The Breitling Watch Blog

With a watch that you wear daily, especially with a metal bracelet, you will inevitably get scratches. Whether it is Stainless Steel, Gold, or Platinum, they eventually show up, first starting as small swirlies then getting more and more perceptible until your watch no longer looks new.

I’m going to go over a few of the methods that I have used to maintain the and restore that fabulous lustre and shine that almost rivals a brand new watch! Well.. not really, but I will show you what I do to keep them looking as good as I can. There are several different types of finishes out there on the market, including PVD and Bead Blasted finishes that cannot be restored this way. I am going to go over restoring Brushed finishes only in this article. Stay tuned for polished finishes later!

Brushed Finishes
Here is an example of a typical brushed finish:

There are four methods of restoring brushed finishes that I have used: Micron Polishing Cloths, Nail Buffers, Fiberglass Pens, and Scotch Brite Pads.

Micron Polishing Cloths

These are in my opinion the best tool for restoring a brushed finish. These are availalble in two different grits for brushed finishes: 15 and 30 Micron. Usually you can start with 30 micron and work down to the 15, or just use the 30 if the brushed finish is a rougher one. They are sold by Watch Band Renew, and come with finer micron polishing cloths for restoring a polished finish as well fairly detailed instructions on how to use them.

Nail Buffer

These come in a variety of shapes and sizes but the ones that I feel work well are like sandpaper impregnanted sponge blocks. They are a bit more flexible than sandpaper and tend to come in fairly fine grits, and while you can use sandpaper to restore a brushed finish as well, the nail polishing blocks come in slightly more convenient packages, and often with multiple grits in one block as seen above. You can just brush your watch or bracelet in the direction of the existing lines, starting with the roughest grit first and working your way finer.

Nail Buffers can usually be picked up in the cosmetics section of any drugstore or wal-mart location near you.

Fiberglass Pen

Fiberglass pens are very good for spot-fixes of bracelets and cases, and often getting those hard to reach areas, however they are of limited use when you are trying cover a large area, or renewing an entire watch as it is difficult to get long straight lines with them. Think of the Fiberglass Pen as the “Tide Pen” of brushed watch finishes.

These are readily available on eBay or from various watch assessory sites online.

Scotch Brite Pads

Scotch Brite pads may seem like a crude way of restoring that finish to your watch, but they do a great job. While they are not offered in a variety of grits, which reduces their versatility somewhat, they are easy to obtain. The Scotch Brite pad is a mildly abrasive pad, which creates brush lines when it is used on metal. If you’ve ever used a scotch brite pad on your knives, you will probably be aware of that!

Simply brush in the direction of the existing brushmarks on your watch, and they should help cover up any scratches!

Hope you enjoyed the article, I’ll be writing up a similar one on Polished finishes as well, but they are more work to restore, so the article will be significantly longer.

Hi Guys, just want to remind you guys about watchtrader.ca. I started it almost a year ago as a place for Canadians to list local watches for sale and trade, so we don’t have to deal with customs. We all know how great it is to send expensive watches over the border and receive them, and have customs hold them for long periods of time. No more!

Buy and sell your watches with watchtrader.ca. I even have forums set up.. though they are pretty dead. But the registration is running out, and if no one is using it, its not really worth it for me to maintain it. So hopefully there are some Canadians out there that want to buy/sell and trade watches!

Check it: http://watchtrader.ca/

First a disclaimer: I do not recommend that you do this, but because I’ve received several emails regarding how this is done, and also several emails about where to buy the case back opener I used in the Panerai video, I decided to write a post on it. Opening a watch and servicing and regulation should be done by an experienced professional. However if you are so inclined, you can give it a shot.

Opening a Breitling Caseback

Breitling Casebacks have 15 sides, which make them a bit odd and seemingly at first difficult to open. However, they can be opened with a simple high quality Jaxa opener. This MAY slightly damage or put small dents in the case back sides as the Jaxa openers do not fit perfectly. Remember if you open the case, a proper case holder should be used as well to secure the case.

A Jaxa tool looks like this:

The more proper way to open a Breitling caseback is to use a Breitling 15-sided caseback die designed for use in Horotec or Bergeon openers. These are large devices with big wheels on the top that look something like this:

The Breitling Die (and Panerai Dies too for that matter) look like this:

They fit into the Opener and open the caseback without damaging it. The case openers are expensive, at around $600, and the caseback dies are about $80 each. You will need a different size depending on the size of your Breitling.

Opening a Panerai Caseback

Opening a Panerai Caseback is a bit easier (cheaper!) to do without damaging your watch. There are caseback dies just like the Breitling ones, but with 12 sides as Panerai casebacks have 12 sides. Panerai Casebacks also come in 3 different sizes, for which you can use any of the above mentioned methods of opening just as the Breitling cases can be opened, but there are aluminum hand held openers for panera casebacks that work very well.

These caseback openers are made from Aluminum, which is softer than the Steel used in your case so it is less likely to scratch it. Also they offer very good grip and cost from about $50-100, depending on where you purchase them from. Strap-works sell thems for $85 IIRC:

This is the opener I used in the fake Panerai video. I cranked that guy open since my friend did give me permissions and its a fake watch. I have also opened my PAM250 without problems, so it works with the real deal as well!

