Thoughts on polishing a vintage watch?

Are you buying it for you or for your investment banker?

It's your watch. Do as you will, especially since it's on the affordable side. 

There's no one way to be a watch enthusiast. 

It is a tough call, but at the same time it is not a rare vintage piece that will significantly decrease the value as a result. If you have the desire to have it appear without scuffs or scratches, go for it, just make sure the polisher knows what they are doing and doesn’t ruin the finishing. That would be my larger concern.

just be sure to share the pictures wither way!

Care to share some photos, so the vintage collectors/ enthusiasts here can assess and advise you well? @Aurelian might be of assistance. 

Such stringent rules really only apply to very high-end, collectable pieces (i.e. "investment pieces"). Polishing a cheaper vintage watch to increase its esthetics is probably not going to impact its value. 

It also depends of the quality of the polishing job. A good polish will preserve the lines of the case while removing the shallow scratches on the flat surfaces. The idea is to remove as little metal as possible.

wow thanks for all the help!

It's not an investment piece, just for my own collection. I was worried because I assumed the reason vintage collectors avoid polishing is because it damages the watch. If the only consideration is the impact to price then I can safely say I don't really care about the price AFTER I buy it and have it polished. I don't think I'm gonna be selling it anyway.

Here is the watch in question with its scratches. I don't know if this is a rare piece but I've been looking for this particular model of Seiko Silver Wave with that textured dial and sub second and this is the first one I find so far.

Ah I have the two tone piece. Early 80s Silver Wave, can be hard to find depending on where you are. I think it looks nice either way, polished or otherwise. 

If you buy the watch to keep it, and it's affordable, do as you please. If you don't like the end result, you learn from it, but there is no point dilly-dallying over what-ifs. The scratches clearly bother you, so you want this addressed.

My two cents: the visual signs of aging in a vintage watch are the case and the dial. The case is open to the elements and will always show signs of wear, the dial not so much. A pristine case with a distressed dial is therefore an odd combination, less so the other way around. If the refurbishment costs more than the watch is worth - that is only a matter for a watch dealer; what is the watch worth to you?

Have a look at watch restoration videos on youtube, and what you like/dislike about the things they leave alone. Personally, I am happy how they typically address the cases, but much less so with the dials - I don't value a distressed dial, but then I'm not a vintage watch guy.

oh damn what a beauty! You have the original bracelet too! god why is it so hard to find this watch LOL now I'm jealous 

I do prefer distressed dial over distressed case, that is true. some watch collectors actually like their watch as is with scratches and all because it shows the age of the watch. I guess I'm still finding out new things about my preferences / taste on watches.

great tip about the watch restoration videos. will do that, thanks!

These watches appear from time to time on ebay. But you are right, they could be stretches of time when you don't see them at all.

I've polished/refinished dozens of vintage Seikos. Just do what you are happy to do... its your watch

I can't see a picture here?

You actually give me hope that I will eventually find one like this again....

and therefore I can safely hold off on buying this one because I'm not so sure about the condition. Maybe I should be a little more patient.

Have you looked on eBay, especially in Thailand and the Philippines. They used to get all the JDM Seiko’s and have watches most of us rarely see. I’ve purchased quite a few from 2 sellers in both countries and they are great watches and easy to work on. Myself, I’d watch as many watch restoration videos as you can and have a go yourself. Looking at the picture I don’t think the watch looks that bad and wouldn’t take much effort to getting it looking good again. You could do the majority by hand and not have to remove the movement, just cover the crystal with some good tape and don’t over polish the edges and round the cases edges down.

As I said, do some research first and when you feel confident I would have a go myself.

You just need to find your watch first, then post some extra pictures of the watch and we can give you some better advice from there 👍

There is one listed on ebay currently.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185334125046?hash=item2b26c651f6:g:ab8AAOSw675iKlue

As I understand it, the fear is akin to how people advise against going near edges with a power car buffer, as it is very easy to wear through the paint. Similarly, an inexpert person may lean on a buffing wheel too long and turn fine shape details into a nondescript river stone.

It's worth noting that photos highlight scratches and wear that may be all but invisible in person absent bright llight and magnification.

Honestly I sourced my vintage watches mainly from local sellers or from Yahoo Japan. Haven't really explored other options such as from Thailand and The Philippines. Can you point me towards what ecommerce / ebay / online shops that allows me to buy and ship internationally from those two countries? Or do you mean like scour Instagram to find sellers based there?

To be fair, the local sellers here are pretty dang resourceful. If all else fail I will be requesting their help with finding me this watch. Most good sellers also help with restoring / polishing the watch by request so I don't have to do that myself.

The dial of the Seiko you showed is OK, that barely qualifies as distressed. I was thinking more along the lines of this - in those restauration vids they would leave a dial like that alone too, and that is too distressed for my liking.

Polishing removes metal and can create a new set of problems depending on the watch. Polishing is not recommended for certain plated watches because you may get down to the base metal and have to re-plate. For vintage collectors that stress authenticity (and there are many, perhaps most) re-plating is nearly as bad as re-dialing.  It may look nice, but it is not original. Vintage pieces with no signs of wear are always suspect, like a newly discovered Da Vinci painting.

I am very forgiving of wear in my old watches. That may be a function of losing my short range vision.

If it is an investment piece, don't touch it.   If it is meant to be worn now, do as you please.  

I can understand your reluctance to work on the watch yourself, it takes time and patience and some knowledge to get a good result.

All the sellers below I have personally purchased watches from and one in particular I can highly recommend, he is located in Japan. He is always willing to answer any questions you may have, he will always be open to negotiating the prices of his watches, he was employed by Seiko so he knows what he’s talking about and also services some, but not all of his watches. I’ve spoken with him and he can always try and find a particular watch you may be searching for.

I recently purchased my birth year watch from him, a 1964 Seiko Sportsmatic at a great price and he actually sent me a personal video of the watch working before he shipped it to me in Australia, plus free postage I might add.

The other 2 sellers are also great, their service is also good, but probably not at the same level as the guy from Japan, he’s on another level altogether, but they are still good and reliable.

Anyway best of luck with your search and I hope you find the watch your after.

Polishing by hand with something like Simichrome should be fine.

use polywatch paste on it by hand. Machines cas really mess it up. 

I'll go and check them out. thanks so much, this is really really helpful!

Thank you so much for everyone here, these are all very helpful especially since I feel like a noob and I'm worried I'm doing things wrong.

I'm really glad at least there's this place where I can ask dumb questions and have people help me 😉 If or when I finally get my hands on this watch, I'll post a picture

Do what you like. I am not sure I would.