I picked this up from a post in another forum, but have taken it a stage further.

I am useless at fiddling around inside watches, I have neither the tools, skill or any of the mental tidiness to do it successfully. However, being an engineer I am not afraid of a little iron-fighting, so will hopefully share some tips (useful or not - you decide) on the things I have succeeded in doing to improve the condition of my watches.

First up, re-touching the brushed metal finish on so many of the chronos we discuss here.

GarryFlex make abrasive blocks, which are stocked in tool, engineering and other metalwork suppliers. It is effectively a sort of pencil eraser impregnated with sharp abrasive material.

It comes in different colours, which are also grades of abrasive.

Extra Course (36 grit) Wine colour
Course (60 grit) Blue
Medium (120 Grit) Grey
Fine (240 grit) Brown

For most finishes on clasps or bracelets (start with the easy stuff) and even cases (more challenging) you will only need Medium or Course, possibly Extra Course for a more 70s deep brushed finish.

The reason you want some is to remove the flattened, scraped and otherwise tarnished "desk pilot" marks on clasps and bracelets, which ruin the original brushed finish.

These blocks do not remove deep scratches, but for re-finishing shallow imperfections they are great.

All you have to do to get a good finish is to hold the piece firmly (and I mean firmly) and rub the block over the area you wish to re-finish. Bear in mind the brushed finish is a set of scratches over the metal, and you will appreciate that you want the block to move in a single direction. To this end it can be worth holding the strap down adjacent to a strip of (straight-edged) wood, and sliding the block against the wood whilst pushing down on the strap. This is easy with a parallel-sided bracelet, and even tapered ones have enough slack to be pushed against the wood. You can see I  use masking tape to avoid the brushed finish spilling onto polished areas (think of the two polished sections on a 5-section speedmaster bracelet).

I hope the attached photos show the result achieved on a knackered old Pulsar Clasp in a sum total of 3 minutes. Sure, the deeper cuts are still there, but the improvement is dramatic.

Garryflex is a huge improvement on using sheet abrasives. It is rigid and yet flexible, it doesn't move on the block you hold it to, and it moulds slightly to curvatures, ensuring an even finish.

Here is the clasp before re-finishing


Here it is afterwards (with grit still on it)


Here is the GarryFlex


And when you get confident, you can have a go at other things like my 176.0012 Speedmaster
Before (outer case only - note the lens reflection off the case)


After (note absence of reflection and poor focus - sorry)



Whole watch (I know I need to take a better photo of this one)