What do you think about scratches on your watch?

I think the questions is are the people buying expensive watches doing it for the art enjoyment or are they looking at things as an investment/value proposition?.  If I'm buying a 5k+ watch it means I'm living pretty comfortable to be worry about a scratch here or dent there that might mess with the value of the watch. At the same time I don't go out of my way to wear a 30 meter water resistant watch to the beach or sand. 

You make a good point and i understand that you want to "protect" your investment but if you focus so much on protecting your "investment", did you buy for the Watch for its functionality/movement/design or just for the value the watch represents? As you say, you don't go to the beach with a 30m dress watch but why wouldn't you with a dive watch? Maybe it's just me who needs to use the watch for what's it has been built for to justify spending so much money on my hobby haha 

Scratches on a watch are like scars - they tell a story; I don't care about scratches at all

This. Add patina, case wear, lume-yellowing, rust and radium burns to the list.

I try to care for them as much as reasonably possible. That means, I wear them out but take reasonable care not to get them dinged or scratched; but if it happens, it happens. I also wear a tougher watch (G-Shock) where I am out running heavy errands where I might be moving heavy bags/objects around and have a risk of snagging a strap onto shopping bags or other hazards.

So, yes I care, but no I'm not gonna limit my wearing because of it, and not going to cry over it. 

Scratches terrify me, I'm the same with my car.  I get over it though, I know they're unavoidable, but it still doesn't stop my heart sinking when I discover the first one.

Nothing wrong with light scratches from use,whats the point in having a watch if you ain't gonna wear it? The thing that really gets on my nerves is people who sell expensive watches that are scratched to hell and still want top doller for them cause its a omega or Rolex etc taking the piss, if its just light scratches you cam buff them out but I've seen some shocking watches for sale for silly money scratched to hell taking the piss me thinks.

Personally in my opinion, a watch is to be worn and enjoy. It's definitely bound to scratches. But why worry you can polish it later. This is one of the main reason I avoid precious metal watches, prefer the good old steel. 

for me scratches and dent are unvoidable. it is stressing sometimes but we got to accept the issue for what they are. just wear it carefully if it scratch just accept it. 🍺

Light scratches from daily wear are unavoidable. I don't worry too much about them. However, if I had a noticeable scratch that drew my eye I would look to remove it. Depends where it is and how noticeable it is. A big scratch on the crystal would drive me nuts and I'd either look to Polywatch it out (acrylic) or replace the crystal. 

while we talking about ding and dong, do you guys know is this dent can be removed? i dont have idea why the case have that dent lol, it bothers me so much

I don't worry about scratches, apart from scratches on the crystal that impair my ability to read a watch. So now I stick to watches with sapphire crystals, and just enjoy them.

And then there are the people that coo over scuffed-up watches that have "never been polished!"

I don't understand the virgin cult* people. Yes, things are only new and unused once, but the fleetingness is part of why that is special. Objects should be used and enjoyed. This sort of thing reminds me of the stereotypical grannies with ugly noisy uncomfortable vinyl slip covers on their furniture. Why do you feel unworthy of full use of your own possessions? If they are too good/expensive for you, why did you get them?

*I understand the desirability of some perfectly preserved piece, but there is also the sadness of an item that never really was used as intended and lived a sequestered useless life hidden from the world and it's purpose.

I'm not the biggest Leno fan but I respect the guy for actually driving his rare and priceless cars. That is truly sharing them with the world in all their glory in a better way than tucking them away in some museum exhibit somewhere behind a velvet rope, collecting dust and rotting away.

Oh, on my watch. It means it's mine. A sterile flawless item is identical to that of any other brand new one. The first mark makes it unique. Accept flaws and entropy. That said, I'm totally fine with polishing at some point to rejuvenate. The people that worship dilapidated watches are nuts too.

I agree with you on the crystal, i would clearly fix that. Luckily for me saphire crystal are extremely difficult to scratch. i have no idea about the acrylic ones and don't know how difficult it is to polisch it out. any experiences? 

I've done plenty. I refurbish watches when I'm not saving the NHS. 🤣

Small scratches on acrylic will buff out fairly easily with Polywatch. Sometimes, with deeper marks, you may need to sand back the face (working from about 400 grit to 2000 grit in stages). Then Polywatch to finish. You need to be VERY careful here not to flatten out any dome. I wouldn't recommend unless you're prepared to buy a new crystal if it doesn't go well. 

