Recently I got a nice OF 11-15j 18s Illinois that I was attracted to due to the 24 Hr. Dial!

I bought it "for a song", and when I opened it up after coming home to see why it was not a decent "Ticker" I saw some extra engraving under the "uglies" of someone's 1905 vintage acid soaked fingers. . . It needed a main and a serious cleaning.

After spin cleaning everything, I used a Timesaver's Cat.# 13433 ($6.75) brass bristle "scratch brush" to gently "scrub" the ugly stains on the Gilded movement plate, wound in the new main, re-assembled the movement, filled the little void in the dial and put it all back together.

EUREKA! A "4 Railroader" Loco engraved 11 Jewel Illinois movement had "re-appeared" under those 1905 carbolic acid fingerprint stains, AND the gilding is still there too! Since then, I have done this brass scrub cleaning a couple more times and it really works. You gotta be careful, but with a brass bristle brush you CAN clean many nasties off Gilded Plates!(The Dial picture is also AFTER I was finished with this little beauty.)

Good posts, David. Thank you.

Good tip David, and a nice watch. Thanks for sharing.

David, is this the same type of brass brush they sell on ebay? you screw the brush out when it gets worn down? did you use any other chemical to clean up the gilded plates?

Hi Bruce, I suppose the Brass cleaning brush is on eBay. I bought mine direct from Timesavers using their catalog. It is similar to the glass brush excepting the mechanism is more like the old scripto mechanical pencils. Refills are available, but you would have to do a whole lot of brushing to wear this out. Call me if you have any questions. I am in the San Diego phone book. I used L&R extra fine watch cleaner in the spinner, and some Zippo (Naptha) lighter fluid to "lube" the brush.

A little better closeup of the Brass vs the glass brush.

Hi David, Thanks for the tips and tricks to brighten old gilding. And your pictures of that fine old Illinois look great. That's a fine and scarce old Railroader!

Joe

That's amazing David! Thanks for the tip!

I am surprised that the brass bristles do not scratch the gilding. Any additional advice on technique besides the lighter fluid to lube the brush?

I like that watch and I love that dial!

Ron

Thanks Ron and all for your supportive comments. Lets trade more "secrets" on cleaning these movements. Maybe we could assemble a "on-line booklet". I will contribute all I can as these things come to mind.

btw; Today I was cleaning out a Hamilton that was soaked in WD-40! Letting down the Main Spring was not an easy task! More "soak" in Maptha (lighter Fluid). Zippo seems to have a little more "zing".

David, looks like we are pretty close to each other. Send me an email and maybe one of these days we can get together and talk about watches

Something from my junk box. Of no use I suspect but it is interesting to see what lengths the early copy merchants were willing to go to in order to make a sale. When you think about all those knock off dials we see today it is not really anything new. Been going on for years.