polishing lug holes

[ayres]

hi everyone, as the subject line suggests, i am curious to know more about tips for judging a polishing job on the case sides. and this brings me to the lug holes.

am i assuming correctly that excessive polishing will create an oblong lug hole? of course, i've seen some cases where the end of the springbar is protruding. that is crazy!

also, does uneven polishing account for why at one lug hole, the springbar is almost flush with the case, and on another lug hole, the springbar is more recessed? when you see this, is this due to case polishing, or is it due to variances in springbar 'springiness'? you like that word?

if lug holes are accurate and telling of the polishing job, then the no-holes cases are more difficult, no?

cheers,

ayres

[bewithabob]

I recently had an experience at a Cartier AD/jeweler where I purchased a new brown Cartier croc strap for my brand new Cartier Santos (which had an OEM black strap).

As this was simply a replacement strap of another color, they volunteered to perform the installation. When the job was finished, I inspected their work before paying for the new strap, and could see with the naked eye that the case had been scratched on both sides by the jeweler's tool. Pointing this out to the AD, he politely agreed and offered to buff the case to polish out the scratches.

Visual inspection after the buffing was completed, this process was performed unevenly and removed too much metal, the lug holes were disproportionately shaped in relation to each other, as was the the shape of the case. Pointing this out to the salesman, he disagreed at first , but comparison with another identical brand new watch case made this obvious. In conclusion and much to my satisfaction, Cartier offered to provide me a brand new replacement case. Had my original watch not been new, or I not been able to compare the result of their buffing with another brand new identical case, this would have been a very difficult experience indeed. If this had been a vintage watch, where a comparison was not possible, I can imagine what might have happened.

Lesson: go only to a reputable AD/jeweler for repairs or service. Inspect your watch together with the jeweler before and after the work is completed.

[ayres]

good advice, bob... i'm glad you chimed in.

but my questions still remain. surely, there are forum members who can add their experiences/photos of case refurbishing. i'm in the midst of collecting various images online.

i'm not looking for advice. rather, i'm more interested in expanding my understanding of how to judge a polishing job. and in doing so (with the help of other members' perspectives), readers can become better equipped to critique the used rolex market - as well as decide of their repairperson did a good job!

this thread should be under watch tech, no? as it does pertain to the servicing of the watch.

[mrwatchmaker]

If one magnifies a case to the extreme the surface before polishing would look like small craters on the surface. The initial wheel used to polish the case is a "hard felt" wheel. Finalux is the SS polish compound they use at the factory, the felt wheel actually does more bending over of the scratched material almost bending it back down into the scratched area.
Care must be taken with cases that have lug pierced ( holes all the way through) When polishing you have to let the felt wheel do all the work, very little pressure of the case against the wheel. Where the holes tend to get worn the worst when being polished is when someone does not use the hard felt buff for the initial buffing. Instead they use a soft cotton wheel buff. The surface of this type is very pliable and the buff will actually go down into to the hold and wear the edges of the hole giving it a worn in look at the center of the hole. As for pin sticking out one side or the other, possibly there was heavy case wear or refinishing done to the watch that would actually "thin" the case lug , the pins used generally have the same length pin coming out of both sides. If you would have one like that, there is plenty of pin you could file the offending pin down a bit before installation.
Final polish would be with a cotton buff ending with either red or white rouge.

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