Mr. Ridley installed it. I love the character scratches. I will use some polywatch once I can't read the time.

[zapokee]

Originally Posted by 214270Explorer

Save yourself potential grief and use the Polywatch - $6.95 a tube and you get a decent supply of it for the money.
It was designed for acrylic crystals.

Agree. Use the tool that's designed for the job.

[Nickn]

Wet and dry paper down to 2500 grit then Autosol polish