hi everyone,
it was suggested to me i could have the brass plates of a movement gold plated, so i have the following questions.
1: will gold plating cause any problems with the movement?
2: has anyone had any experience with home plating systems?
thanks
Todd

Todd,

Let me begin by saying that it's good practice to leave an old movement as original as possible ....but at the same time, if you have a non-rare 7 jewel wonder with ugly plates, then you might as well have a little fun. Gold plating your brass plates will not cause any mechanical problems. The gold plating process is very straight forward and there is plenty of information out there on how to do it properly. The pink and yellow gold solutions I have used in the past are made by Krohn. Their solutions contain cyanide so you want to be sure to handle them carefully ...and store them responsibly. I was able to get very nice results through several projects; I used them often to refinish gold plated hardware such as screw heads and regulator springs. Also great for refinishing gold hands. A link to the Krohn web site HERE. ...You'll need an anode (they advertise a gold one, but I used stainless with no problems), the solution, probably over $100 with the price of gold (it is real gold) and a power supply. I used batteries with no problem. Don't let the cyanide thing scare you too much, the solution contains 1% and while I would recommend wearing rubber gloves and common sense things like not eating a ham sandwich while plating, you're really not going to get in trouble unless you actually bathe in it or drink it.

Anyway, check it out and see what you think. If you're getting into watch restoration, a quality plating setup is a great tool to have at your disposal.

William