Hi guys,
I was just wondering how you how you get your watch movements to look like new again, for example:

do you use an ultra-sonic cleaner or something ???
Thanks ihc185!!!

The cleaners we use are very good for removing the dirt and oil residues from a watch. So the pictures you used show how the dirty gilded plates of a 150 year old watch will look "newer" when cleaned.

The type of cleaner (spin or ultrasonic) is a matter of personal choice.

I use spin cleaners because they cost less to use and have given me excellent service in cleaning watch parts.

Ultrasonic cleaners are especially popular for wristwatches because with their high cleaning energies they can be used to clean small watches without disassembly.

https://ihc185.infopop.cc/eve/f...6047761/m/6671032972

Here's a discussion of a couple of mine in before/after photos that Chris Abell worked on for me a couple years ago.

Regards !Mark

I respectfully have to disagree with Dave on the ability of ultrasonics to clean small watches without disassembly. Because of the even smaller tolerances of small watches IMO it is even more critical to disassemble in order to properly clean the movement. I know that it is done, and I know cleaners are advertised that are supposed to be able to accomplish this, but I would never consider a watch serviced unless I took it apart. The watch will probably work after the ultrasonic...but none of the parts were examined for wear or problems and IMO it won't run for nearly as long as a proper teardown, examination, and COA. Of course, again this is just my personal opinion.

BTW Francesco, by the looks of your second picture, it appears you have figured out how to do it.

Roger, I totally agree with you and only mentioned the use of ultrasonics for cleaning whole watches. I would NEVER respect that method or do it my self.

I use an ultrasonic with Zenith chemicals and am amazed at the results I get. For the outside of the watch you might try the following: Pre-Lim is an English cleaner that museums use for their units and the good old stand by Brasso works good too. Always test in a small area before going whole hog on cleaning. You can use Clorox Liquid Bathroom Cleaner to get the dials to look like new. DO NOT use the Clorox on painted or stenciled dials. You will come up with just a bare, very clean, metal plate left.

Thanks for clarifying Dave...it totally makes sense now. Just because something CAN be done in a particular way doesn't mean it SHOULD be done that way. That said, after disassembly an ultrasonic is perfectly acceptable to use to clean the individual parts as Dave has stated as a matter of personal choice. And obviously Dave is very successful using the spin method. When you get a watch done by Dave you know it was done right.

Roger

I use an L&R Q90 ultrasonic with individual baskets for all of my cleaning. fully disassembled movements of course

Great results!

I use a ultrasonic I got at a Harbor Freight, a tool store. It is good enough for the amount of watches I clean. You dont need a large or professional unit as a hobbyist. If it doesn't come as clean as I want it, a rare thing but some are real dirty, I run it through another cycle. I use small beakers sitting in the water to hold the parts and cleaning chemicals so I can make them go farther. I got the idea from this post.

Francesco,
The watch you have shown us is one of my collection of private label watches. I believe it was sent to our very own, Chris Abell for a COA when I first acquired it. If you can entice him he might pipe in and tell you his secret method

Hi Edward and Roger these are pictures of Edwards watch (like Edward pointed out), I keep a photo gallery of watches and movements, so when I see a picture of a watch I save it to my pc.
Francesco.
P.S Thanks for the interesting comments guys !!!

I was wondering where you got a Utica, NY movement. That's a nice one Ed.