Hi Everyone.
Does anyone have any experience with electroplating? I'm thinking of buying the equipment to replate some old cases but dont know anything about it. I've been researching online but it seems there is a lot of different opinions. Some say there is cyanide in the acid then others say its safe now. I'm so confused.
What do you guys think, would it be worth it to replate cases when restoring old watches?

The small electroplating briefcase style workshops that are available work with an electrode that you put a sock over and dip it in the gold solution and "paint" on the gold plating.

This is not a good solution to the problem and it can be rubbed off very easily by a cloth. All of the gold plating kits whether commercial or not work by putting a micro thin coating of gold back on the watch. These watch cases that have been reworked will not endure pocket wear for any length of time. And one will need to prepare the watch cases first by "feathering" the edges micro thin where the gold remains and the brass is showing which is very labor intensive.

The Cyanide Solutions are mostly passe today and no one uses that procedure any longer due to immediate health issues. Those operations were commercial and used potassium, soda, gold, and water and the items to be plated submerged and hung in the solution and electric current applied and is called "Gold Gilding". A still older method was called "Fire Gilt" and used a gold and mercury solution and a high enough temperature that the mercury evaporated and left the new gold plating behind. That was the best of the best of the trade and I imagine the EPA would have something to say about that if used today.

Hey that's my opinion and it's worth exactly what you paid for it, so hope it helps

regards,
bb

I would agree with Buster, from my college days in Chemical engineering you need a bit of current to plate well. The low voltage units will plate but not bond the material well so as Buster said it will rub off in short order. I would say good luck also but I am not sure I would spend much money on the plating equip.

Peter,I have tried replating a couple of my own cases using one of those pen-plating systems and 24kt. gold solution.They actually came out looking pretty decent, BUT as Buster and Claude said, They wouldn't have much durability.I went over them many times, to try and build up the gold thickness.I also had to plate the whole case, inside the back and bezel, too because the shade of the replating gold is a darker, more reddish gold than the original.These are watches I only carry once in a while, I'd never consider them safe to use much.Like I said, I only did this to make these cases look better for my personal collection, since they were badly worn, but still otherwise nice looking cases.I hope that scam artists on the big auction sites aren't doing this to pass off watches or empty cases that are worn down to brass!I plan to recase the few RR watches I did this on, but for the time being, they do look much better.I think in the end, if you really want to replate a case, it probably would be better to have it done by a plating shop, or hold out for another case in better shape....Ted.

I appreciate everyones input.