After 15 years of daily wear, even a great Rolex will no longer look the way it once did. Still, some of that wear can absolutely be corrected. Can it simply be polished? Of course not. Polishing means removing metal all the way down to the deepest scratch. Street “shoe repair shops” do exactly that, […]
Rolex Submariner Case and Bracelet restoration: Before and After Read More »
By Gill Heavens Gill Heavens meets two talented watchmakers who are designing new, and resurrecting old, timepieces from across the county. Abraham Louis Breguet, Thomas Rudge, George Daniels, Rebecca Struthers; do these names mean anything to you? Probably not. Rolex, Omega, Tissot, Cartier; I expect these are more familiar. The latter are, I’m sure you
Time Flies – Somerset Life article September 2025 Read More »
Here’s another example of an ‘economy class’ vintage watch case restoration. This is the horrid condition it came to us in, originally from a local car boot sale, bought for just £10. Would you pay a tenner for this? It’s not very obvious at the moment, but the case is actually a Concept 80, “The
Vintage watch polishing: restoring a vintage Le Cheminant Read More »
In restoration articles, we usually see blue hands hovering over an alcohol lamp in a neat little box of metal chips, with the steel gradually turning that deep, rich blue. It’s a bit like picking a mushroom in the forest. Easy! But how do you get to that forest – or grow your own mushrooms?
Stowa KM pocket watch hands restoration – polishing, temperature bluing Read More »
An example of case restorations that we are able to carry out at Horological Underground – Omega Flightmaster from the 1970s – a super rare and desirable vintage watch. Before restoration Overall, the watch was in really good condition besides the case body needing refinishing. Case refinishing usually falls under the label of polishing which
OMEGA Filghtmaster case sunburst restoration example (lapping machine) Read More »
