Cleaning watches with tooth paste, thoughts?

[Lrd2sea]

I used tooth paste cleaning my watches, and they came out shiny and smelling fresh. Any thoughts or pracautions anyone can think of?

Btw, it's a regular floride formula, Colgate. Not some triple formula whitening stuff,...

[JGX]

Toothpaste can be quite abrasive, not sure it's a terribly good idea.

[fitter_happier]

Toothpaste is abrasive, but there are a lot of variables here. Soft, medium or hard brush? Steel or gold? Sapphire or plastic crystal? If you want to use a toothbrush to get into the cracks, be sure to use a soft one along with grease-cutting dish liquid like Dawn (pro car detailers actually use it to strip wax and grease). I personally wouldn't use toothpaste.

[BreitSF]

Does your watch have cavities?

[skypilot]

I very rarely smell my watch.

[HL65]

No way but have used it to take scratches off of acrylic crystal and works great!! Cheers,

[rmfnla]

Toothpaste is a mild abrasive. When used moderately it can clean up the whole watch really nicely.

[impalass]

Originally Posted by steelerfan65

no way but have used it to take scratches off of acrylic crystal and works great!! Cheers,

x2

[mjclark32]

Nah, I'll stick to soap/vereat/dishwasher soap...

[Jsan20]

That's crazy. It's very likely to scratch things. Think about the purpose of toothpaste?

[rmfnla]

The purpose of toothpaste is gently polish teeth.

Used lightly it won't hurt a watch (I've done it often).

[SeaDweller50]

Normal toothpaste has no abrasive content whatsoever, not so sure about the whitener type though.

[HL65]

Originally Posted by RolexplorerII

Normal toothpaste has no abrasive content whatsoever, not so sure about the whitener type though.

Actually it does and it works wonders taking out scratches on vintage acrylic crystals. When you rub it on you feel the micro sand like texture which gently gets rid of the scratches. It acts like a mild abrasive. Of course I prefer to use Polywatch but toothpaste works pretty darn well!

[Frosty]

There used to be a renter's handy fix using toothpaste many years ago and may not apply with the modern toothpaste, but, I think it is worth considering. If you had a small nail hole in your wall you could put toothpaste in the hole and it would harden. Hole fixed. I would not let it get anywhere near my bracelet for fear of not being able to remove it all.

[Dr. Robert]

Why all the agony w/ this business of cleaning watches????
A quick lick of the crystal, wipe w/ t-shirt, you're good to go.

[Syed117]

Not really sure why so many people insist on trying different cleaning methods. There seems to be a new thread every few days.

Rolex recommends cleaning with warm water and soap. Add the use of a soft brush when needed.

Varaet is fine but doesn't do anything that a clean rinsing soap won't. It's just appealing to people's need to pay for some magical cleaning product that is special in some way. Not to say that it doesn't work, but I've been washing my watches for years and after trying Veraet, I understood exactly why people buy it.

I think people assume that simple soap and water just isn't good enough and they need to do something special. If it wasn't the best way to clean, Rolex wouldn't recommend it. It couldn't be simpler.

[sierra11b]

There does seem to be a new cleaning thread every day now.

What I do:

1) Add a drop of mild soap to a tupperware container and add luke warm water.

2) Make sure crown of watch is secure and drop in watch for a ten minutes.

3) Brush watch in water solution using soft bristle toothbrush.

4) Pull out watch from solution and while running under luke warm water, use same oft bristle toothbrush to clean all areas.

5) Wrap in dish towel and press-dry all surfaces.

6) Use can of compressed air to get any parts of the bracelet clasp and watch you've missed.

7) Wear watch.

[Jsan20]

My orthodontist said toothpaste scratches plastic used in retainers so I would imagine it could possibly scratch gold or polished pcl's.

[leica]

Originally Posted by sierra11b

there does seem to be a new cleaning thread every day now.

What i do:

1) add a drop of mild soap to a tupperware container and add luke warm water.

2) make sure crown of watch is secure and drop in watch for a ten minutes.

3) brush watch in water solution using soft bristle toothbrush.

4) pull out watch from solution and while running under luke warm water, use same oft bristle toothbrush to clean all areas.

5) wrap in dish towel and press-dry all surfaces.

6) use can of compressed air to get any parts of the bracelet clasp and watch you've missed.

7) wear watch.

_

+1

[rmfnla]

Originally Posted by Frosty

There used to be a renter's handy fix using toothpaste many years ago and may not apply with the modern toothpaste, but, I think it is worth considering. If you had a small nail hole in your wall you could put toothpaste in the hole and it would harden. Hole fixed. I would not let it get anywhere near my bracelet for fear of not being able to remove it all.

I think the key is to not let it harden...

[smallcandle]

Originally Posted by Dr. Robert

Why all the agony w/ this business of cleaning watches????
A quick lick of the crystal, wipe w/ t-shirt, you're good to go.

Have to agree, Bob. It seems everyday there's another effort to over-think this issue...

[subtona]

Occasional use of Mild soap & water with a extra soft toothbrush should give you excellent results.

I would skip the toothpaste altogether.

[dbt001]

Great thread. I'm going to start asking sellers to provide electron microscope analysis to prove the watch has never been cleaned or polished with toothpaste.

[wantonebad]

Once a year, or every 6 months if I've really mucked them up, I take all of my bracelets off of my watches and I put them in my wife's ultrasonic cleaner with the jewelry cleaning solution that has ammonia in it. The watch heads I clean with a toothbrush and soap and water. Once dry I buff everything up with a synthetic chamois cloth and these days I Spray them with a little Veret. This brings them all back to like new condition save the surface scratches.

[james1787]

I use soap, water and a soft tooth brush.. seems to work fine for me.

[Pix]

So I should stop with my steel wool and Emory board?

[wantonebad]

Originally Posted by Pix

So I should stop with my steel wool and Emory board?

Sulfuric acid will probably get rid of the soap-scum...

[Lrd2sea]

Originally Posted by RolexplorerII

Normal toothpaste has no abrasive content whatsoever, not so sure about the whitener type though.

I used the whitening formula to clean my gold watch once, and it looks like white gold for the next few months,..

[Chewbacca]

interesting thread... not sure i ever used toothpaste to clean a watch before.

[cop414]

Originally Posted by mjclark32

Nah, I'll stick to soap/vereat/dishwasher soap...

Exactly what I do weekly, unsure just how abrasive toothpaste might be over time. I'd stay away from it. My Rolex doesn't need to smell fresh, it smells like... a Rolex!!