opti-coating a watch?

[K3vin]

Has this crossed anyone else's mind?

I had my car's paint corrected and applied with Opti-coat over a year ago, and it is still swirl free. Zero swirl in the paint even after a dozen washes.

I've been thinking... would I be the first person to ever try this on a watch? I know there's the whole thing about letting a watch patina naturally... but if I could keep a Panerai as scratch free as my car's paint, why not. Thoughts?

[GradyPhilpott]

Go for it.

[Laszlo]

Hah, interesting, do it and post pics, please!

[linesiders]

Photos of the car?

[rr-nyc]

First, your watch does not have a clear coat like a painted car. Secondly, and according to their website, Opti-claear is a permanent and does not degrade or cannot be removed. Third, unless you neglect your watch or intentionally leave it in the ocean for a few months, your watch does not patina.

Stainless steel watches will scratch and it can be polished out. To do anything more wash it and occasionally polish is asinine.

[K3vin]

I ended up doing it anyway on my freshly polished Panerai. I ordered a 30ml tube of the stuff on amazon ($60) and have had fun experimenting with in on my iphone and some watch buckles.

A few notes:
-9 on the mohs hardness scale (it is basically silicon carbide) when fully cured vs ~6.5 for stainless steel
-Not permanent, the newest formula is only rated for 2. The permanent "pro" version is only available to pro installers now.
-Application was super easy. Watch was first cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. The opticoat itself had almost no surface tension (the company calls this "self-leveling") so it flowed really fast around the metal.
-2 microns thick (human hair is ~100 microns). You apply a thin haze of the liquid with a sponge or microfiber cloth, wait a few minutes to cure, and then polish the excess. You cannot feel or see the coating at all.

Overall... it did not change the appearance of the polished surfaces but the brushed surfaces are just slightly shinier. It is too soon to tell if this worked at all, but I'll report back in a few months with some close-up before/afters. Having fun with it for now .



The thin haze during curing:


Final result:

[c41006]

This will be interesting...

[b06tmm]

I'm kind of curious of what would happen during a service, assuming you do have it serviced at one point. Will they detect the coating and try to get rid of it assuming it was foreign coating?

[salem65]

You are a brave person. Too bad manufacturers don't coat the cases prior to assembly with the permanent version.

[K3vin]

Originally Posted by salem65

You are a brave person. Too bad manufacturers don't coat the cases prior to assembly with the permanent version.

You and I both. I wish they did this for cars from the factory. This is my installers website... check out his work:
http://autosalonworks.blogspot.com/2...ters-2015.html
Once you opticoat... that swirl-free finish is incredibly resilient.

[K3vin]

Originally Posted by b06tmm

I'm kind of curious of what would happen during a service, assuming you do have it serviced at one point. Will they detect the coating and try to get rid of it assuming it was foreign coating?

I was a little worried about that at first but impossible to detect at 2 microns. Lets put it this way:



It's the same stuff as synthetic diamonds so you know the clarity is perfect too.

[Laszlo]

Originally Posted by c41006

This will be interesting...

Haha, totally...

[Rashid.bk]

Cool.

[dysondiver]

oh ,,, google here we come

[mike@ec]

my car has Opti-coat Pro applied to it, and it has been great even in the harsh winters.. I just give it a quick spray with the pressure washer and its like right off the showroom floor.

[K3vin]

An update for anyone curious, two months later and I've been extremely happy about having done this. I can wipe the watch down with my shirt and it looks as good as if I took a Cape Cod cloth to it... the polish is as fresh as the day I applied it with zero additional swirls. If I were to do it again I would use a softer applicator as the included foam pad (meant for cars) did introduce a slight swirl. Have a new car ordered for this summer and its going straight from the dealer to the opticoater :)

[Jleo]

Interesting, I've only applied Permanon on my watches so far. Easy and fuss free.

[jbleee]

I had my brand new car opti coated about 2 years ago with the opti coat pro. I agree with you, it is still swirl free and smooth as silk with just normal washing every 2-3 weeks. Don't even need to wax anymore. It truly is a miracle for a daily driven car that you care about.

However, I don't see why you would do this to a watch. A watch is stainless steel and meant to take a beating and show scratches just like a tool. A car is different, you want to protect that precious paint/clear coat and keep it shiny all the time.

But cool experiment!

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by jbleee

I had my brand new car opti coated about 2 years ago with the opti coat pro. I agree with you, it is still swirl free and smooth as silk with just normal washing every 2-3 weeks. Don't even need to wax anymore. It truly is a miracle for a daily driven car that you care about.

However, I don't see why you would do this to a watch. A watch is stainless steel and meant to take a beating and show scratches just like a tool. A car is different, you want to protect that precious paint/clear coat and keep it shiny all the time.

But cool experiment!

One can argue a car is just a tool as well, meant to transport from point a-b. It's all relative. My wife could give a damn about opti coating a car but if the conversation were about her shoes, different story.
I find that a watch could benefit from a coating like this but to each his own, but a $10k watch isn't a "tool" watch I'd wear to chop wood and put up perimeter fencing, or even specifically choose to dive with. It tells me time and I use the hell out of it but when I want to get dirty, the Suunto comes out.

[Wesley Crusher]

Bump. Wondering how the watch has held up with the coating (assuming OP still has it)...

[BristolCavendish]

Not judging but is this just another well-intentioned adventure in OCDism?

[RichM]

Originally Posted by linesiders

Photos of the car?

Mine's the Corvette. Opti-Coat Pro. http://www.kjwdetailing.com/home/

[drm20]

Sweet looking Panerai! Hope it works out