I had always been told that removing scratches from sapphire watch crystals was impossible…but recently I got a tip on how to do this, so I figured I would see for myself. I recently picked up this PAM 00024 Luminor Submersible with a scratch on the crystal right under the “at” portion of automatic on the face.

What you need to do is pick up 3-4 tubes of diamond paste in increasing abrasive grades. I started with a 5.0 micron for the most abrasive, and went down from there with a 3.5, 1.0 and .5 micron.

I started by taping off the area of the crystal with the scratch so as to prevent the diamond paste from getting underneath the dive bezel.

Then I started with the 5.0 micron, and worked that in to the scratch for about 5-10 minutes.

Then I went down to the 3.5 micron for another 10 minutes.

Then I went down to the 1.0 and the .5 for the final polishing. Initially I used my fingers to rub the diamond paste on the crystal, but found that a paper tower was a bit more effective. After about 30 mintues of work, I wiped off the excess paste, removed the masking tape, and cleaned the watch with water. This is what I was greeted with once the watch was cleaned and dried off.

A flawless crystal! Not bad for $15, 30 minutes, and a little elbow grease!

This is another one of the new models that is on my hit list. It’s up between this one, and the 312 (non-GMT). Either way I cannot wait to see these in person!