I polished my SD...here are the results!

[sdwtchlvr]

So, I've had this F serial SD for about a month or two...I bought it pre-owned. My first Rolex, and I couldn't be more pleased. Overall, it was in good condition but had typical swirlies associated with a couple years of everyday use. In addition, there were several minor blemishes on the 5 o'clock lug. Again not a big deal and those will be addressed by the RSC when it goes in for service. But I figured I'd take care of the swirlies with my trusty dremel.

Now I've read several threads on this and other forums saying you'd have to be crazy to go near your watch with a dremel. While I can see the concern, if you've had some experience polishing metal with a dremel, it can be a very useful tool in keeping your piece polished in between servicing. The main concern is heat, you DO NOT want to build up heat between the polishing wheel and the surface of the case as that's when 'bruising' can happen and you can discolor the steel a bit. As long as you keep this in mind, you'll be find.

Now I must say, if you're not familiar with using a dremel or power tools, this probably isn't for you. For those of you who are somewhat confident when it comes to handling tools, this is a simple task that can be performed in under 30 minutes.

So lets get started...I'm not the best photographer, but please bear with me.

Here are some pics of the 'swirlies' I'm talking about. They're nothing major, but can take away from the 'pop' your Rolex has when the light hits it...you know what I mean.










Here is the tool set I'll be working with. I'm really only going to use 2 polishing pads from this set, but if I were to just buy the two pads, I'm already over 1/2 of the cost for the set...so I figured what the heck.



So here is my work area. You see the pads, the watch & bracelet, and my green jeweler's rouge. The stuff in the jar is dremel polish and I didn't use it...not sure why it's in the picture. The green rouge though is quite common and that big bar cost me around $12.



So lets get some rouge on the polishing wheel...just turn the dremel on and rub it up against the rouge. Be sure to where eye protection though...getting rouge in the eye is NOT fun... :(



So your wheel should look like this after it's rouged up.



Keeping the dremel on the lowest setting, you just want to gently rub the sides of the case in an even motion...you do not need to apply mush pressure at all...in fact, less is better. What you want to be careful of here is heat build up. You want to polish for increments of 30 seconds or so, constantly feeling the case to see if it's warm or hot. If it is, stop...you do not want to build up heat because that will result in discoloring. You'd really have to grind in there for a while to do any real damage but lets just not go there...this is a 'lite' polish we're doing here.







So, after working the sides of the case for a minute or two, you'll want to give it a good wipe down with a cape cod cloth...just to remove any rouge that's left over and to give it a good buffing.



Now for the bracelet. If you've got desk diving scratches, and I know you do...they can be removed in less than a minute with the lite brush down from a scotch brite pad. This is probably the easiest service you can give your brushed bracelet...and it works magic every time. Just gently rub in the same direction of the brushed texture of the bracelet.

This is what it looked like before...







And here are some pics after all said above has been done...



















Again, I'm not the best photographer, but I'm very pleased with the results. I didn't remove enough metal to get out the blemishes...which is fine because I don't want to...that's getting into risky territory but the swirlies are no more and my watch looks great. Hope this helps.

[cody p]

seems like a losing battle to me, but to each their own.

[TimeToGo]

Great job!!!

[hflee55]

Nicely done!

[VDENTALS]

Thats a great job

[sea-dweller]

Wow, great post ! I'm going to go out and buy a Dremel Kit and try this ! My SD and my Explorer 1 need some polishing. Thanks !!!

[bodybump]

very nice....!!! makes your SD more unique!!

[SS Oyster]

Wow, excellent job!

[Letsgodiving]

Nice job!

[Latrodectus]

sdwtchlvr,

that is a great and detailed report. Nice pictures also. Thanks for sharing!

[teo]

Great skill!

[CH & USA]

Wow... both impressive and... gutsy! Great-looking job!

[GradyPhilpott]

Good work!

[klayface]

So wait, you used a that green thing that woman use when scrubbing toilets to polish the link( or remove the scratches? If so I want to do it now.

[Andad]

Good work.

Did you polish over the He valve?

[klayface]

Omfg, I just tried the green thing to polish the links and did exactly what you said and keep doing it in the same direction and my watch looks like new. I CANNOT BELIEVE 5 years of bumbing into crap and little cosmetic scratches are gone.

COMPLETELY GONE!!

Thank you.

[B Square]

Most excellent Thanks

[sdwtchlvr]

Originally Posted by klayface

Omfg, I just tried the green thing to polish the links and did exactly what you said and keep doing it in the same direction and my watch looks like new. I CANNOT BELIEVE 5 years of bumbing into crap and little cosmetic scratches are gone.

COMPLETELY GONE!!

Thank you.

The scratch brite pad is truly amazing when it comes to refinishing your brushed bracelets. I was hesitant to try it for so long with my other watches...then I decided to do so with a few light rubs and the results are astonishing...you really cannot mess it up as long as you brush in the right direction.

[RossInIllinois]

Originally Posted by sdwtchlvr

The scratch brite pad is truly amazing when it comes to refinishing your brushed bracelets. I was hesitant to try it for so long with my other watches...then I decided to do so with a few light rubs and the results are astonishing...you really cannot mess it up as long as you brush in the right direction.

I just tried the Scotch Brite sanding pad and thats an amazing trick. without much effort at all the band looks like new. I didnt even remove it from the head. I cut a smallish piece of the pad and did one link at a time. I should think this would work wonders for the people with polished center link GMTs and want to make the whole thing brushed looking.

[sdwtchlvr]

Oh yeah, and I avoided the HEV valve...just didn't go over that area...super easy to avoid.

[swatty]

Good job

[Z-Sub]

wow, excellent result

[Tony-GB]

Excellent.

[tphan]

Very nice result.

Must admitted you're very brave.

[Bisquitlips]

Great writeup. This needs to be put permanently under the Reference Library!

[yannis]

This is an ace job done to the watch!! Congratulations man! And thanks for the useful info!!

[SLS]

Looks good, but IMO you are fighting a losing battle. The long term effects is that your case will appear over polished, but I applaud your efforts, it not everyone who takes a $50 power tool to a $6K watch!
~Scott

[Bisquitlips]

It looks like you are using two different wheels for polishing. Did you use the cotton wheel or were they both the felt wheels?

[Chris B]

Great tutorial, thanks for taking the time to share

[sdwtchlvr]

So little of the metal is removed in the couple of minutes of light polishing with the dremel, it's really not as abrasive as it sounds. Granted, I've a bit of experience with the dremel...I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who is unfamiliar with a high RPM rotary tool.

My intention was simply to remove the superficial light swirlies on the sides of the case. There are some slightly deeper hairlines that didn't come out in the couple of minutes of polishing...which is fine...that's how I gauge removed. I would never do anything to risk damaging my watch...if I wasn't comfortable with the process I wouldn't do it.

To answer the question above, I used the felt wheels for polishing but didn't really use the cotton wheel this time...used the cape cods instead.