Thread: Refinishing a Bond Omega Seamaster bracelet

Yes please Paul, not that I own a Seamaster Bond but it's always great reference material to see tutorials like this. Plus you never know when it might come in handy :wink:.

Cheers,

Gary

Well here goes!

First up you will need the following products, these are the ones I use but many other brands are available.

Scotchbrite pad / pads - various grades are available



Emery boards - usually nicked off the wife :D



Bergeon scratch pen



Microfibre cloths



In addition to the above you will also require:

1 tooth brush
1 tube of autosol metal polish
1 Packet of cape cod polishing cloths
1 mild soap, liquid soap is best
1 set of decent screw drivers and / or bergeon strap changing tool
1 roll of black insulation tape or masking tape - clear sellotape will suffice if that is all you have

So lets get started, whilst I have taken many pictures of the in-between stages i forgot some of the earlier steps :| :blackeye:

First up what are we dealing with:

An Omega Seamaster Bond 300m divers watch. It's a couple of years old and has the usual desk diving marks on the clasp and 12 O'clock side of the bracelet.

The entire bracelet and clasp has been polished by the previous owner i.e. prior to Guy "Pinkwindmill" owning it



Very shiny



So lets get going

2. remove the bracelet from the watch head using a suitable strap changing tool.

3. Fill a large bowl with very hot water

4. Apply plenty of mild soap to the bracelet and gently aggetate with a soft tooth brush - remember to work well in between all the links, open all clasps, divers extensions and clean both the back and front.

5. now submerge the bracelet in the very hot water NEVER do this whilst the watch head is still attached!!

6. Remove the bracelet from the water and give it a light brush with the toothbrush again and clean in the water again

7. Now pat dry with some kitchen roll - ensure the watch is completely dry.

8. another stage I missed pictures of - whichever links should be polished use a cape cod cloth to buff to high shine / lustre or alternatively use a dremel with a polishing head and apply autosol paste to the areas required. Polish to a deep shine and remove any excess polish by going back to step 4.

9. The important part - Masking up the watch.

I chose to use electrical PVC insulation tape as it will stretch and molud to the shape of the bracelet and links - it also has excellent adgesive qualities!

Pic of the bracelet masked up to brush the centre links





Once you have masked the bracelet you can begin the process of brushing, I usually start by using some scotchbrite as this tends to reach the parts of the links that the emery boards stuggle to brush finish.

Move the pad in one direction - DO NOT go backwards and forwards, this will leave an non uniform brush finish..... take your time and don't be afraid of the bracelet it's not going to bite you :wink: keep going until you are happy with the finish.

Now grab a emery board, coarse to start with - usually dark grey in colour. I like using emery boards as they are foam backed and provide a nice uniform finish as the pressure you apply is evenly spread. Again only travel in one direction with the emery board.

here are some halfway shots of the clasp and one side of the bracelet mid brushing and the other half untouched



and here is the clasp refinished v's the 12 O'Clock side of the bracelet still untouched



10. Keep going until you are happy with the overall finish until you are ready to refine the finish with a PINK emery board - this is a much finer grade than the dark grey ones but gives a high level of finish not far from OE

11. once you are happy with the finish finally go over ot again with the bergeon touch pen - remember to only travel in the direction of the grain of the brushed finish, eventually your bracelet should look like this........











12. You can then focus on the watch head which is exactly the same as doing the bracelet - travel in the same direction as the grain and take your time, do not rush, that is how you will make mistakes.............. if you have had enough make a cup of tea, check the sales corner and then go back to your refinishing job :D

13. All done? If you are happy, give the watch & bracelet another wash with mild soap and clean in luke warm / tepid water, pat dry with kitchen towel and wipe over with a micro fibre cloth to remove any water stains, dust etc.

14. attach the bracelet to the watch head

15. Take lots of pic's of the finished job















Hopefully the above helps answer some of the queries and questions of the dark art of refinishing a bracelet. I have to say that the Bond bracelet is a real pain to do. Total time on the above was probably just under 2 hours.

If you fancy a go try your skills on something cheap first that does not have any polished sections that way if you make a mistake you won't be gutted that you have a load of polishing to do again :D

Cheers

Paul

edited to add some cropped images

thank you! looks very nice.
/m

:thumbright: Fantastic post Paul and great pics, makes you feel that even a ham fisted numpty like me could have a go and get respectable results. Many thanks for all your time and effort :salute:.

Cheers,

Gary

Brilliant post, fantastic, thanks for taking the time to write this up! Should probably be stickified in Mods & Wreckers, or placed in Classic Posts, or on the wiki, or any combination of these.

Good job!

