DIY watch refurbishment - 1st attempt!

Hey all, I recently attempted my first watch refurb on a pre-owned Seiko Actura Kinetic circa 2004. I can remember looking at these watches in the windows of the high street jewellers (H.Samuel and such) 20 odd years ago and thinking they were the business. With the Kinetic movement, this piece also sports a sapphire crystal and a milled clasp which suggest it must have been fairly high end in its day. Back to the current day and whilst browsing irresponsibly for watches this Seiko SNL001 appeared before me like a vision at a very reasonable price 👇

SELLERS PHOTO 👆

I checked out the seller, checked comparative prices across the ‘InterWeb’ and purchased the watch. The seller assured me that the watch had just been fitted with a new capacitor and seal and it arrived ticking well and keeping good time. I picked this watch in particular for its price £140 and for its condition. It was showing 20 years of love, the brushing was a shadow ie you could tell it had been brushed, but over all there were no deep scratches and it was in a good state. With this in mind I ordered some Cape Cod and a mini ultrasonic cleaner and I went on holiday for 10 days.

SELLERS PHOTO 👆

When I had returned and all my goodies for the refurb had arrived (I found the ScotchBrite in Lidl 👍) I set about the watch. The polishing would all be done by hand so I watched some YouTube and spent a good few hours working on all the little defects until I had a good even surface all over. At this stage the watch and bracelet were fully polished. The bracelet was then separated from the case (exposing some pretty grim wrist cheese) and put in the ultrasonic cleaner while the bezel was masked ready to brush the case. The ScotchBrite is an 800 grit foam pad and I thought the sponginess would make it easier to work with.

THE SCOTCHBRITE AND THE CLEANER USED 👆

I set about brushing the case and immediately went through my masking to the highly polished bezel, and so it was back to polishing. On the next mask up I repeated the first attempt and the put a shit load more on the bezel, crystal and sides. This worked well and I moved on to the bracelet. The little ultrasonic had done an impressive job and masking the high polish centre link was simple. To brush the bracelet was pulled across the ScothBrite as straight as possible until the desired result was achieved. It was a good days work but it was very medative and very enjoyable AND I’m over the moon with the result

BRUSHED AND POLISHED 👆

The watch feels fantastic. There could have been a little more polishing, and some of the brushing is not quite straight BUT I totally have the confidence to do this again if I ever feel inclined but I think to stop while I’m ahead is the order of the day. I put this on to give it a charge 3 days ago and haven’t taken it off.

I’d definitely recommend having a go at this. Obviously this watch was relatively cheap and crying out for some love but if like me you’ve seen the videos and have an old watch to practice on it’s very rewarding.

Thanks for reading of you made it this far please share any top tips for DIY refurbs and have a Crunchie day 👍