Anyway.. don’t blame me if you break something. I don’t recommend you do this unless you feel comfortable with it, and even then, I recommend finding a quality watchmaker to fix your watch is something is awry.

I wrote a new article on some of the differences between the good fakes and the real Breitlings. Not a super intensive definitive guide on a model-to-model basis, but rather a general guide as to what to look for and where the fakes falter.

I included some pics to illustrate the differences.. I hope you enjoy the article!

http://www.breitlingsource.com/articles_replica_goodones.shtml

This video I made last week, and showcases a Project I made, after purchasing half a dozen Breitling dials on ebay. I got them for a decent price, of $1 each, unfortunately the guy charged me almost $10 each to ship! I guess he was unhappy about the ending bid price. I ended up getting a custom Matte made for a frame that I picked up that would suit the dials. The outcome was very nice, and I finished it up with a metal sticker/label with custom Breitling text written on it.

The dials are mounted on fiberboard and attached to the matte and then set into the frame. Great way to add Breitling decoration to the den!

Have you ever wondered what exactly the COSC Certification for mechanical watches entails? I have – So I looked it up.

There are three labs all located in Switzerland that do the COSC certification: One in Geneve, one in Le Locle, and one in Biel/Bienne. The entire testing process takes 15 days, and the watches are tested in five positions. The watches are tested as movement only, and do not come with hands or anything. Automatic movements have the rotors detached during testing and three temperatures are tested as well. 23 Degrees Celcius is the main temperature tested.

NOTE: I have received conflicting information as to whether the second hand attachement and rotor removal is done by the COSC or by the company sending the movements in. Initially I had read that it was done by the company sending it in and not the COSC, but have not been able to find reference to that anymore. Any information would be great!

15 Days for Mechanical watches

Day 1 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 6 o’clock up
Day 2 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 6 o’clock up

Day 3 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 3 o’clock up
Day 4 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 3 o’clock up

Day 5 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 9 o’clock up
Day 6 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 9 o’clock up

Day 7 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Down
Day 8 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Down

Day 9 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Up
Day 10 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Up

Day 11 : 8 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Up
Day 12 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Up
Day 13 : 38 Degrees Celcius – Horizontal – Dial Up

Day 14 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 6 o’clock up
Day 15 : 23 Degrees Celcius – Vertical – 6 o’clock up

Seven things tested for Mechanical watches

1. Over the first 10 Days the average daily rate must be within -4/+6 seconds
2. Mean variation in rate cannot be higher than 2 seconds in any single position
3. Greatest variation in rate between any 2 days cannot be more than 5 seconds in any single position
4. The difference of the rates in the vertical and horizontal positions cannot be more than -6/+8 seconds
5. The difference between the main daily rate and any individual rate cannot be more than 10 seconds
6. Variation in temperature cannot be more than 0.6seconds per degree
7. Difference between the mean daily rate of the first two dates compared with the the last two dates cannot be more than 5 seconds.

Many brands do not submit to COSC, and feel that their watches are good enough on their own merit. This may be true, but COSC does have its place, and at least in my opinion, it is not a gimmick. It provides the end-user with a third-party certification that their watch is accurate. That is nice to have, though, not necessary in most cases.

Quartz watches have a different set of parameters that must be met.. perhaps we’ll discuss those in a different post

To some this might seem obvious, but I’ve been asked by several people how this is done, and this is how I change a strap on my Breitlings. This would apply to many if not most watches actually… at least any watch that uses spring bars. Panerai’s and some other watches may have different access to the spring bars or use screws.

Its just a video giving a quick explanation on how to change your straps out for a bracelet and vice versa. Enjoy!

There are two different SuperOcean Steelfishes out there, and many people are often confused as to which one they are buying, the X-Plus or the original. Especially since Breitling has dropped X-Plus from the name.

Like many watch companies, when new models are released, sometimes they change or have a transition model initially. The SuperOcean steelfish was one of these models. Initially when the Steelfish was a variant of the SuperOcean with two-tone brushed and polished case and bracelet on a professional I bracelet. 1500m water resistance and a helium escape valve at 10 o’clock. This model was only produced for a year. The above picture shows the two. The watch on the right is the X-Plus… notice the Profesional II bracelet.

As you can see both models are very similar, but a couple things to note. The SuperOcean X-Plus, now on the left in the above picture, is all brushed. The watch is less blingy than the original brushed/polished two-tone. The original was also only available with a professional I bracelet, however you could buy a bracelet for the regular SuperOcean and use it.

The pic above gives you an idea of their size difference, even tho only 2mm, is quite substantial on the wrist. Also the all brushed look of the X-Plus makes a difference. Both models shown are in the blue dial, which is my favourite of all the dials. Same movement in both watches, the Breitling Caliber 17.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. It would be especially useful for those of you looking to purchase a Steelfish online so you don’t accidently buy the wrong one! Here are links to both on the BreitlingSource site:

SuperOcean Steelfish
SuperOcean Steelfish X-Plus