Originally Posted by draz

Brilliant post, fantastic, thanks for taking the time to write this up! Should probably be stickified in Mods & Wreckers, or placed in Classic Posts, or on the wiki, or any combination of these.

Agreed but wtf's a wiki, a dyslectic kiwi :?

Cheers,

Gary

:shock: fantastic results and thanks for sharing the techniques.

I'm certainly bookmarking this one for future reference. :)

Cheers :wink:
Neil

Thanks guys - hope it comes in handy for someone!!

just for the purposes of clarity the watch belongs to Guy "Pinkwindmill" - I hope he is happy with the finished results once he gets it back on Tuesday via RMSD!

I am going to do the wifes Tag Kirium which is a mix of polished and brushed next so will setup my portable studio and get some decent pics and walk through each stage step by step so you can see all aspects of what is involved.

It should be more straight forward than the Bond omega as the bracelet consists of three sections, the middle of which is polished............ in theory easy peasy :lol: we'll see I suppose.

Cheers

Paul

Nice job! :)

Similar post here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35829&p=359911#p359911

David

Brilliant post Paul, can't say I want to attempt that on my speedie bracelet just yet (as it doesn't need it) but may now have the confidence when it does! :)

Paul

Blinding job I have seen these done with dremels and the like but that looks every bit as good !

Watch and bracelet received back this morning, and it's a great job!

Nice to have the watch back to how it should be.

Thanks very much, Paul - you are THE MAN! 8)

Cheers,

Guy :)

Excellent post. I`ve done similar things on other bracelets but I`ve not tackled a Bond (yet).

Some of my attempts have looked a little 'harsh' despite finishing with a glasfibre brush-pen. I`ve found that a VERY light wipe (in one direction) with a Cape Cod at the end can help but it has to be done carefully or the brushing will start to lose its matt finish and won`t look right.

Paul

[quote="pinkwindmill"]Watch and bracelet received back this morning, and it's a great job!

Nice to have the watch back to how it should be.

Thanks very much, Paul - you are THE MAN! 8)

Cheers,

Guy :)[/quote

Agreed, great job Paul !

By the way, Paul is an absolute gent to deal with Fellas

Cheers

Andy

Great write up. I love the art of refinishing a SS bracelet. You don't need specialist tools, just a cape cod, some scotch brite, emery boards and a scratch pen, and you can achieve some great results.

Fantastic Paul, thanks for sharing.

Dave

Originally Posted by Omegary

Originally Posted by draz

Brilliant post, fantastic, thanks for taking the time to write this up! Should probably be stickified in Mods & Wreckers, or placed in Classic Posts, or on the wiki, or any combination of these.

Agreed but wtf's a wiki, a dyslectic kiwi :?

Cheers,

Gary

Just for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+wiki

:D :D :D

Just caught this from your link in SC (very generous offer mate) and an excellent instructive thread. Maybe one day I'll have a bash too!

Great thread, thanks for posting! :)

Looks good to me, also works for Sub and GMT bracelets too !

Wow. Nice one.

-OD

Excellent post, great tips, may have to try that on mine as the centre links are scratched to buggery at the mo.

Thanks for posting this up.
Has given me the confidence to have a go at my 2254 bracelet - but I want the whole thing to have a brushed finish, dont like the shiny links.
Wish me luck :shock:

WOW. Nice work. I used to do that also to my Bond....before I sold it a few weeks ago. :x

-OD

Originally Posted by swanny

Thanks for posting this up.
Has given me the confidence to have a go at my 2254 bracelet - but I want the whole thing to have a brushed finish, dont like the shiny links.
Wish me luck :shock:

That's easy then :wink:

I now also use garyflex blocks in various grades which are very good at getting a nice even brushed finish.

The scotch brite pads would be where I would start on your bracelet.

Take the bracelet off the watch head though and lay it flat on a piece of cardboard and do one side at a time, first run with scotchbrite working through the different grades (Grey + Red) as they can get into those fiddely, hard to reach bits, then finish with Garyflex block or nail buffers.

Just keep checking your progress on a regular basis and all should be fine. You might have to spend some time fiddling with the bracelet links whare they curve to perfect the finish but generally all brushed is pretty straight forward :)

Good luck

Paul

p.s. here is an Oris that had polished outer links that I did a while back for Rob "RLE", took a bit of time till I was 100% happy with it but got there in the end :)

These are part way through the refinishing process











and these were once I spent more time on it and finsihed it off till I was happy with it, you can see the finish is less harsh

Great post!

your skill is inspiring - tried myself on my Seamaster's clasp reverse with metal-finishing blocks; however this doesn't remove all scratches and I now know from your thread that I should not rub it both ways! My result was OK but not outstanding like yours.

