Laser welding?

[Fabrice M]

Hi, I have a watch with a tiny dent on the case (less than 1 mm), things like that usually do not bother me, but this one is located on the upper right, and the light hit it in such a way that it is noticeable and bother me. I stopped wearing it a couple of years ago… I am hearing good thing about laser welding and wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with laser welding a case? Pictures and recommendations would be great. Cheers.

[Tools]

The watch needs to be taken apart, weld material fused into the dent, then the case reground and finished to blend it in.

After all of that welding, grinding and refinishing you would likely have been better off to just have had the case properly refinished in the first place if it is small or shallow.

You could certainly have it done, but what will you do each time you get a bump or nick.

LA Watchworks does a lot of this. Give them a call.

[Fabrice M]

Thanks for the answer. I have never polished a watch before, when I have a watch serviced I always ask not to polish it, not that I am a purist, I just don’t like the “ new watch look” I like it better when the shine fades away over time. This is a special case, no pun intended, where the angle of the dent invites the light to reflect a certain way and makes it really noticeable. I am still going back and forth…

[watchmavan]

The thing to keep in mind that when a ding is polished out, material is taken off the case down to the level of the ding. IMO if the watch is important to you or of value I would always laser weld.


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[midnightblue]

Depending on the location of the ‘ding’, it can be repaired with laser welding followed with polishing the area. Personally, I had a similar experience and was amazed by the dark art of laser welding! I would say go for it! But you will probably want to ‘polish’ the entire watch so the repaired site doesn’t stand out. Make sure you send it to the right person for the job. Good luck!

[gtbouch]

Fascinating.

[dummykid]

you can check https://www.instagram.com/mikerolliworks/

[HQA Wire Products]

Originally Posted by Fabrice M

Hi, I have a watch with a tiny dent on the case (less than 1 mm), things like that usually do not bother me, but this one is located on the upper right, and the light hit it in such a way that it is noticeable and bother me. I stopped wearing it a couple of years ago… I am hearing good thing about laser welding and wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with laser welding a case? Pictures and recommendations would be great. Cheers.

Laser welding has come a long way, especially in the watch repair industry! If material needs to be built back up, laser welding is a great way to go!

We actually have a small blog article about it on our website with photos. I'd post the link, but I need to have at least 10 posts to do so on TRF.

[CTech]

Here's the link. It's interesting to see the broken lug repair.

https://hqawp.com/blogs/news/timeless-welding

[Fabrice M]

That is amazing work… is it expensive?

[HQA Wire Products]

Originally Posted by CTech

Here's the link. It's interesting to see the broken lug repair.

https://hqawp.com/blogs/news/timeless-welding

Thanks for the assist! Yeah, their work turns out really well, especially after polishing!

Originally Posted by Fabrice M

That is amazing work… is it expensive?

I'm just the metallurgist for the filler wire. You'll have to contact them about pricing. I hope that points you in the right direction!