You can do similar with mineral glass using cerium oxide but tbh its usually just easier to replace the crystal. I'd really only do that if a replacement crystal was unobtainable or prohibitively expensive.

Doesn't matter what it is, I just have a period after purchase where I want to keep things as pristine as possible. Then that first ding happens when you least expect it, and then I don't mind so much anymore.

Honestly I don't really mind those people who keep their watches in a safe. Who am I to tell people how to enjoy their posessions, right or wrong? 😁

Not a fan, but what are you going to do? It's pretty sad to buy a watch and not wear it, unless it's extremely fragile and old. In which case it's scratched up anyway.

Please don’t take offense if I’m totally off the mark but that looks to be a Seiko SKX case.  If so, it might be cheaper to get a new (aftermarket) case than try to get it filled and repolished.

Me personally, for a relatively inexpensive tool watch I would just wear the dings and scratches with pride.

Like many have said, it depends on why you bought it.

If you love watches and buy them to wear them, scratches can make the watch more personal to you (reminding you of fun times with family or friends) OR just remind you of significant events when you started this hobby like when you stupidly try your first strap change ever on your grail Speedy and scratch the lugs %$#&&!  Damn fat fingers!  They shouldn't include a springbar tool with these things! Sorry, not all memories are good.

If you decide to sell or trade the watch after enjoying it a while, losing a little value from some scratches are not a big deal because you got your value from wearing it.

On the other hand, if you buy the watches as investments or to flip, cover it in bubble wrap and put it away with its "box and papers." 

Now that I think about it, I don't know why I keep all the boxes and papers for watches I never plan to sell. They're kind of like scratches in that they reduce the value if you don't have them but don't impact your enjoyment of the watch itself (unless your enjoyment is in its value). 

Haha i remember my first strap/bracelet change.. it was my SKX some crazy scratches but now it's mine :p 

Regarding Box & Papers, i agree. On chrono24 i don't really care about box and papers, I'd rather have a nice service receipt for an older watch. 

I don't mind the scratches at all if it's a watch that I am actively wearing. To me the scratches are like someone else said above, they are like battle scars. I have an SKX and that has a lot of scratches from life happening. There are two scratches that I got from spelunking which was a wonderful experience with friends. However, I do feel like if I buy a piece as an investment it will be going straight into the safe until it appreciates its value.

I’m torn on  this one…there is a bell curve where scratches don’t bother me. The first couple on an otherwise clean watch are SUPER noticeable, then after more are added, it looks better and more uniformly worn,  after a few more scratches,  it starts to look like rubbish. 
 

plus my life is not that interesting that my watch will have rock climbing marks. It’ll likely have marks because I’m  clumsy😋, so I’m generally against scratches and daily wear a hardened steel watch

Not a problem for me, just the signs of a life well dived/fished/rock climbed/surfed/mountain biked/etc.

I don't like it when they're bad enough to make a sharp edge though.  I got one at 15min removing a dishwasher on Saturday that I need to smooth out.

My opinion is, wear it. We are all going to be dead before you know it! I think wear on a watch or a knife is cool. 

I had a 2 week old brand new Santos de Cartier. I tend to baby my watches irregardless of its price point. The Santos is the most expensive watch in my collection yet and it breaks my heart and mental when I wore it to work a few days before and scratched it accidentally while shifting boxes. Shifting of the boxes were unplanned otherwise I would have worn my g shock. Of course, removing it from the wrist and keeping it somewhere else safe didn’t came across my mind back then. I can accept superficial or hairline scratches as it’ll happen over time but when I accidentally scratched it against the cabinet, I couldn’t sleep for days! Argh… 

I don’t see much worn and scratched santos on the internet. I wonder if there are others who wore it daily and scratched santos too? 

I ding'ed my Cle really hard on something I don't even remember ... a few times 😂 It's got a couple chips off the bezel 🤷🏻‍♂️

That might be a little too hard! 😂

Interesting. The fact that it really makes a watch yours has been mentioned a lot. Does that also mean that you can't call a pre-owned watch truly yours since it already shows signs of wear from someone else?

Except for scratches and dings in the crystal, I don't mind them.

I hate scratches and am always a bit mystified why several sub 1k micro brands do 1200 vickers steel and Ti, but all the big players do almost nothing in this regard.

Really curious if it’s to try for a sort of ‘planned obsolescence’ if you like a clean scratch free watch.  
 

Im really tempted to try ceramic or one of those aforementioned micro brands, for my next watch.

Which brands would you recommend? I believe Sinn is nearly scratch proof, any others?