How to Remove Scratches From Your Sapphire Crystal
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!
Wow, great trick! Thanks for sharing.
Do you think this would work on Anti-reflective coated crystals aswell?
Cheers!
It will work…but will also remove your A/R coating!
Thanks a lot for your review very interesting and useful !
Just a question: I saw that there are 2 types of diamond past compound, one oil soluble and the other water soluble. Which is the one did you use ? I suppose the water soluble, in order to clean it up easily, is it right ? Where are such diamond compounds available ?
Thanks.
Engi
This is the water based compound, and was purchased on eBay. Happy hunting!
Hello, im interested in trying to take out a light scratch on the sapphire for my cartier roadster chrono. would you know if this watch carries 2 sided A/R coting or just on the inside? I know that i would only be able to try this if its on the inside alone. Thanks.
Your best bet would be to check with either your Cartier AD, or Cartier directly!
A/R coatings are on the outside, not the inside. So if your watch has one the diamond paste will take it off along with the scratches…
The best way of doing the scratch removal is to pop off the dive bezel first, you do this by putting a blade under the bezel and just popping it up. This is safest because the metal is always very soft compared to the paste.
Also you normally will only need 3 pastes sometimes only 2… If you have any deep scratches you need to start with 360 mesh or 50 micron paste… if you have very light scratches you should skip right to 600 mesh or 30 micron paste…. finish with 1200 mesh or 15 micron paste.
If you have major scratches it is also easiest to get pieces of plexiglass for each grade of paste you will use. Put your dab of paste on the plexiglass and then press and rub the watch onto this… the idea is to forced the diamonds into the plexiglass which will then create a sort of sand paper out of the plexiglass… This will work much better than trying to do it with your finger. The only thing you must remember using this method is that it only works with crystals that are flat.
To the above poster…sorry, but you are mistaken. All current Panerai watches have AR coating on the inside of the crystal NOT on the outside.