Clean bracelet with an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner?

[S52]

After reading several recent threads regarding bracelet stretch and cleaning, I decided to go to town on my daily wearer 16710 with warm soapy water and a q-tip/ old toothbrush...

I always thought I did a good job of hand washing it every week or two in the sink with some hand soap and water... but I was wrong

I was shocked at the amount of grime and nastiness that seeped from the watch. The water in the sink turned a gray/ blackish color

My wife has an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner device... has anyone ever tried one to clean a bracelet? I'm feeling more paranoid now and wonder if it could get any more crud out from between the links!

I would imagine the bracelet should be removed? Doesn't seem like dunking the entire watch in the ultrasonic cleaner would be a great idea...

Any advice?

[louis redfoot]

toothbrush and toothpaste, that's all you need!

[jmiicustomz]

I use my ultrasonic once a week and yes please just the bracelet! They work wonders and are painless. You get to go on doin what you do while it is cleaning. I run it for twenty to thirty mins depending on how nasty I got during the week.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[joe100]

I do my bracelets every couple of weeks. BRACELETS AND BRACELETS ONLY. You risk a lot if you put the watch itself in there. Someone will chime in how they put the whole watch in there but none of my Rolex watches are going to be subjected to thousands of tiny, jarring vibrations.

[Twiten]

I invested in a good ultrasonic cleaner. Totally underwhelmed. I' ll stick with toothbrush.

[Twiten]

Originally Posted by jmiicustomz

I use my ultrasonic once a week and yes please just the bracelet! They work wonders and are painless. You get to go on doin what you do while it is cleaning. I run it for twenty to thirty mins depending on how nasty I got during the week.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

What do you mean work wonders? Can you explain how you a gauging success?
Thanks.

[jimi]

I can attest that it works wonders. I only do it every few months and only for 6 mins. One important note: use ultrasonic cleaning fluid. Dishwashing fluid doesn't work, IMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tkerrmd]

Originally Posted by louis redfoot

toothbrush and toothpaste, that's all you need!

Some toothpastes have very harsh abrasives, would stick to gentle soap or dawn

[jmiicustomz]

Originally Posted by Twitken

What do you mean work wonders? Can you explain how you a gauging success?
Thanks.

I use my ultrasonic primarily for guns and gun parts so it is always filled with a heavy cleaning solvent. That said it gets nasty quick so I drop my bracelets, wifes rings Etc in a small glad container one by one with water and a teaspoon of straight lye from the hardware store. When I put my bracelets in the water is clear but when they come out the water is very murky. Before someone jumps in a tells us all how dangerous lye is, I rinse everything well before wearing and use rubber coated tweezers to get stuff out. Jewelers have been using it for this purpose for yrs as it eats all the crud out and leaves diamonds sparkling. DO NOT use it on opal, mother of pearl, etc as it will eat them away but diamonds ruby, sapphire, garnett, perdot, amethyst, etc are fine. Also never put silver or copper in an ultrasonic.

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[c.rod]

can someone post a link to what a "quality" but not ridiculously expensive ultrasonic cleaner would be?

[jimi]

You can get the Gemoro brand at ebay or amazon for $30-40 shipped. The fluid is about $20. You have to dilute it 40:1 so very economical.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nikhsub1]

Originally Posted by c.rod

can someone post a link to what a "quality" but not ridiculously expensive ultrasonic cleaner would be?

I have THIS one and it works well, I use it with THIS solution. For those that are 'underwhelmed' unless the band is REALLY dirty, the ultrasonic cleaners don't make it look much different when cleaned. However, stick some of your ladies diamonds in there, and they will come out SPARKLING like nobody's business. The nice thing is it gets in all the hard to reach spots between the links.

[ec51]

Originally Posted by louis redfoot

toothbrush and toothpaste, that's all you need!

Not true -- at least with my bracelet.

I wash mine regularly as well -- this still comes out when I ultrasonic the bracelet...

[ec51]

Originally Posted by Twitken

I invested in a good ultrasonic cleaner. Totally underwhelmed. I' ll stick with toothbrush.

You need to leave it in there for longer than you think. The picture above was after about a 60 min bath. Just a drop of dish soap and warm water. I usually try and US every 6 months.

Originally Posted by c.rod

can someone post a link to what a "quality" but not ridiculously expensive ultrasonic cleaner would be?

Check amazon.

[S52]

Sorry I was out offline for a few days, but thanks for the comments/ suggestions.

Once I get a proper tool to remove the bracelet from the watch I will give the ultrasonic cleaner a try and see what happens.

[phils]

wash nightly with hand soap and warm water. Rinse. Dry with cotton towel.
This from an AD service manager.