Eternal question: Polish or not polish

the way I got it

Looks like you did a great job. A lot of people who make the attempt can overdo it. What did you use?

Depends on the watch and if you have a personal connection (like inheriting or gift). I get the feeling this KS is a purchase so I’d be doing what you’re doing. Looks fantastic 🤩

I have two vintage grand seikos, one of which I got (very) lightly polished because it had previously been horribly polished

Mainly people don't like polishing vintage watches because case lines tend to lose their sharpness and transitions get a bit blurred. Even more so with vintage KS/GS because their case lines are very defined and it is what is sought after

To illustrate this, here are two pictures. The first one is of my GS43999, which has been polished a lot by previous owners, and the second one is of my GS 5722-9991 which I believe hasn't been polished. The two models share the same case. You can see the large chamfer on the lug, which is emblematic of the 57GS family has been signicantly diminished by polishing on the 43999 (it was even worse when I got it) and those lugs look quite different now

In your case you can see the case lines are quite smooth, although the polishing does look very good

This however comes down to a tradeoff, keeping a watch with very visible scratches and dings but retaining sharp caselines, or diminishing the scratches at the cost of smoother caselines. This is purely a question of personal tastes

For vintage GS's there is a third option, which is sending the watch to Lapinist, who restores the case via laser welding and gives it a nice zaratsu polish (which might be even nicer than the original)

They slaughtered it... :(

Looks like you did a fantastic job. Biggest fear with polishing is losing the sharp edges of the profiles (chamfered edges on the case), since polishing is really sanding away material, and can change the shape of the profiles.

It's a vintage collector thing, something like "maintaining its value through originality" that's why I'm not into vintage since I don't like battered things, the watch case beaten and scratched, peeling or dirty dials, well, I can't handle that. congratulations on what you are doing to your GS

My watch needs my scratches.

A family watch can keep its scratches.

The polishing debate is primarily about originality, like when one is dealing with any other antique, vintage car etc., etc.

It's more than keeping the case lines crisp (as important as that is), it's also about the preservation of the original 'factory' finish.

That said, whilst I'd prefer a watch to be in great condition and be unpolished I'd never not buy a watch that has been lightly and well polished, and I'd prefer a watch to get a skillful polish than carry a heap of blemishes.

But everyone is different.

IMO personal choice only starts to become less of a factor when we're talking about an important and / or highly sought after and / or valuable watch in exceptionally good original condition. I'd start to consider originality, value and history if that was the case.

I've got a 'patent pending' Certina DS from '59 that's been polished and beaten up again that I absolutely love and I've got a near NOS DS-2 with a very rare dial that I love equally. It depends on the watch I reckon. They've all got their own soul for their own reason.

Well, it involves: tooth paste, oven, cape code, 600grit sanding paper, Dremel, a polishing machine that can have at least 4000rp, 2 wheel (one flannel and one cotton) and some practice on old cases :) and I forgot...heat-resisting tape

I've just recently bought 45gs and I'm just sourcing someone to service it,then restore as much back to new as possible found someone who can restore the case looks amazing have a look on YouTube lapinist watch restoration,I will be posting when finished hopefully back to being a mirror on the wrist 👌

That looks really good

Needs a service polish and couple of scratches removing off the crystal,brand new black leather brand new original buckle,and I'm not sure I'll need another or take it off 🤣

Polish to restore a damaged case... but do not polish if it has normal and gentle wear as it gives its own personality and soul.

If it's a vintage watch worth some serious coin, no polishing. Beyond that, I have no issues with a well done polish job. It makes the watch look much better, or sometimes even new. I don't really care about resale value on my watches and I want them to look nice. The key is finding someone to do a good polishing job. I've had a few watches that were so poorly done that the lines of the case were killed. I've also had other watches polished so well that you can't even tell it was polished.

Watch scratches are like death and taxes. As soon as the watch is polished it'll pick up another scratch.

no polish. for vintage, i try to buy best available example because my mindset is that i am borrowing it from the original owner and adding my own experiences to it. someday (hopefully not too soon), that will be someone else’s job.

I prefer my vintage watches clean, fresh, free from blemish, polished, and preferably exorcised by priests as well.

No, I'm kidding. I don't do vintage watches because of ghosties.

Interesting point of view. Thank you!

Unless the scratch or blemish comes from something memorable and personal to me (like the scratch on my Speedy's hesalite when my 85 year old Dad gave it a good whack with his fork at dinner to give it one final test after hearing me drone on about all the NASA testing it passed), I prefer a light polish.

This is all moot for me in any case because I will never be in the market for a watch whose value will change that dramatically based on keeping it in its original condition. I am not interested in truly vintage watches and I started collecting too late in life for it to matter for any of the watches I own.

Thought this was going to be a thread about cased meats, leaving disappointed...

I also own one & it has some age related patina & i too have pondered about having it all repolished etc

Watch this space I guess.

I am not against refreshing a case, as long as it doesn't end up looking like a faucet.

Polishing a watch a few times in its life does no harm

Love those vintage seikos and grand seikos, even the quartz ones, neat dials, beautiful polishing by the way

While some pieces should be left alone, a light polish by hand rarely does any damage.

My opinion is. Consider if you will ever end up selling that watch. If so, polishing will most likely reduce the number of interested buyers.

If not, it's your watch and those looking at you and your watch will most likely not notice the lines. As well yours looks fine but could detract some buyers.

I polish because I want to create my own scratches.

That is my view as well ☺️