polishing a seiko glass (0634)

[albertofenini]

Since I have seen few topics on the argument, I wanted to share my experience.

Polishing a plastic glass is quite easy, since when I have started collecting
led calculators I have found few good products for polishing the Plexiglas red display, and most are quite good for watches too.

However, collecting Seiko I had to face the problem of polishing a mineral glass.

My technique starts with taking apart the case.
Considering that the glass will get quite hot, the module has to be removed or it will get fried (at least the LCD module).

Then, it also must be considered that because of the dilation, the best
would be to have the glass free of any frame.
However, since I have broken too many trying to remove them from the case, I have found that keeping them cool with some water will help.

I then start using sandpaper. I usually go through several grades.

220 and this is the most important step. It has to be done until the glass is flat and all the scratches are gone.
Basically, it can be done also with serious scratches, but it must be considered that the glass will have to be flat
so that a lot of material will be taken away by this step, is the scratch is deep. A thin glass is more likely to break during the final polishing procedure.

The first picture shows the glass in the frame after it has gone through the 220.

Once all the scratches are gone, and the glass is equally opaque, the next grades can be used.

My sequence is then : 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000.

I don't use any water at this point.

Picture P1010775 is the same glass after all the grades.
You will be able to see through, but of course the remains of the sandpaper
still need to be eliminated through the final polishing.

For this, I sue a Dremel with a vertical workstation.
This is quite important, since we need to be very orthogonal and we need both hands free.

The glass and the frame are kept in place by a cheap case holder
and on the dremel I use a cloth wheel.
Since I was afraid that the holding screw could scratch the glass, I have joined two wheels with some bi adhesive,
so that the face toward the glass is completely smooth.

At this point I use the Cerium Oxide, it can be purchased on the Internet or you can find it at a good glass shop.
I mix it with water in a 50% solution and with a small brush I let this liquid slip on the glass while the Dremel works.

Lowest possible speed and keep the glass wet. From time to time I let the glass cool down and I check the progress made.
It takes times, but in the sequence of pictures you can see how gradually it gets polished.

The original was not too bad, it had however a lot of light scratches.

For those of you that want to check it, it was the eBay item 250952822041. (Yes, it costed me more in shipping than the item itself, and yes,
just putting a battery brought it back to life, including the light).

I have also cleaned the bracelet and the case by leaving them
in water and degreaser since they were quite dirty.
I haven't polished the case yet, since I really wanted to get the
glass done.

However, I have done it for far more scratched glasses with the same results.

Hope it is of help for someone, and if you need more details or photo, please let me know it.

take care Alberto



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[Kasper]

very nice Alberto, but al those grades of paper..that will cost money to.

But nicely done.

[albertofenini]

Thank you Kasper, I really appreciate your approval
The sandpaper I use was purchased at a local hardware shop
for few € each sheet.

I do the sandpaper manually, I use the dremel only with the cerium mixture.
So at the end of the day, it was not too expensive.

Thanks again, take care Alberto

[LEDluvr]

Good work there Alberto - it took time but I can see it was worth the effort.

[SASM]

Now that is an interesting guideline! Thank you!

[Cesar]

Thank you,
Most certainly going to try this ones, very useful instructions.

[egomon]

Thank you Alberto will try this one my self. I only have done plastic glass but with this instructions i think there will be no problem to bring back some minerals as well :)

Egon

[Caruso]

That is a very good job, but now the case also needs a polish.

I had a similar problem with a recently bought 0634 5019. The glass was cracked all the way through so I bought a new glass on Ebay for £38, so that is how much you have saved in polishing yours...well done!