This is a hotly discussed topic in the world of watches. You can ask 100 different people and end up with 150 different answers as people can’t seem to agree about what is best… sometimes even with themselves.

What’s the issue with polishing a watch?

A watch will often have curves and sharp angles that define the watches appearance and overall feel. It gives the watch an identity and some style. Each one of those sharp corners and rounded edges is done by hand, using a lapping machine, and takes a long time to learn and master. When you polish a watch with a standard polishing wheel/mop, you will start to round over the edges which will start to take away from the original design and feel of the watch. There will also be areas, such as the inside of a sharp corner, that a polishing wheel simply wont be able to reach. This will cause a difference in the finishing that is usually visibly apparent and not a good look for the watch. Think of the bezel on a Patek Phillipe Nautilus. There are subtle, yet clearly visible, edges on the bezel. If you take a standard polishing wheel to this it will round those edges over and will look like a regular round bezel and not the bezel of a Nautilus.

From a collectors standpoint, the watch has been destroyed and is no longer a Nautilus. To be honest, in this scenario, I have to agree. Not so much that it shouldn’t be polished or resurfaced, but that the rounding of the bezel edges will take away from the watches appearance. When done properly, by a trained technician, there is no reason why the watch can’t be brought back to new condition when using the proper machinery and techniques.

Does polishing mess with the value of the watch any?

Lets be clear about something from the start… if you can afford a watch that costs the equivalent of someone’s yearly salary, then you can afford to hire a true professional who will do the job correctly. In that case, NO! The value of the watch will not be destroyed any and will only help it, especially if the watch was damaged.

At the end of the day, I always tell people to do what is going to allow them to enjoy the watch more. If your favorite and most comfortable piece suffered a bad ding and has a nasty gauge in it that you can’t help but stare at in pain every time you look at it, then get it polished. Do what will make you happy, first and foremost. Life is too short to be worried about what this might do to the value of a watch in 20 years or whatever. Enjoy your watches today and you will be happier for it!

What about vintage watches?

Okay, so here is where I start to change course a little bit. I will always believe in doing what will allow you to enjoy the watch more. However, sometimes we have pieces that have been with us for so long that they become apart of our lives. The scratches, dings and scuffs the watch gets along the way are the story of your life in a sense. Those are memories that have been engraved into the watch and allow it to tell it’s story.

I always want the customer to think of that before they have me remove all those marks and bring the case/bracelet back to new condition. I’m all for shiny pretty things, but I also appreciate a good story and a beat up vintage watch most certainly has that!

What is the difference in polishing and resurfacing?

Simply put, polishing uses a traditional wheel/mop and resurfacing uses a lapping disc. When you bring your watch in to have me make the case/bracelet look better, I will inspect the case to see what finishing techniques were used and the overall design of the watch. After my inspection I will give you my recommendations and whether it needs to be polished or resurfaced.

Some watches are automatically disqualified from being polished and will have to be resurfaced. This is usually what happens when a case has a lot of beveling or facets that are at risk of being rounded over with polishing. Any piece that has suffered bad case damage and has to have metal added with a laser welder will have to resurfaced.

In Conclusion…

Again, it depends on who you ask… but as far as I’m concerned, I think it’s okay to have your watch polished or resurfaced. Well, it’s okay as long as you have it done by a professional who knows how to do the job correctly. There are exceptions, as I stated with vintage watches. However, the first rule with this is to always do what’s going to allow you to enjoy the watch more. You will always be happier with a watch you enjoy wearing then one that sits in a box because its just to rough looking.