Wow...that's brilliant. great post

Excellent, thanks 8)

Wonderful workmanship, even I would dare to try

Nice, four years ago, how time flys!

Holy thread resurrection!

Originally Posted by gingerboy

Well here goes!

First up you will need the following products, these are the ones I use but many other brands are available.

Scotchbrite pad / pads - various grades are available



Emery boards - usually nicked off the wife :D



Bergeon scratch pen



Microfibre cloths



In addition to the above you will also require:

1 tooth brush
1 tube of autosol metal polish
1 Packet of cape cod polishing cloths
1 mild soap, liquid soap is best
1 set of decent screw drivers and / or bergeon strap changing tool
1 roll of black insulation tape or masking tape - clear sellotape will suffice if that is all you have

So lets get started, whilst I have taken many pictures of the in-between stages i forgot some of the earlier steps :| :blackeye:

First up what are we dealing with:

An Omega Seamaster Bond 300m divers watch. It's a couple of years old and has the usual desk diving marks on the clasp and 12 O'clock side of the bracelet.

The entire bracelet and clasp has been polished by the previous owner i.e. prior to Guy "Pinkwindmill" owning it



Very shiny



So lets get going

2. remove the bracelet from the watch head using a suitable strap changing tool.

3. Fill a large bowl with very hot water

4. Apply plenty of mild soap to the bracelet and gently aggetate with a soft tooth brush - remember to work well in between all the links, open all clasps, divers extensions and clean both the back and front.

5. now submerge the bracelet in the very hot water NEVER do this whilst the watch head is still attached!!

6. Remove the bracelet from the water and give it a light brush with the toothbrush again and clean in the water again

7. Now pat dry with some kitchen roll - ensure the watch is completely dry.

8. another stage I missed pictures of - whichever links should be polished use a cape cod cloth to buff to high shine / lustre or alternatively use a dremel with a polishing head and apply autosol paste to the areas required. Polish to a deep shine and remove any excess polish by going back to step 4.

9. The important part - Masking up the watch.

I chose to use electrical PVC insulation tape as it will stretch and molud to the shape of the bracelet and links - it also has excellent adgesive qualities!

Pic of the bracelet masked up to brush the centre links





Once you have masked the bracelet you can begin the process of brushing, I usually start by using some scotchbrite as this tends to reach the parts of the links that the emery boards stuggle to brush finish.

Move the pad in one direction - DO NOT go backwards and forwards, this will leave an non uniform brush finish..... take your time and don't be afraid of the bracelet it's not going to bite you :wink: keep going until you are happy with the finish.

Now grab a emery board, coarse to start with - usually dark grey in colour. I like using emery boards as they are foam backed and provide a nice uniform finish as the pressure you apply is evenly spread. Again only travel in one direction with the emery board.

here are some halfway shots of the clasp and one side of the bracelet mid brushing and the other half untouched



and here is the clasp refinished v's the 12 O'Clock side of the bracelet still untouched



10. Keep going until you are happy with the overall finish until you are ready to refine the finish with a PINK emery board - this is a much finer grade than the dark grey ones but gives a high level of finish not far from OE

11. once you are happy with the finish finally go over ot again with the bergeon touch pen - remember to only travel in the direction of the grain of the brushed finish, eventually your bracelet should look like this........











12. You can then focus on the watch head which is exactly the same as doing the bracelet - travel in the same direction as the grain and take your time, do not rush, that is how you will make mistakes.............. if you have had enough make a cup of tea, check the sales corner and then go back to your refinishing job :D

13. All done? If you are happy, give the watch & bracelet another wash with mild soap and clean in luke warm / tepid water, pat dry with kitchen towel and wipe over with a micro fibre cloth to remove any water stains, dust etc.

14. attach the bracelet to the watch head

15. Take lots of pic's of the finished job















Hopefully the above helps answer some of the queries and questions of the dark art of refinishing a bracelet. I have to say that the Bond bracelet is a real pain to do. Total time on the above was probably just under 2 hours.

If you fancy a go try your skills on something cheap first that does not have any polished sections that way if you make a mistake you won't be gutted that you have a load of polishing to do again :D

Cheers

Paul

edited to add some cropped images

Cracking post, I started a thread trying to find out this info the other day for my speedy. The emery boar bit scares me a bit mind!

Is there a difference between using this and a promising cloth, like a cape cod?

Cheers guys, for starting this thread and the golden info held within :)

Someone was asking about refinishing or polishing a bracelet and this was shared... I must say, an excellent tips with almost if not everything covered... Credit to the OP

Thanks for the very informative guide......just need to build up some courage now and give it a go.